Mamdani Sparks Jewish Furor With Nakba Day Post
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani drew sharp criticism from leading Jewish groups after posting an official Nakba Day video on Friday that presented a certain narrative of Israel’s 1948 War of Independence.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani drew sharp criticism from leading Jewish groups after posting an official Nakba Day video on Friday that presented a one-sided Palestinian narrative of Israel’s 1948 War of Independence.
The video, released shortly before Shabbat, featured New York resident Inea Bushnaq, described as a “Nakba survivor,” discussing her family’s flight from Jerusalem. On-screen text defined Nakba as the “catastrophe” and said it referred to the displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians during Israel’s founding and the following year.
The video said Israeli forces destroyed more than 400 Palestinian villages and cities, killed thousands of Palestinians and carried out dozens of massacres. It concluded by stating that, for Palestinians, “their displacement and the Nakba continue to this day.”
Jewish organizations and elected officials denounced the video, arguing that it erased key parts of the 1948 war, including the Arab rejection of the UN partition plan, the invasion by Arab armies, attacks on Jewish communities, the ethnic cleansing of Jews from parts of Jerusalem, and the expulsion of more than 800,000 Jews from Arab countries after Israel’s founding.
The UJA-Federation of New York wrote that the Palestinian refugees Mamdani highlighted “exist because 22 Arab states launched a war to destroy Israel” after rejecting the UN plan that also called for a Palestinian state.
“In its aftermath, 800,000 Jews were expelled from Arab lands. Your post mentions none of this,” the group said, also criticizing Mamdani for posting the video shortly before Jewish New Yorkers lit Shabbat candles. “We noticed.”
The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York also criticized the video. CEO Mark Treyger said presenting the history without mentioning the UN partition plan and Arab rejectionism did nothing to advance understanding, particularly amid rising antisemitism and recent threats against Jewish communities in the city.
Mamdani’s video was released as hardline anti-Israel groups held Nakba Day rallies in Manhattan, where demonstrators waved a Hezbollah flag, stomped on Israeli flags and called for Israel’s destruction.
The backlash came shortly after Mamdani thanked law enforcement for arresting an alleged terrorist accused of plotting to attack a New York synagogue on behalf of Iran’s anti-Zionist regime. Mamdani said then that antisemitism, violent extremism and terrorism have no place in the city.
Critics said the Nakba video contradicted that message by using city resources to amplify a narrative they argue fuels hostility toward Jews and Israel. Mamdani, a longtime anti-Zionist, has repeatedly clashed with mainstream Jewish organizations, including over his refusal to march in the upcoming Israel Day on Fifth parade and his cancellation of city orders related to Israel and antisemitism.