New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack Wednesday by mourning the Israelis killed and abducted before accusing Israel of committing “genocide” and “apartheid” in Gaza, drawing sharp criticism from Israeli diplomats as commemorations were held across New York.
“This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers,” Mamdani wrote in a statement. “It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7.”
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New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani's post marking the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack
(Photo: Screengrab/NYCMayor/X)
Mamdani said Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 people in the attack. “We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss,” he wrote.
But the mayor immediately turned to the war in Gaza, saying “the suffering did not begin nor end that day” and accusing the Israeli government of carrying out a “devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
Mamdani said more than 74,000 Palestinians, including more than 21,000 children, had been killed and claimed more than 1,400 Palestinians had been killed since what he called the “so-called ceasefire.” He also accused Israel of bombing ambulances outside hospitals, targeting residential buildings and journalists with drone strikes and turning away food aid at border crossings.
The figures and allegations were presented by Mamdani in his statement. Israel has rejected accusations that it is committing genocide in Gaza and has said its military targets Hamas and other terrorist groups while seeking to minimize civilian casualties.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani
(Photo: Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
“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,” Mamdani wrote.
He also accused the U.S. government of complicity through arms shipments to Israel.
“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,” he said. “To honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety, and dignity.”
Mamdani issued a similarly structured statement on the anniversary last year. He began then by describing the Hamas attack as a “horrific war crime,” cited the Israeli death toll and said he was praying for the return of the hostages before turning to Gaza and accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government of waging what he called a genocidal war. He also accused the U.S. government of complicity and called for an end to what he described as “occupation and apartheid.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a separate statement Wednesday focused on the victims of the Hamas attack and the Jewish community.
“It’s hard to fathom that it has been three years since the October 7 Hamas massacre,” Hochul wrote. “Three years since the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
“The pain of that dark day has not faded. But neither has the strength, resilience and enduring hope of the Jewish people,” she added. “Today, we remember the innocent lives stolen, stand with the survivors and the families forever changed, and pray for a lasting peace.”
Mamdani’s statement drew condemnation from senior Israeli representatives in the United States.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, accused the mayor of attempting to appropriate the anniversary to attack Israel.
“‘Mamdani-ism’ — an attempt to hijack the anniversary of October 7 and turn it into yet another propaganda attack against Israel,” Danon said. “It is like turning September 11 into a day of mourning for al-Qaeda terrorists.”
“We will remember those who were murdered, and we will never forget who was behind this massacre,” he added.
Ofir Akunis, Israel’s consul general in New York, also sharply criticized Mamdani, saying the mayor “should be ashamed of himself.”
“It’s a shame that on October 7, the day that the Hamas monsters brutally murdered, raped and burned our people alive, Mamdani responded in this way,” Akunis said.
Akunis invited Mamdani to attend a screening later Wednesday of footage documenting atrocities committed during the Hamas attack, saying it was “not too late to come and watch the horror film and see the truth.”
Mamdani was scheduled to attend an anniversary gathering at Union Square later Wednesday organized by Israelis for Peace. Organizers described the event as an evening of “quiet reflection and mourning” for those killed in 2023 and for the “bloody aftermath” of the attack.
After the memorial, Mamdani was scheduled to meet with Palestinian residents of New York, as the mayor sought to engage communities deeply divided over the war.
It was to be Mamdani’s second year attending the Union Square commemoration. He attended the previous year while running for mayor alongside Brad Lander, then New York City comptroller.
In his first statement after the 2023 attack, Mamdani did not explicitly condemn Hamas and focused largely on Israel’s response. He later condemned the killing of civilians and subsequently denounced Hamas directly, calling the Oct. 7 assault a “horrific war crime.”
Pro-Palestinian groups, meanwhile, were organizing campus strikes and a protest outside City Hall on Wednesday, accusing Mamdani of “betraying his values” and bowing to what they described as Zionist pressure.
Memorial events across New York
A series of other events were held across New York to mark three years since the attack.
The Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan organized what it called a “day of remembrance, music and community,” including an exhibition of drawings by Israeli artist Zeev Engelmayer.
UJA-Federation of New York unveiled “Rooted” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, a public installation made from thousands of dog tags and pins bearing messages calling for the return of the hostages.
At 92NY on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of former hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, was taking part in a discussion with Palestinian father Jasser Abu Musa. The conversation was moderated by Claire Shipman, who previously served as acting president of Columbia University.
Former hostage Omer Shem Tov was scheduled to speak Wednesday evening at Yeshiva University’s memorial ceremony, while the Park Slope Jewish Center in Brooklyn was hosting testimony from Atir Vinikov, a survivor of the massacre at the Nova music festival.
Protest targets Jewish organization in London
The anniversary was also marked by tensions outside the United States.
Pro-Palestinian rally in London
(Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)
Earlier Wednesday, masked protesters demonstrated outside the London headquarters of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, hours before the organization was due to host a major memorial event.
The protesters, some draped in Iranian, Palestinian and Irish flags, gathered outside the Board of Deputies’ offices in Camden for about 20 minutes.
They chanted “stop killing babies” and carried signs accusing the organization of genocide denial. Other signs described the umbrella organization representing British Jews as “Israel’s mouthpiece” and a “shield for Israel’s crimes” and accused it of weaponizing antisemitism.