Mamdani’s Oct. 7 Statement Draws Backlash and Protests

On the third anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani mourned the roughly 1,200 people killed and 251 abducted, while calling Israel’s war in Gaza an ongoing genocide and criticizing U.S. support for the campaign. His statement drew condemnation from Jewish leaders, Democratic lawmakers including Rep. Jared Moskowitz, pro-Israel officials including Israel’s U.S. ambassador, and others who said it minimized victims’ suffering or politicized the day; some progressive Jewish groups supported him, while pro-Palestinian activists criticized the statement as insufficient. Gov. Kathy Hochul described the attack as an unprovoked assault on civilians, and Palestinian death toll estimates cited in the debate exceeded 70,000. At a Manhattan vigil, pro-Palestinian demonstrators disrupted the gathering and jeered Mamdani, with protests also taking place near Columbia and NYU. Separately, Philadelphia Jewish organizations condemned a planned anniversary demonstration in Rittenhouse Square, saying its slogans appeared to celebrate the attack and urging a day of mourning and remembrance.