A Hunter College graduate who went viral for tearing down posters of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas later secured an internship in the office of New York Assemblyman and current mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, records show, as reported [1] by The New York Post.
Frances Macalimbon Hamed, who was widely identified online in 2023 after a video showed her ripping down posters near Hunter’s Upper East Side campus, worked as a “constituent-services intern” in Mamdani’s Queens legislative office.
The footage, released shortly after the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack, was amplified by watchdog group StopAntisemitism and spread quickly across social media platforms.
🚨 WATCH: Zohran Mamdani’s intern, Frances Hamed, caught tearing down posters of hostages held by Hamas just days after the October 7 massacre.
The Hunter College graduate was honored with a fellowship by her school AFTER she was exposed tearing down posters of innocent babies… pic.twitter.com/sPdaCpjusD [2]
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) September 28, 2025 [3]
Mamdani’s campaign confirmed Tuesday that Hamed had interned in his Assembly office but maintained that his staff was not aware of her involvement in the viral incident at the time of her hiring.
“This individual is and has never been employed by the Mamdani campaign,” a spokesperson said. “She was not employed by the Assembly office when this occurred, nor did they know of this video or this incident when she was hired.”
According to a profile on Hunter’s website, Hamed worked in Mamdani’s office from February through May, where she assisted district residents with case-management services, including unemployment and housing concerns.
