New Delhi: New York mayor Zohran Mamdani has been labelled a “traitor” by pro-Palestinian protestors for attending a vigil on the third anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
On the evening of 7 October 2026, Mamdani joined an event organised by Israelis for Peace NYC, a left-leaning group of Israeli anti-occupation activists, in Union Square, Manhattan.
The vigil commemorated the Israeli victims of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, which claimed over 1100 lives. The event also addressed the suffering caused by the Israeli “genocide in Gaza.”
“We do not, for one second, forget the government that allowed for October 7th to happen and then proceeded to commit genocide in Gaza while also sacrificing and at times killing the hostages,” the organisers wrote on Instagram.
“While we know that the occupation or apartheid did not start with Netanyahu and his cabinet of war mongers, there is no path to even start the way forward while a lying, mass-murdering, criminal under multiple investigations is in charge,” the post added.
Mamdani at the vigil
Mamdani stood silently holding a candle at the vigil.
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators disrupted the gathering, overrunning parts of the area, and drowning out speakers with drums, megaphones, and chants.
The crowd turned on Mamdani, too, with shouts of “Traitor, traitor, come on out!”, “You sold all your people out!”, “Zohran, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide!” and others.
Mamdani reportedly remained ashen and silent, then left under security escort without addressing the crowd.
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Reactions from the opposite side
Earlier on the same day, Mamdani had received flak from the opposite side.
“This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7,” Mamdani had posted on X.
“On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others. We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss.”
The same post addressed Israel’s retaliatory attacks on Gaza, noting that the violence did not begin with the October 7 attacks.
“The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians—including more than 21,000 children,” he wrote.
He further noted that 1400 Palestinians have been killed even after the “so-called” ceasefire.
“That suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, every drone strike targeting a residential building or journalist, and every shipment of food aid turned away at a border crossing,” he wrote.
His post denounced “occupation and apartheid,” adding that war crimes must not be met with impunity.
The post garnered sarcastic jabs at the mayor and angry reactions.
“There’s no genocide. You’re a disgrace,” one of the replies under the post read.
Numerous other replies attacked his identity as a muslim.
“You could have just tweeted ‘Allahu Akbar,” a user wrote.
Edited by Maryam Hassan
It is so shameful that the young reporters at ThePrint have fallen for this Islamo-communist narrative of ‘genocide in Gaza’.
Nothing of that sort has ever happened. If anyone has any doubts, they are fee to visit the region and see for themselves.
It’s utterly disgusting to see the budding journalists fall prey to the narrative crafting machinery of the Left-Islam media cabal.
One can only hope that with time their eyes and ears will open enough for them to realise that they have been victims of a sophisticated propaganda machinery.