He’s hot for tin foil hats.
The co-founder of the viral campaign “Hot Girls for Zohran” pushed bonkers anti-Israel conspiracy theories online claiming the country was involved with 9/11 and the assassination of John F. Kennedy, according to a report.
Kaif Gilani, aka Kaif Kabir— who kickstarted the popular social media, merchandising and volunteer movement boosting Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral bid — promoted wild tweets attacking Israel, including from known Holocaust denier Ian Carroll, according to the Jewish Insider.
In January 2025, just a few months before launching the “Hot Girls” group, Gilani shared a post from Carroll bizarrely implicating the lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee in JFK’s murder.
“AIPAC purchased the seats of about 90% or more of our current congress. JFK famously wanted them registered as a foreign agent right before he was shot,” the X post from Carroll declared.
It went on to promote the long-debunked “dancing Israelis” conspiracy theory— which falsely claims the agents Mossad, the nation’s national intelligence agency, had advanced knowledge of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
“We are told Israel is our ‘greatest ally’ so why would they have had a massive spy network targeting US government agencies leading up to sep 11, 2001,” proclaimed the post, shared on Gilani’s X account, @chunkyfila.
Gilani — who was later hired as the highest paid consultant for former City Comptroller Brad Lander’s congressional bid —then shared another anti-Israel post in May, Jewish Insider reported.
“‘Israel has a right to exist’ is a racist, anti-Palestinian dog whistle which implies the extermination of the Palestinian People” he retweeted.
Gilani, who has called Israel a “settler project country,” also has a pinned post at the top of his Instagram featuring an image of protesters waving the slogan “long live Palestine.”
It shows the whole territory of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip wrapped in a keffiyeh with no boundary lines.
Last year, “Hot Girls for Zohran” — known for its signature T-shirts bearing chunky orange font with the the slogan — began organizing viral events, including a Mamdani lookalike contest that was covered by Vanity Fair.
Founded in March 2025, the group quickly became a playful political canvassing movement designed to appeal to Gen-Zers, complete with celebrities like Emily Ratajkowski and Reneé Rapp rocking the T-shirts.
In a photo posted to Substack, the Big Apple’s now-mayor can be seen posing with with Gilani and holding up one of the tees.
Lander’s campaign later paid $15,000 to Gilani’s firm, Brain Child LLC, to work on its “website and social media,” according to the Jewish Insider.
A representative for Lander, a self-proclaimed progressive Zionist, said Wednesday he was unaware of the posts at the time his campaign hired Gilani’s company.
“We were not aware of [Gilanti’s] anonymous account,” Lander’s spokeswoman, Lauren Hitt, told The Post. “We severed his relations with the campaign when we became aware.”
“The campaign consultant doesn’t represent Brad’s views,” she said, adding that Lander has condemned Hamas.
Hot Girls for Zohran, which was co-founded by Cait Camelia, has since undergone a “rebranding” with the new name Hot Girls Organize. Its new slogans include, “Hot Girls Melt ICE” and others fighting climate change and AI, according to Gothamist.
Gilani didn’t return The Post’s request for comment Wednesday.
— Additional reporting by Hannah Fierick
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