NYT (“For Mamdani, Oct. 7 Anniversary Sets Off Anger and Bitterness“):
It seemed inevitable that the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks would touch off tensions for Zohran Mamdani, a longtime critic of Israel and the first Muslim mayor of a city that is 12 percent Jewish.
But Wednesday erupted with such anger and emotion that it seemed to overwhelm any efforts to solemnly mark the deadliest day in Israeli history.
Mr. Mamdani began the day shortly before 9 a.m. by issuing a statement that was meant to acknowledge the Oct. 7 anniversary but almost immediately caused an uproar among some Jewish leaders, who said it minimized Israeli suffering in the Hamas-led attacks.
It took a turn roughly 12 hours later at a vigil organized by Israeli peace activists in Union Square in Manhattan, where pro-Palestinian demonstrators disrupted the event to jeer the mayor. He appeared ashen and upset as he left, without addressing the crowd, flanked by his security detail as he walked to a waiting S.U.V. at 8:50 p.m.
[…]
The mayor, who is known for his broad, effervescent smile, seemed especially stung by the opposition to him expressed by the pro-Palestinian crowd in Union Square, given his consistent support of their cause.
During the vigil, he stared stone-faced, and at times looked crestfallen, as the activists chanted in support of Hamas, called for the deaths of Israeli soldiers and denounced him as a “traitor,” many citing his meetings with President Trump or his efforts to build ties with Jewish leaders.
“Zohran, you coward!” someone yelled from the crowd, which numbered in the hundreds. Others yelled, “Zohran is a sellout!”
Mr. Mamdani’s day seemed carefully planned to avoid such spectacle. He spurned a politically freighted invitation from Israel’s consul general in New York to watch a 47-minute film showing footage from the Oct. 7 attacks, choosing instead to join the evening vigil hosted by Israelis for Peace, which was attended by many of his progressive Jewish allies. He then held a private meeting with Palestinian New Yorkers at Hind’s Hall, a Palestinian restaurant on the Upper West Side, to end the day.
But it was clear by midday that his statement had caused deep anger among many Jewish New Yorkers.
Unlike the statements issued by the governor and other elected leaders, Mr. Mamdani’s remarks focused far more on the suffering of Palestinians than on the killings of roughly 1,200 people and the abduction of 251 hostages in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. His words, which startled even some of his allies, acknowledged that the day was “profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers” but then pivoted to a denunciation of Israel for what he called the “devastating, ongoing genocide” in Gaza.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, according to a count from Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but which includes thousands of children.
“The suffering did not begin nor end that day,” Mr. Mamdani said, referring to Oct. 7, adding: “That suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, every drone strike targeting a residential building or journalist, and every shipment of food aid turned away at a border crossing.”
He did not provide a similarly detailed account of the Oct. 7 attacks.
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, the president of the New York Board of Rabbis, said Mr. Mamdani’s statement was “morally perverse” and “like sticking a knife into the pain of the Jewish community in New York and in America.”
POLITICO (“Mamdani draws bipartisan backlash for criticizing Israel on Oct. 7 anniversary“) adds:
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s statement marking the third anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel sparked outrage Wednesday — and racked up millions of views on social media.
Mamdani is a longtime critic of Israel and has been especially fervent in decrying its treatment of Palestinians since the 2023 attack. But his anniversary statement garnered particularly pointed pushback because of its timing, with critics arguing Wednesday was the kind of occasion when elected leaders should avoid divisiveness.
[…]
The statement had garnered more than 11 million views on X by Wednesday evening — and the backlash was broad, sparking condemnations even from some fellow Democrats who hold differing views on the conflict.
Rep. Dan Goldman, a New York Democrat, called it “egregious and insulting.”
“There are 364 days of the year to focus on that. This is a day that should just be focused on what was by all agreement a horrific terror attack,” Goldman, who’s Jewish, told POLITICO. “What the mayor’s statement did today was to blame Israelis for the attack that they suffered three years ago. Regardless of what you actually think of the conflict and what’s happened either since or before, there’s no excuse for victim blaming.”
