People on social media were enraged after moderators at New York City’s first mayoral primary debate singled out candidate Zohran Mamdani with pointed questions about Israel, widely seen as an attempt to undermine his support for Palestinian rights.

A moderator jumped in to ask whether Mamdani would ever visit Israel, to which he said he is concerned with Jewish New Yorkers’ worries and would meet them wherever they are in the city.

This was followed up with a question that many online found off-topic - Does Mamdani think Israel has a right to exist? Mamdani said that he believes Israel “has a right to exist as a state with equal rights”.

This brought upon criticism from both Cuomo and the moderators, who were angered by Mamdani’s choice not to say that it should exist “as a Jewish state”.

New Yorkers and observers alike took to social media in frustration, saying that the moderators’ inclusion of the question was to apply pressure on Mamdani’s stance on Israel, which many believe was “Islamophobic” and “racist”.