City mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani, who faced fierce backlash after declining to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” told a group of business leaders this week he decided to discourage its use after a recent conversation with a Jewish woman who told him the phrase evoked memories of violence.

Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani said during a Thursday night TV interview that he now discourages using the phrase “globalize the intifada” as he seeks to quell a weeks-long controversy over his repeated refusal to condemn a slogan that many Jewish New Yorkers see as an incitement to violence.