Impartial Mayoral hopeful Andrew Cuomo’s go to to a Jamaica mosque didn’t go as he may need hoped Friday, as his go to was peppered by hecklers indignant what they known as his lack of outreach to the Muslim group and his assist for Israel amid the continuing warfare in Gaza.
“Shame on you, you’re not welcome here!” got here a person’s shout from the small crowd that gathered across the former Governor as he entered the Masjid Mission Middle in Jamaica Friday afternoon.
Talking earlier than a number of dozen worshipers, Cuomo started by saying it was good to be again in his dwelling borough of Queens. The previous Governor then started to deal with political violence and extremism, earlier than he was interrupted.
“You represent Netanyahu,” somebody shouted, referencing the ex-governor’s choice to hitch the Israeli Prime Minister’s authorized staff final yr.
The indignant reception underscores the sharp divisions within the mayoral race and throughout the town over the battle between the Palestinians and the Israelis. After Hamas terrorists launched a bloody terror assault towards Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that included kidnapping hostages, Israel launched a marketing campaign in Gaza that has gone on almost two years.
Andrew Cuomo is greeted by indignant hecklers throughout a go to to the Masjid Mission Middle in Jamaica on Sept. 19, 2025. (Julian Roberts-Grmela/NYDN)
“We respect differences,” Cuomo stated. “We don’t condone any violence or disrespect of anyone ever.”
Cuomo informed the gang that he — operating as an impartial — was nonetheless the true Democrat within the race, drawing a line between himself and Mamdani, a Democratic socialist who has made affordability the centerpiece of his marketing campaign.
“This election is different than most elections,” he stated. “This is not just about different people, this is about different philosophies.”
“I am a democrat,” he continued. “My father was a democrat.”
Andrew Cuomo is speaks contained in the Masjid Mission Middle in Jamaica on Sept. 19, 2025. (Julian Roberts-Grmela/NYDN)
“I’ve always been a democrat,” Cuomo stated. “Mr. Mamdani is a socialist.”
“Socialism didn’t work in Venezuela, socialism didn’t work in Cuba,” Cuomo went on. “Socialism is not gonna work in New York City.”
“[He] lost in the primary, he shouldn’t even bother,” Hossain stated.
Shahadat Hussain, an official on the Masjid Mission Middle, defended the choice to have Cuomo come converse.
“We have to communicate with each other,” he stated. “We have to build this America nice and gentle.”
Shahadat Hussain informed those that’d gathered it’s necessary to listen to all voices.
“Everybody is welcome here,” he stated.
“We’re not the majority of the people. We’re the minority of the people,” Hussain continued. “So please, listen to this guy. He’s the governor, ex governor, and he did great job in the pandemic time.”
On the road outdoors, Bilal Khan, 40, spoke from a desk the place he was registering congregants to vote.
“You can’t fault him for something that you yourself would do if you were a candidate,” Khan stated of Cuomo’s choice to go to the mosque. “But from our standpoint, [it’s] ‘hey, man, where have you been,’ you know?”
“This is the first time you’re visiting a mosque in eight years? Shame on you,” one heckler yelled.
Cuomo did, in actual fact, visited the Futa Islamic Middle within the Bronx final week. However that was the primary to an Islamic home of worship since his marketing campaign started — and it got here after Cuomo was unable, throughout a Democratic main debate earlier this yr, to definitively say he had visited a mosque throughout his time in workplace as Governor.
After the go to, Cuomo informed reporters the hecklers had been “disruptors “despatched by the marketing campaign of Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, himself a Queens Muslim. Mamdani is at present the frontrunner within the mayoral race, which additionally consists of Republican Curtis Sliwa and an impartial bid by present mayor Eric Adams.
“He doesn’t want people to hear the truth,” Cuomo stated. “He especially doesn’t want Muslims to hear the truth, because what he believes is going to be repugnant to the Muslim community. [The] Muslim community are not socialists.”
“The Muslim community does not believe in legalizing prostitution,” Cuomo stated. “It is prohibited in the Quran.”
Talking at a Manhattan occasion Friday afternoon, Mamdani stated his marketing campaign was not concerned, and known as on Cuomo to go to extra mosques.
Initially Revealed: September 19, 2025 at 6:38 PM EDT
