Mamdani angers Jewish groups by calling Israel’s actions in Gaza ‘genocide’ in Oct. 7 comments
By JOSEPH STRAUSS
(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani angered some in the mainstream Jewish community with his tribute both to Israelis killed by Hamas attackers in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and to Palestinians killed in the Gaza war that followed.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani appears at a news conference on September 14, 2026, in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Wednesday “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,” the mayor said in an X post. “We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss.”
He went on, however, to say that the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presided over an “ongoing genocide in Gaza,” saying that Israel “has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians — including more than 21,000 children.”
Mamdani continued, “Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment.”
The mayor is set to attend a vigil commemorating the anniversary Wednesday night and then meet afterwards with Palestinian New Yorkers.
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, quickly put out a statement on X pushing back on the mayor’s statement.
“Not once do you say ‘Jews,’” he wrote. “On Oct. 7, Hamas-led attackers murdered civilians, committed sexual violence, mutilated bodies and took hostages. You are weaponizing a day meant for mourning the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust to recycle your usual antizionist talking points.”
He added, “The city with the largest Jewish population outside Israel deserves a mayor who can honor the dead without exploiting them.”
The mayor’s statement also drew fury from Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, who has sought to work with Mamdani and to persuade others in the community that dialogue is better than confrontation.
“He gave Hamas a single sentence and then spent the rest of his statement condemning Israel,” Jacobs said in a statement. “You cannot proclaim empathy and care for the Jewish community and then fail to show basic humanity toward us in our grief. Turning this anniversary into an indictment of the Jewish state is not only hurtful, and deeply offensive, but it also makes Jewish New Yorkers less safe.”
The Israeli-American Council also criticized Mamdani’s words. “Mamdani chose, once again, to use the day to accuse Israel of ‘genocide.’ That claim is demonstrably false. The IDF has taken extraordinary steps to minimize civilian casualties,” the council said, referring to the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza.
“This is not a one-time lapse. Every year, on the anniversary of the day our community buries its dead, the mayor reaches for the same blood libel against the Jewish state,” the group continued. “The mayor’s job is to keep New Yorkers safe and ensure Jewish and Israeli residents can mourn without their grief being hijacked for a political attack.”
Mamdani was not the only prominent New York politician marking the day with tributes to Hamas victims as well as to Palestinians killed in the war.
Democrat Brad Lander, favored to win a congressional seat next month, said on X that there was room to mourn the dead on all sides. “On this third anniversary of October 7th, a good start is to try to resist the flattening of empathy, to let ourselves weep for all the lives lost, the children killed, the families torn apart, the homes destroyed,” said Lander, who is Jewish.
The mayor has called himself an anti-Zionist and has criticized the Israeli government sharply for its military actions in Gaza. That position on Israel has caused deep concern among members of the city’s Jewish community, the largest in the U.S.
Since his election, Mamdani has faced the political challenge of addressing concerns among Jewish New Yorkers about his opposition to Zionism while maintaining support among voters who share his anti-Zionist views.
Another New York Democrat likely to win election to Congress, Darializa Avila Chevalier, devoted the bulk of a long tweet to commemorating “Israel’s nearly 80 years of violent oppression of Palestinians,” referring only briefly to Hamas’ victims, without naming the terrorist group. “Three years ago today, 1,100 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage,” she said. “My heart is with those who lost loved ones and felt the pain of that day.”
Mamdani’s statement drew condemnation from officials in both the Israeli government and the Trump administration.
Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, accused Mamdani of exploiting the memory of Oct. 7 victims to villainize the Jewish state.
“‘Mamdani-ism’ – an attempt to hijack the anniversary of October 7 and turn it into yet another propaganda attack against Israel,” Danon said on X. “It is like turning September 11 into a day of mourning for al-Qaeda terrorists.”
Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, called Mamdani’s statement an “outrageous & disgusting rant” in a post on X. “An apology for his obtuse and utterly ignorant remarks are not enough. God help the people of New York for electing a jihadist sympathizer!,” Huckabee stated.
About 1,200 people, including Israelis and foreign nationals, were killed in Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, most of them civilians, with another 251 taken hostage, according to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Another 472 soldiers have been killed in combat since ground operations in Gaza began, according to the Israel Defense Forces. In the ensuing war in Gaza, more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. The war has reshaped the region and reverberated around the world.
This is a developing story.
