Toni Rabin is an 83-year-old Upper West Sider who lived in Israel in the 1970s. She calls herself a progressive who has attended protests against President Donald Trump. But like many New York Jews, she gets unnerved by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m burying my head in the sand a bit, because it\u2019s a little too much for me to handle,\u201d she admitted. She timed her arrival for her swim at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan to coincide with the commemoration of the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas in southern Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should never forget,\u201d she said. \u201cWe already have forgotten so much about the Holocaust, and there are very few people left who can speak about it anymore. They\u2019re dying out. \u2026 So, we have to remember the horrific event that took place, the shock.\u201d<\/p>\n
She spoke over the sound of a cellist who performed for a small crowd in a lobby that was otherwise packed with small children having lunch with grownups. There was art on display by the Israeli artist Zeev Engelmayer from his \u201cStrokes of Hope\u201d exhibition.<\/p>\n
Throughout the city, New Yorkers found themselves coping with the intense memories of learning about the 1,200 people, mostly Israelis but also foreign nationals, slain in Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the majority of them civilians. Meanwhile, Palestinian residents and their supporters mourned the more than 74,000 Palestinians killed in the ensuing Gaza war, according to Gaza\u2019s Ministry of Health.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, Mamdani posted a statement on X in which he paid tribute both to Israelis killed by Hamas attackers in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and to Palestinians killed in the Gaza war that followed.\u00a0<\/p>\n