Key Takeaways:
- On October 7, 2026, protesters at a Union Square vigil for Israeli and Palestinian victims chanted “Traitor!” at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who had stood silently holding a candle.
- Mamdani’s own statement that day called Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide,” yet only 49 of its 211 words addressed the Hamas-led attack that killed more than 1,100 Israelis.
- Dozens of far-left groups said Mamdani allowed NYPD safety perimeters around places of worship, and a joint statement accused him of having “repeatedly capitulated to Zionist pressure.”
When it comes to American politicians hostile toward Israel, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is right up there.
An avowed anti-Zionist, Mamdani has repeatedly accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza, made the Palestinian cause central to his political identity, and even pledged during his campaign to have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested should he visit New York.
Yet on the third anniversary of the October 7 massacre, Mamdani discovered something revealing about the movement with which he has so closely aligned himself:
For some of its most radical elements, even he is not anti-Israel enough.
October 7: A Commemoration or an Indictment of Israel?
Mamdani began October 7 by releasing an official statement commemorating the Hamas-led attack:
“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.”
Only the part in italics (49 words) dealt with the brutal Hamas-led terror attack, the single deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. The rest of his 211-word statement represented an attack on Israel — for essentially defending herself. Mamdani invoked the highly contested accusation of genocide, cited casualty figures reported by Gaza’s Hamas-run health authorities (without acknowledging the distinction between combatants and civilians), and made no mention of Hamas’ use of civilian infrastructure for military purposes, including its extensive tunnel network.
Understandably, Jewish leaders were outraged. The ADL released a statement in response to Mamdani’s and accused him of “weaponizing a day meant for mourning.”
“@NYCMayor, not once do you say ‘Jews.’ On Oct. 7, Hamas-led attackers murdered civilians, committed sexual violence, mutilated bodies and took hostages,” said the ADL. “You are weaponizing a day meant for mourning the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust to recycle your usual antizionist talking points. The city with the largest Jewish population outside Israel deserves a mayor who can honor the dead without exploiting them.”
The Israeli Consulate, which had invited Mamdani to view Oct. 7 footage in the days leading up to the anniversary, issued a fiery statement that said in part:
“The mayor’s statement is a disgrace, shame, and insult to the memory of those who were murdered on October 7. It is still not too late to attend our screening this evening of the October 7 footage and see with your own eyes, for the first time, the monsters you support,” Amb. Ofir Akunis said.
Akunis said “anyone with a heart” should be ashamed of Mamdani’s response.
“Mamdani, displaying a shocking lack of basic humanity, continues to spread antisemitic blood libels against the Jewish state. New York City should be appalled that its mayor shows such contempt for the memory of those who were murdered,” Akunis concluded.
HonestReporting noted that of Mamdani’s 200 word long statement on the anniversary of the massacre, “Israelis murdered and kidnapped that day” got “fewer than a quarter of” the words.
Mayor Mamdani’s October 7 statement is around 200 words long. The Israelis murdered and kidnapped that day get fewer than a quarter of them. Imagine writing an anniversary statement about a massacre and making the victims a supporting detail. So Mr. Mayor, go take your insulting words and shove them where the sun doesn’t shine. https://t.co/Tt7GP8t5vi
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) October 7, 2026
But if Mamdani’s statement was too hostile toward Israel for most Jews, it apparently wasn’t hostile enough for many of his fellow Israel-haters.
“Traitor!” at the Vigil
Later that evening, Mamdani attended a Union Square vigil organized by Israelis for Peace New York, who describe themselves as “Israeli anti-occupation activists in NYC mobilizing for an equal and safe future for both peoples.”
Hardly an unabashedly pro-Israel gathering.
The program included testimonies of people killed on October 7, testimonies of Palestinians killed in Gaza, a Muslim prayer, and the Mourner’s Kaddish.
Mamdani stood solemnly, holding a candle, and did not speak.
But even this was a bridge too far for many of Mamdani’s fellow Israel-haters – some of whom waved banners featuring the red inverted triangle, a recognized Hamas symbol:
Upon learning Mamdani was present, the pro-Palestinian protesters booed and broke into a chant of “Traitor!” and “Zohran, what do you say? How many boots did you lick today?”
One protester yelled at Israelis for Peace organizers: “We don’t want peace with Israelis, bro! We sent your people to hell on October 7.”
Other protesters wielded megaphones and drums while chanting anti-Israel slogans, including “Gaza will be liberated!” and “Israel is a terrorist state!”
Earlier in the evening, protesters were seen grabbing the electric candles intended for the vigil and mockingly singing the Jewish folk song “Hava Nagila.”
Another protester in the vigil area shouted out his disapproval of Mamdani: “He’s 100% Muslim but as of now, he stands as an ambassador of Zionism and U.S. imperialism.”
And someone else carried a poster depicting Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who helped mastermind the attacks on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people three years ago Wednesday.
Organizers of the Oct. 7 vigil Mamdani is attending tonight are unable to start because pro-Palestinian protestors are drowning them out with their chats. Israeli organizers are trying to read testimonies from Israel and Palestinian victims and call the Gaza War a genocide. Protestors have taken seats intended for mourners, and one holds a sign of Sinwar.
— Simone Saidmehr (@saidmehr_simone) October 7, 2026
Mamdani just arrived at an Oct. 7 vigil commemorating Israeli and Palestinian victims that was delayed 40 minutes because of pro-Palestine anti-Mamdani protestors. As Brad Lander reads a testimony from an Israeli victim, protestors chant “we don’t want no 2 state, we want 48” and “traitor”
— Simone Saidmehr (@saidmehr_simone) October 7, 2026
Mamdani is stone-faced as the protesters call him a traitor and sellout. https://t.co/oXducpYsMR
— Peter Sterne (@petersterne) October 8, 2026
“Mamdani your hands are red”: Anti-Zionist protesters chant against Mamdani as he attends October 7 coexistence event https://t.co/ikyL5Fgmov
— Luke Tress (@luketress) October 8, 2026
NOW: "You opportunist piece of shit!" Pro-Palestine protesters shout and rush after Mamdani as he leaves the "Israelis for Peace" vigil in Union Square NYC, Mayor Mamdani has departed and protesters have pushed over the barricades. Video by @yyeeaahhhboiii2 | Licensing @FreedomNTV [email protected]
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) October 8, 2026
A Growing Rift
This hostility at Union Square was not an isolated incident; friction had been building between Mamdani and radical groups for months. Dozens of far-left organizations had already published lists of grievances against him, criticizing his administration for allowing the NYPD to set up safety perimeters around places of worship and for funding anti-hate initiatives that did not require recipient groups to disavow Israel.
In a joint statement, several activist coalitions declared that the mayor had “betrayed his own alleged values” and “repeatedly capitulated to Zionist pressure.”
When Even Zohran Mamdani Fails the Purity Test
There is something deeply instructive about watching Zohran Mamdani being denounced as a Zionist sellout.
This is a politician who has gone further than almost any other major American elected official in embracing the language and allegations of the anti-Israel movement.
This backlash exposes the underlying reality of modern anti-Israel activism: it is a movement governed by absolute ideological purity. It permits no nuance, no room for shared human empathy, and no recognition of Jewish suffering.
Mamdani’s October 7 ordeal should serve as a cautionary tale: When you align yourself with a movement that sees Jewish self-determination as inherently illegitimate, even your most hostile gestures toward Israel will never be enough.
Because for them, the problem isn’t what Israel does — it’s that Israel exists.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
