Israel's US envoy rebukes Mamdani over his October 7 anniversary statement

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued a statement marking the anniversary of the October 7 attack, and it quickly drew criticism in Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported that Mamdani wrote that the suffering neither started nor ended on October 7, and that it went on through what he called Israel's genocide in Gaza.

Israel's ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, responded on X. The Times of Israel reported that Leiter called the mayor a "defender of Palestinian terrorism" and a "promoter of antisemitism," and also accused him of advocating anti-Americanism. Leiter wrote that he was posting from the bedside of his son, Neria, who is on life support. According to The Times of Israel, Neria suffered serious wounds when a Palestinian assailant used a car as a weapon in the West Bank.

What the mayor's statement said

The Hebrew-language Telegram news channel Abu Ali Express published a version of the statement, which, in our summary of its account, opens by describing the day as deeply painful for many New Yorkers and marking three years since the attack. According to that text, the statement says Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis on that day and abducted 251 others, and that the mayor grieves with the many friends and neighbours who still carry that loss.

The statement then turns to the war in Gaza. According to the same text, Mamdani described the suffering as continuing since then through what he called a devastating and ongoing genocide carried out by the Israeli government in Gaza. The Times of Israel summarised the statement as mourning those killed and condemning Hamas, while concentrating mostly on Israel and accusing it of both genocide and apartheid.

Abu Ali Express characterised the statement as containing one brief, proper paragraph about the massacre, with the remainder an attack on Israel. The full text of the statement as published on the mayor's account is not included in the material available to us.

The ambassador's response

Leiter is Israel's top diplomat in Washington. In his post, as quoted by The Times of Israel, he wrote that it was hard to find a sentence in the mayor's post that was not a lie, and accused Mamdani of paying lip service to the October 7 victims in order to spread what he called blood libels about Israel. "Blood libel" is a term for false accusations historically used to incite hatred against Jews.

Israel's Channel 12 news service, N12, carried the ambassador's remarks through its reporter Keren Bezalel. In the N12 version, rendered here in our own translation from Hebrew, Leiter also said that even on October 7 itself, the mayor could not refrain from attacking the Jewish state with what he called absurd accusations and crude propaganda. That line does not appear in the portion of the post quoted by The Times of Israel, which was cut off in the material we have.

Wider criticism

The Jerusalem Post also ran an opinion column arguing that the mayor was unable to set aside even one day for grieving Jewish victims before shifting his attention to Israel. That piece is commentary rather than news reporting.

Background for readers

October 7, 2023, is the date of the attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel, in which, by the figures cited in the mayor's own statement, more than 1,100 Israelis were killed and 251 people were taken hostage. The anniversary is a day of national mourning in Israel and is marked by Jewish communities abroad, which is why statements by public figures on the date draw close attention.

The word genocide, as applied to Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza, is rejected by the Israeli government, and its use by elected officials abroad regularly prompts formal Israeli responses. New York City has one of the largest Jewish populations of any city outside Israel, which gives a statement by its mayor particular weight among diaspora readers.

The West Bank, where Leiter's son was hurt, is the territory between Israel and Jordan where Israeli and Palestinian communities live in close proximity.

What the reports do not say

• None of the reports includes a reply from Mamdani or his office to the ambassador's criticism.
• The material does not give the complete wording of the mayor's statement; the Hebrew version available to us is cut off partway through.
• The reports do not say when or exactly where Neria Leiter was hurt, beyond identifying it as a ramming in the West Bank, or give an update on his condition.
• No report describes reactions from New York Jewish organisations, other city officials or the US government.