That’s the defence being employed by supporters of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the wake of the stabbings of two people on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Only two days earlier, in a direct-to-camera video put out by his office, Mamdani had spewed forth yet another anti-Zionist tirade. His support for the eradication of the one Jewish state on the planet is no secret. Anti-Zionists may claim to be merely opposed to the existence of a Jewish state and not in favour of violence against Jews. But during and after some of the most bitterly contested elections in U.S. history, such as the ones we’ve seen in the last decade, no widespread political violence ensued.