SDJW staff roundup
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani sparked outrage among Jewish commentators after they read his message posted on X about the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that left approximately 1,200 Israelis dead and another 251 taken hostage.
“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.”
The Anti-Defamation League’s CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt wrote this response, also on X.
“@NYCMayor, 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.”
Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the New York City-based Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, messaged: “Mayor Mamdani cannot give Jewish New Yorkers even a single day to mourn without gaslighting us and appropriating the trauma of Oct. 7. He expresses sympathy at rising antisemitism while accusing Israel of deliberately killing children, bombing hospitals and committing ‘genocide.’ His rhetoric fuels hostility toward Jewish New Yorkers. Today, he could have honored the victims and promoted peace and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians. Instead, he chose to incite hatred.”
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San Diego Jewish World staff report