NYC's Mamdani accuses Israel of genocide on Oct. 7 anniversary

NY Mayor Zohran Mamdani sparked outrage Wednesday with a post on X marking three years since the October 7 massacre. Mamdani opened with condolences for the victims of Hamas, then quickly turned the message into a sweeping indictment of Israel and its conduct in Gaza.

"This day is especially painful for so many New Yorkers: it marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7th," Mamdani wrote. "On that day, Hamas killed over 1,100 Israelis and kidnapped 251 more. We mourn alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry the unfathomable loss."

But he immediately abandoned any focus on the massacre's victims and launched into a sharp attack on Israel. "The suffering did not begin or end on that day," Mamdani claimed. "It has continued into the devastating and ongoing genocide being carried out by the Israeli government in Gaza, a genocide in which over 74,000 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 21,000 children." He added that "even since the so-called 'ceasefire', over 1,400 Palestinians have been killed."

Mamdani went on to level a series of grave accusations against the IDF, claiming that "the suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, with every drone strike aimed at residential buildings or at journalists and with every food aid shipment blocked at the border crossing." He drew further anger when he said New Yorkers are mourning "knowing that our tax dollars are funding these war crimes."

The speaker closed his post with an explicit call against Israel and US support: "Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world where occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes go unpunished, and where our federal government remains complicit through every arms shipment." According to Mamdani, "to honor the dead, we must fight for a world where every person can live in freedom, security, and dignity."

In recent months, Mamdani has attempted to improve his standing with the Jewish community in the city, and even visited a Chabad activist's sukkah in Crown Heights during the holiday of Sukkos.

In late September, Mamdani released a comprehensive 35-page report aimed at combating antisemitism in the city, backed by a $29 million budget. But the report drew political backlash after it emerged that it contained no reference to the State of Israel or to antisemitism stemming from the Middle East conflict.