ALBANY – Mayor Zohran Mamdani was scorched by his ex-Assembly colleague, now-US Rep. Mike Lawler, for skipping Sunday’s Israel Day Parade in New York City.
“I think it’s f–king embarrassing and shameful,” Lawler told reporters in Albany, when asked about Hizzoner’s glaring absence at the annual celebration that drew tens of thousands of revelers — including the state’s top Democrats — along Fifth Avenue.
“He can have his views on foreign policy, but you still go in support of your Jewish-American New Yorkers who are increasingly under attack, who have seen violent hate crimes rise, who have been targeted outside of synagogue and yeshiva, who have been assaulted,” the Republican congressman said, on an unrelated trip to the state Capitol.
Rep. Mike Lawler marching in the Israel Day parade in Manhattan on May 31, 2026. Aristide Economopoulos for NY Post
“And he goes and rides a bicycle. Are you f–king kidding me? Take the training wheels off and be a big boy,” he added, referring to the staunchly anti-Israel mayor’s decision to gallivant around the city on a bicycle Sunday instead.
Lawler, a swing-district Republican from Rockland County, represents a significant Jewish constituency and has made criticisms of the mayor a theme of his re-election campaign.