It Would Have Been Best if Mamdani Had Said Nothing on October 7th

(Barry Williams/New York Daily News)

Here is what New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had to say on the third anniversary of the October 7th attacks:

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.

Under the circumstances, it is well worth remember his initial reaction to the attack on October 8, 2023 when he was obscure member of the New York State Legislature:

Three years ago, Mamdani made no mention of Hamas nor the hostages and cast the blame solely on Benjamin Netanyahu while calling for an end to the occupation and to apartheid.

His statement today does acknowledge Hamas' killed Israelis and held hostages, but it is mentioned only in passing. It is incidental to what to the message he wanted to convey. Mamdani's agenda now as it was three years ago is to defame Israel and by extension the Jewish people. 

And by virtue of the office he holds, Mamdani will again succeed in willfully promoting hatred against Jews. It won't be long before Jews are publicly attacked in the streets of NYC. Lest we forget, this is exactly what happened after he singled out Netanyahu as the only world leader not welcome in NYC during the UN General Assembly.

Let us be clear. Mamdani is lying when he claims there is occupation, apartheid and genocide. 

There is no occupation. Gaza has been Judenrein since September 2005 when Mamdani was a boy of 13.

There is no apartheid. If Israel were an apartheid state, then you would not have a Palestinian as a leading member of the Knesset or a Muslim on its Supreme Court let alone serve in the IDF.

There is no genocide. As with many others, Mamdani makes no distinction between Hamas fighters and civilians. While one can lament the civilian death toll, it would be nice if Mamdani told Hamas not to operate in civilian areas effectively using its populace as human shields. 

If Mamdani is truly appalled by genocide, it is peculiar that he has not used his office to defend Uyghur Muslims and Rohingya Muslims who are experiencing genocides at the hands of China and Myanmar, respectively. Of course, Mamdani is uninterested in speaking out on their behalf because he cannot blame Israel or Jews for their misery. Let me put it another way. Would Mamdani ever say Chinese Premier Xi or the Myanmar military junta is unwelcome in NYC?

Frankly, it would have been better had Mamdani not said anything at all today. But for Mamdani discretion is not the better part of valor. For he is man without valor or virtue. Mamdani simply cannot unequivocally condemn Hamas for its actions against Jewish civilians on October 7th. He was a Hamas apologist three years ago and he remains one today.