[…]
Mamdani’s office declined to comment on the wave of pushback. He denies harboring any antisemitic views and has pointed to his decision to boost city funding for hate crimes prevention programs in arguing he’s committed to stamping out anti-Jewish attacks.
Prominent Jewish groups in New York City, though, have cycled through near constant outrage at the mayor’s criticism of Israel, arguing it has inflamed antisemitism and hate crimes against local Jews.
[…]
Mamdani’s rhetoric stood out from more moderate Democratic elected officials in New York like Gov. Kathy Hochul, who raised an Israeli flag above the State Capitol in Albany and issued a statement focused only on remembering the victims of the Oct. 7 attack.
Here’s the full statement, which was posted to the NYC mayor’s website and its X page:
This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. 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.
The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead 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. Even since the so-called ceasefire, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed. That suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, every drone strike targeting a residential building or journalist, and every shipment of food aid turned away at a border crossing. Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them – all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes.
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.
To honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety, and dignity.
My reaction is much the same as Goldman’s. There’s nothing here that Mamdani hasn’t said multiple times before, including during his campaign for mayor. But the timing is outrageous.
On the third anniversary of the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Mamdani devotes a single sentence to the slaughter by way of throat-clearing before launching an attack on them. Said attack is many times the length of the faux sympathy for the Jewish victims.
Looking through his social feeds, he loves to celebrate even relatively niche events. Just this past week,
- “Last night, the People’s House was filled with joy and abundance as we celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival under the glow of the Harvest Moon. From Chinese mooncakes to Korean songpyeon and Vietnamese lanterns, East and South Asian communities bring the depth, breadth, and richness of their cultures to our city every day.”
- “On Sunday, I was honored to visit Our Lady Salam, the first Arabic-speaking Lutheran parish on Staten Island. Its congregants hail from as close as Hylan Boulevard to as far as Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt — yet have planted roots in our city. Many carry the weight of war and genocide daily.”
- “Today, on World Teachers’ Day, we celebrate the teachers, educators, and child care providers who care for the future of New York and invest in our children every day. New York City doesn’t move without our teachers. We are grateful for their work today and every day.”
- “New York City, wetin dey sup? It was a joy to commemorate 34 years of the Nigerian Day Parade alongside the many Nigerian New Yorkers who fill our city with life. From the entrepreneurs whose businesses strengthen our neighborhoods, to the sounds of Afrobeats pouring out of graduation parties in Southeast Queens, and the aroma of Agege bread calling out to passersby in Brooklyn — the impact of Nigerian New Yorkers is felt across the five boroughs.”
- “Hispanic New Yorkers give our city its flavor, sound, and style. Where else can you savor the aromas of chaufa and champurrado on the same block? Hear Mixtec and Quechua on the same train? See a Dominican barber give a Venezuelan kid a fade, a life lesson, and a new accent in one visit? At last night’s Hispanic Heritage celebration at Gracie Mansion, we celebrated it all.”
- “Every year, the @fdny honors its fallen with an incredible service at the Firemen’s Memorial on Riverside Drive. It was an immense honor to be there and remember those who devoted their lives to protecting our city, the families who make enormous, unseen sacrifices, and every member of New York’s Bravest who do the extraordinary to protect our city every single day.”
The last of these came on the same day he issued the statement regarding October 7.
Notice that, in none of the other cases, did he introduce negatives to take away from the occasion. He didn’t diminish the Mid-Autumn Festival, Nigerian Day, or Hispanic Heritage Day by talking about East Asian, Nigerian, and Hispanic organized crime syndicates. Or corruption and systemic racism within FDNY. Because that would have been wildly inappropriate in the moment. There are 364 other days of the year to make policy arguments.
The obvious answer is antisemitism, but I don’t think that’s it either. Indeed, among the many commemorations Mamdani posted last week was this:
- “Last week, I was invited into the homes of Jewish New Yorkers across the city to celebrate the holiday of Sukkot. It was a pleasure to be welcomed into these sukkot, in a beautiful tradition rooted in gratitude, gathering, humility and community.”
But he sure as hell appears to be tone deaf regarding October 7.
