Mamdani calls Gaza war "genocide" in Oct. 7 message, drawing outrage from Jewish advocates

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani was booed on Wednesday night at a candlelight vigil in Union Square marking three years since the Oct. 7 attack, the New York Post reports.

According to the paper, anti-Israel protesters who accuse the mayor of "betraying" the Palestinian cause since taking office marched from City Hall to the vigil, organized by Israelis for Peace to honor Israeli victims of Hamas and Palestinians killed in the war that followed. 

The Post says some waved Hamas and Hezbollah flags. Protesters shouted "Coward!" and "Zohran, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide."

Holding a candle, Mamdani remained stoic beside former city comptroller Brad Lander. Tamar Glazerman, co-founder of Israelis for Peace, described "a difficult night, heckled by a few hundred counter-protesters" and said it was "verbally very violent." An attendee who declined to give her name lamented "zero nuance."

Earlier in the day, about 125 people gathered outside City Hall to criticize the mayor's stance, the Post says. Mamdani then went to a Palestinian restaurant in uptown Manhattan to meet Palestinian families, according to sources cited by the paper.

A statement that sparked controversy

That morning, Mamdani issued a statement on Oct. 7 saying Hamas "killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others," but devoted most of the text to the war in Gaza, which he called an ongoing "genocide." The Post reports that Jewish groups accuse him of "weaponizing" a day of mourning.

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt criticized him on X for not once saying "Jews." Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, told the paper the mayor is "trying to hijack the day," calling him "dangerous and sophisticated."