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Israel’s Foreign Ministry blasted Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, after he marked the day with a post criticizing Israel and the U.S. and calling to end what he described as “occupation and apartheid.”
“Two years after Hamas launched its barbaric massacre against Israel and the Jewish people, Mamdani has chosen to act as a mouthpiece for Hamas propaganda — spreading Hamas’s fake genocide campaign,” wrote the ministry.
The Israel Foreign Ministry said that “by repeating Hamas’s lies, he excuses terror and normalizes antisemitism.”
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“He stands with Jews only when they are dead. Shameful,” the ministry added.
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
In his statement, Mamdani acknowledged that “two years ago today, Hamas carried out a horrific war crime, killing more than 1,100 Israelis and kidnapping 250 more.”
He wrote, “I mourn these lives and pray for the safe return of every hostage.”
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At the same time, Mamdani also criticized Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for having “launched a genocidal war” with a death toll that, he said, “far exceeds 67,000: with the Israeli military bombing homes, hospitals, and schools into rubble.”
“Every day in Gaza has become a place where grief itself has run out of language,” Mamdani wrote, adding, “our government has been complicit through it all.”
Mamdani also wrote that “the occupation and apartheid must end” and that the U.S. “must hold those responsible to account.”
“The last two years have demonstrated the very worst of humanity. We must answer it by modeling the very best: a relentless pursuit of our higher ideals and an unwavering commitment to universal human rights,” wrote Mamdani.
Jewish leaders and advocates have criticized 33-year-old socialist Zohran Mamdani since he secured the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City, particularly for his hesitancy to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.”
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After months of refusing to condemn the anti-Israel rallying cry, which, according to the American Jewish Committee, “calls for people from around the globe to participate in rising up against Israel,” Mamdani shared with business leaders during a closed-door meeting in July that he would not use the slogan and would discourage others from using it moving forward.
However, his previous record has left many still very concerned.
“If Zohran Mamdani is elected, expect a Jewish exodus out of New York City,” Yuval David, an actor, filmmaker and Jewish activist told Fox News Digital.
In an interview with “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker in June, Mamdani was asked to condemn the phrase three times but refused. He attempted to justify his position, saying, “My concern is, to start to walk down the line of language and making clear what language I believe is permissible or impermissible, takes me into a place similar to that of the president, who is looking to do those very kinds of things, putting people in jail for writing an op-ed, putting them in jail for protesting.”
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“Ultimately, it is not language that I use. It is language, I understand there are concerns about, and what I will do is showcase my vision for the city through my words and my actions,” he said.
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Mamdani has also been criticized for supporting a slate of anti-Israel positions such as supporting BDS, an acronym for boycott, divestment and sanctions, and sanctions against Israel.
After Mamdani’s Oct. 7 post, the antisemitism awareness group Canary Mission also criticized him, saying he “pays lip service to condemning the Hamas massacre” while he “reserves much more vitriol for Israel, which he accuses of perpetuating a Nakba, occupation and apartheid on a regular basis- including in his October 7 statement itself!”
Fox News Digital’s Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.
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