Pro-Palestinian protesters berated New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for attending a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night for the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.
Protesters made lots of noise at the event, hosted by Israelis for Peace, which describes itself as “Israeli anti-occupation activists in NYC mobilizing for an equal and safe future for both peoples.”
Wednesday’s event, the group said, was for “somber mourning” with a “demand to end the bloodshed in Gaza and the West Bank.”
In other words, the group is pretty closely aligned with what Mamdani posted on social media earlier in the day, when he wrote, “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.”
But he then accused Israel’s government of engaging in an “ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
“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,” the mayor said.
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.
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) October 7, 2026
You can’t get much more pro-Palestinian than describing Israel as an occupying nation engaging in genocide.
Let’s have a reality check here.
When the British ended their governance of Palestine in 1948, there were about 1.2 million Arabs living in the territory, which included Gaza and the West Bank, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
The United Nations partitioned the land between the Jews and Arabs — in other words, a two-state solution — and Israel established its own government on May 14, 1948.
In Israel proper today, there are 2 million Arabs, making up one-fifth of the population, CNN reported in 2023. They serve in the Israeli Defense Forces, Israel’s parliament, and all aspects of society.
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Additionally, the Gaza Strip has a population of 2.4 million, and the Palestinian population in the West Bank is about 3.3 million.
If the Israelis intended to engage in genocide, they have done a very poor job, because the Palestinian population is nearly five times larger than it was in 1948. In other words, it’s not much smaller than the Jewish population, which is at 7.9 million.
Nonetheless, Wednesday’s pro-Palestinian protesters chanted, “Mamdani, you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide.”
Other chants included, “Mayor Mamdani take a stand, stop the sale of stolen land,” and even “Shame on you,” the New York Post said.
At an Oct. 7 vigil for Israelis and Palestinians organized by Israelis, a testimony from a Palestinian victim is read. Mamdani watches on as pro-Palestine protestors hold photos of Sinwar and scream “Mamdani you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide.” https://t.co/vsOiH08p2R
— Simone Saidmehr (@saidmehr_simone) October 7, 2026
Protesters also held up signs of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who orchestrated the Oct. 7 attacks. The Israeli military killed him in October 2024.
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
After attending Wednesday’s candlelight vigil, Mamdani went to uptown New York to Hinds Hall by Ayat, a Palestinian restaurant, where he met with Palestinian families, according to the New York Post.
Israeli journalist Neria Kraus posted a picture of the menu from the restaurant. It has a map on the first page featuring “the Land of Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza,” while also “completely erasing the Hebrew Israeli cities.”
“No Tel Aviv or Eilat, for example. This is Mamdani’s message tonight,” she noted, according to a translation.
In other words, “From the river to sea, Palestine will be free.”
ממדני הלך הערב לציין את אירועי 7 באוקטובר במסעדה פרו פלסטינית באפר ווסט סייד. מקום חדש יחסית, צילמתי שם את התפריט שמציג בעמוד הראשון שלו את מפת ארץ ישראל, הגדה המערבית ועזה, תוך מחיקה מוחלטת של הערים הישראליות העבריות. אין תל אביב או אילת, לדוגמה. זה המסר של ממדני הלילה https://t.co/Sg0dQKxoVv
— Neria Kraus (@NeriaKraus) October 8, 2026
Mamdani gets a little bit of credit for at least acknowledging the Oct. 7 attack was tragic, but his overall theme of the day was pro-Palestinian and anti-Jewish.
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