NYC Mayor Mamdani's statement marking 3 years since Oct. 7 attacks calls out Israeli government's "ongoing genocide"
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released a statement Wednesday to mark three years since the deadly Hamas attack on Israel.
Mamdani's statement, which calls out the Israeli government's "ongoing genocide in Gaza," "war crimes," "occupation," and "apartheid," immediately drew criticism from the Anti-Defamation League.
Mamdani has been a longtime critic of the Israeli government's actions in Gaza.
Previous remarks by Mamdani about the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza recently prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to criticize him at the United Nations General Assembly.
Mamdani's full statement on 3 years since Oct. 7
Here's the full statement the mayor released:
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.
ADL responds to Mamdani
The Anti-Defamation League responded to the mayor's statement within minutes of its release.
"[Mayor Mamdani], not once do you say 'Jews.' On Oct. 7, Hamas-led attackers murdered civilians, committed sexual violence, mutilated bodies and took hostages. 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," Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL posted on social media.
Ofir Akunis, the consul general of Israel in New York, released the following statement:
"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," Akunis said. "Anyone with a heart should be ashamed of the response of the Mayor of New York City to the October 7 massacre. On that day, monsters invaded the State of Israel on a Jewish holiday. Thousands were murdered, hundreds were kidnapped, innocent civilians were beheaded, and women were raped.
"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 added.
CBS News New York has requested an interview with Akunis and is waiting to hear back.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was asked about the mayor's remarks.
"I think that attack will go down in history as one of the most brutal, abhorrent incidences in the history of the region and certainly the world," Hochul said. "So that was an unprovoked attacked on innocent civilians, many of whom were young people dancing at a music festival, or parents stripped from their kids. So I think that that day speaks for itself."
Hochul suggested the focus should be on the events of the day.
"I don't think anything should diminish from this day, this three-year occurrence, because there are a lot of New York families like Omer Neutra's parents from Long Island who are having their wounds reopened as they think about their son kidnapped, that they've been praying for for hundreds of days -- I met with them many times -- only to find out he'd actually been lost on that first day. So it is a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions on so many levels," Hochul said.
What happened on Oct. 7
About 1,200 people were killed in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, and roughly 250 hostages were taken.
Israel responded with an intense aerial and ground military campaign in the Gaza Strip. In the three years since Hamas launched its attack, more than 73,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
This is a developing story.
