India, Feb. 18 -- Nerdeen Kiswani is a Palestinian-American activist, whose recent remarks about 'dogs' sparked backlash, with NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani getting caught in the crossfire. Kiswani had commented "Finally, NYC is coming to Islam. Dogs definitely have a place in society, just not as indoor pets. Like we've said all along, they are unclean."

She later clarified that her post was satirical, but it had already set off Congressman Randy Fine. The Republican lawmaker remarked on X "If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one."

While he was slammed for the bigoted remark, Fine doubled down, saying "What's truly disgusting is a key Mamdani advisor saying we must give up our dogs because "NYC...