New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing a firestorm of criticism after issuing a statement on the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel that paired condolences for Israeli victims with an accusation that Israel is committing an "ongoing genocide" in Gaza.
The statement, released Wednesday, marked Mamdani's first October 7 anniversary as mayor and drew immediate backlash from pro-Israel political pundits and elected officials, according to the Washington Examiner.
"This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers," Mamdani said in the statement, which was reported by ABC7 New York. "It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7. On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others. We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss."
But within the same statement, Mamdani pivoted to attacking Israel — writing that "the suffering did not begin nor end that day" and claiming it "continued through the Israeli government's devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians — including more than 21,000 children."
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The response from pro-Israel figures was swift and pointed. Critics argued that Mamdani's decision to couple the October 7 commemoration with an indictment of Israel denied Jewish New Yorkers even a single day of uncomplicated mourning.
Jewish New Yorkers had already signaled their discontent with the mayor's handling of antisemitism. A poll released Tuesday by The Forward found that 65 percent of New York City Jewish voters disapprove of Mamdani's handling of the issue.
One day before the anniversary, Mamdani unveiled a new municipal strategy to fight antisemitism — a plan that faced backlash from Jewish leaders for omitting any mention of Israel, according to reporting from the previous day.
The Israeli consul general in New York, Ofir Akunis, had already extended an invitation to Mamdani to view October 7 footage at an Israeli consulate event. "Perhaps he will stop his relentless incitement, hatred and blood libels against the State of Israel," Akunis said, according to JNS.
The Anti-Defamation League also released a statement in response to Mamdani's remarks, according to ABC7 New York.
Mamdani's planned appearances throughout Wednesday were expected to draw close attention from both supporters and critics, ABC7 reported. Three years after Hamas killed roughly 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, the war in Gaza has killed thousands of Palestinians, and the mayor's framing of the conflict places him sharply at odds with pro-Israel constituencies in his own city.
Our Take
There is no way to read Mamdani's statement and conclude anything other than this: on the one day set aside to remember the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, New York's mayor used his official platform to accuse the Jewish state of genocide, apartheid, and war crimes — and to imply that the city's Jewish residents share complicity in it through their tax dollars.
That is not a both-sides statement. That is a statement that treats Hamas's October 7 atrocities as a footnote and Israel's response as the real crime. Mamdani mentioned the Hamas slaughter in one paragraph and spent the rest of the release piling accusations on the country that was attacked.
The poll numbers tell the story. Two-thirds of Jewish New Yorkers disapprove of how this mayor handles antisemitism — and that was before Wednesday. His antisemitism plan gutted any reference to Israel, which is the only context in which the current wave of anti-Jewish hatred makes any sense at all.
Akunis has offered him the footage. The mayor should sit down, watch it, and then explain to the families of the 1,200 dead why their grief had to share a page with a blood libel.
Americans are watching their cities become hostile territory for Jewish families, and the men elected to protect them are pouring fuel on the fire. Patriots should be asking every candidate on the ballot this November: do you stand with the Jewish families in your district, or do you stand with the mayor who won't let them mourn?
