UNION SQUARE, Manhattan (WABC) — Mayor Zohran Mamdani defended his Oct. 7 statement on Thursday after facing criticism from some members of the city’s Jewish community over remarks that referenced both Israelis killed in the Oct. 7 attacks and Palestinians killed in Gaza.
Mamdani appeared at a news conference in Bushwick on grants to nonprofits Thursday morning, less than 12 hours after demonstrators interrupted a vigil in Union Square for the hundreds of Israelis killed on Oct. 7.
The mayor was escorted past angry pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the vigil as chants echoed through the streets, with some calling him a “traitor.”
CeFaan Kim has more on the day of remembrances and protests across the city.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Mamdani said:
“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. 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.”
Speaking Thursday, Mamdani said he stood by those remarks and rejected suggestions that he should apologize.
“It is critically important to be able to mourn for all of those who were killed—and have been killed since. Especially given that we know this is ongoing, as opposed to something simply that was three years ago,” he said.
The mayor’s reference to the Israeli military response to Oct. 7 in a statement marking the anniversary drew criticism from some in the city’s Jewish community. Mamdani defended his position Thursday.
“We need not choose between which death we will mourn and which we will ignore, that we will reckon with the fact that all of it is to be opposed,” he said.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin said she disagreed with the mayor’s approach.
“I believe October 7th should focus on the events of October 7th, not on the aftermath, but on the events of October 7th—just as I believe on September 11th, we should focus on the events of September 11th, and that’s where I put my focus,” she said.
The exchange highlighted differing views among city leaders over how Oct. 7 should be commemorated and discussed.
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