New York City Councilman Zohran Mamdani on Thursday refused to walk back or soften his inflammatory Oct. 7 statement accusing Israel of using the Hamas terror attacks as a pretext for what he labeled a genocide.
Pressed by reporters at a New York City event broadcast by Fox News, Mamdani was asked directly, Is there a line that you would add to your statement? Is there one you would take out? He declined to answer either question, instead framing the anniversary as a day of shared grief for both Israelis and Palestinians.
As reported by Western Journal, Mamdani used the occasion to reiterate his moral equivalence between Hamas atrocities and Israels military response. I believe that there must be room to mourn every single life, he said, according to Fox News. There must be room to mourn the lives of the more than 1,100 that Hamas killed three years ago; there must be room to mourn the 74,000 Palestinians that the Israeli government has killed since.
Mamdani then explicitly linked the date of the attacks to his accusation that Israel is engaged in genocide. We know that it brings up the most horrific memories for so many in the city, and also, for others, it is a day that is continuing, and its in the Israeli governments use of it as a justification for a genocide, he added. His remarks underscored a broader pattern on the left of downplaying or relativizing Hamas terrorism while casting Israel as the primary villain in the conflict.
The statement he was defending had been published on Wednesday, the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks. The Western Journal reported on the statement that day, noting that Mamdanis post began by acknowledging that the date marked three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7, when Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others, and that New York City grieved with neighbors still bearing that loss.
After that brief acknowledgment, however, Mamdani quickly shifted his focus to condemning Israel. The suffering did not begin nor end that day, he wrote. It instead continued through the Israeli governments devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, including more than 21,000 children.
He further claimed that more than 1,400 Palestinians had been killed since what he derisively termed a so-called ceasefire, insisting that New Yorkers tax dollars were underwriting these war crimes. Mamdani concluded his statement by declaring that occupation and apartheid could not be tolerated and asserting that the federal government was complicit with every arms shipment.
His rhetoric has not gone unnoticed by the public, particularly those who see Hamas as a U.S.-designated terrorist organization and Israel as a key American ally. CNN reported that Mamdani was booed upon arrival at an Oct. 7 vigil in Union Square on Wednesday night, an event where many attendees had gathered to remember the Israeli victims of Hamas massacre. His public schedule for that evening also listed a meeting with Palestinian New Yorkers following the vigil, signaling where his political priorities lie.
Israel, for its part, has categorically rejected the genocide allegation and maintains that its military operations are aimed at Hamas and other terrorist groups while attempting to minimize civilian casualties. Israeli officials and many security experts argue that Hamas practice of embedding fighters and weapons among civilians is a primary driver of the tragic death toll in Gaza. From a conservative standpoint, Mamdanis framing ignores both Hamas responsibility for initiating the war and Israels right to defend its citizens against ongoing terror threats.
Despite the mounting criticism and the emotional weight of the anniversary, Mamdani showed no willingness on Thursday to temper his language or correct his figures. Thursdays answers did not revise Wednesdays post, nor did they acknowledge Israels security concerns or the brutality of Hamas actions beyond a cursory mention.
Mamdani kept the death toll he had used, kept the word genocide, and would not say which sentence he would change, if any. His refusal to adjust even a single line underscores a broader ideological rigidity on the far left, where accusations of genocide, apartheid, and war crimes against Israel have become political litmus tests rather than serious legal or moral claims grounded in fact.
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