Mamdani faces backlash for condemning both Hamas and Israel

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani marked the second anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack by condemning Hamas’ “war crime” while accusing Israel of waging a “genocidal war” in Gaza. The remarks drew swift criticism from Israeli officials and New York politicians, with Israel’s Foreign Ministry accusing him of spreading “Hamas’ fake genocide campaign.”

“Two years ago today, Hamas carried out a horrific war crime, killing more than 1,100 Israelis and kidnapping 250 more,” Mamdani wrote on social media. “I pray for the safe return of every hostage still held and for every family whose lives were torn apart by these atrocities. Yet for two years, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli government have launched a genocidal war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and displaced nearly two million.” His statement also urged an end to U.S. military aid to Israel and called for “accountability under international law.”

Mamdani’s statement echoes the position he stated on “The View” last week: “What we see is a war crime being answered with war crimes. And what we see is, every single hour, the Israeli military killing a Palestinian child for close to two years. I can’t stop that as the mayor of this city. I can make clear my own values, my own commitments.”

Reactions to Mamdani’s statement were overwhelmingly critical, spanning both pro-Israel and some pro-Palestinian voices. Israel’s Foreign Ministry later condemned Mamdani in a public statement, writing that he “has chosen to act as a mouthpiece for Hamas propaganda” and “stands with Jews only when they are dead.” Meanwhile, Fabien Levy, New York City’s deputy mayor for communications, claimed that Zohran’s comment “doesn’t believe in Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and one that criticizes our own government far more than a designated terrorist organization.”

Political commentator Michael Cohen also criticized Mamdani’s message, writing that it included “one anodyne sentence on how murdering Jews is bad,” a reference to what he described as the statement’s muted acknowledgment of Jewish suffering. Meanwhile, Nerdeen Kiswani, chair of Palestinian advocacy group Within Our Lifetime, said his statement “erases decades of siege, occupation, and systematic killing that led to that day,” arguing it framed the conflict “through the language of balance instead of liberation.”