Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani lambasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for launching “a genocidal war” in a Tuesday statement reflecting on the anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel.
Mamdani, a self-avowed socialist, briefly condemned the “horrific war crime” carried out by Hamas in a statement posted to X. After criticizing the Israeli government in the statement, Mamdani added that the U.S. government “has been complicit through it all.”
“Two years ago today, Hamas carried out a horrific war crime, killing more than 1,100 Israelis and kidnapping 250 more,” Mamdani wrote in the statement. “I mourn these lives and pray for the safe return of every hostage still held and for every family whose lives were torn apart by these atrocities.”
“In the aftermath of that day, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli government launched a genocidal war: a death toll that now far exceeds 67,000; with the Israeli military bombing homes, hospitals, and schools into rubble,” Mamdani continued. “Every day in Gaza has become a place where grief itself has run out of language. I mourn these lives and pray for the families that have been shattered. Our government has been complicit through it all.”
Mamdani wrote further that the “occupation and apartheid must end.” He added that “peace must be pursued through diplomacy, not war crimes,” also calling for the U.S. government to “hold those responsible to account.”
“These last two years have demonstrated the very worst of humanity,” the Democratic mayoral candidate wrote. “We must answer it by modeling the very best: a relentless pursuit of our higher ideals and an unwavering commitment to universal human rights.”
Fabien Levy, deputy mayor for communications for current New York City Mayor Eric Adams, blasted Mamdani’s statement in a Tuesday post to X.
“Just to be clear, this is not a statement about October 7,” Levy wrote in the social media post. “This is a statement about how much Zohran doesn’t believe in Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and one that criticizes our own government far more than a designated terrorist organization.”
Moreover, New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik called Mamdani’s statement “heinous” in an X post on Tuesday afternoon.
Mamdani’s comments come after he has repeatedly faced criticism over his anti-Israel stance. He has also previously failed to directly condemn the controversial phrase “globalize the intifada,” which is widely seen as a call to violence against Jews.
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