New York City Zohran Mamdani released a statement Wednesday marking the third anniversary of the October 7 massacre.

The statement read, “This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7. 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 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. Even since the so-called ceasefire, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed. 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. Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them – all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes. Three years later, we must refuse to accept a world in which occupation and apartheid continue, where war crimes are met with impunity, and our federal government continues its complicity with every arms shipment. To honor the dead, we must fight for a world in which every person can live with freedom, safety, and dignity.”

The statement drew sharp condemnation from Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, who accused the mayor of attempting to exploit the anniversary for political purposes.

Danon denounced Mamdani’s statement as an “attempt to hijack the anniversary of October 7 and turn it into yet another propaganda attack against Israel.”

“It is like turning September 11 into a day of mourning for al-Qaeda terrorists,” Danon accused.

The Anti-Defamation League also criticized Mamdani’s statement, accusing him of using the anniversary of the massacre to promote anti-Israel messaging.

“You are weaponizing a day meant for mourning the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust to recycle your usual antizionist talking points. The city with the largest Jewish population outside Israel deserves a mayor who can honor the dead without exploiting them,” the ADL said.

Mike Huckabee, the US Ambassador to Israel said that, “The statement by NY Mayor Mandami is an outrageous & disgusting rant & made on a day that ought to honor the over 1200 civilians butchered by Hamas including 46 Americans.  His comments are as insensitive & insulting as saying on the 9-11 Anniversary that “While we mourn the loss of those murdered by terrorists we condemn the response of the United States equally.”  There is NO genocide in Gaza…  An apology for his obtuse and utterly ignorant remarks are not enough. G-d help the people of New York for electing a jihadist sympathizer.”

Israel’s Consul-General in New York, Ofir Akunis, denounced Mamdani’s statement, calling him “a disgrace, source of shame, and an insult to the memory of the murdered victims.”

“Anyone with a human heart should be ashamed of Mamdani’s response to the October 7 massacre, a day when human monsters invaded the State of Israel on a holiday, murdering, kidnapping, beheading hundreds, and raping hundreds of women,” Akunis said.

“Mamdani, displaying a complete lack of human sensitivity, continues to spread his antisemitic blood libels against the Jewish state. It is a disgrace to New York City that such a man stands at its helm, and chooses, on this day, to show disrespect for the memory of the murdered victims,” he said.

“Mayor Mamdani chose, once again, to use the day to accuse Israel of “genocide.” That claim is demonstrably false. The IDF has taken extraordinary steps to minimize civilian casualties, far beyond what the law of armed conflict requires, while fighting an enemy that systematically hides behind women and children and uses civilians as human shields,” the Israeli-American Council said, adding that “rhetoric like this doesn’t stay online – it is exactly the kind of messaging that has fueled a documented rise in antisemitic incidents across New York City.”

“The mayor’s job is to keep New Yorkers safe and ensure Jewish and Israeli residents can mourn without their grief being hijacked for a political attack. The mayor today has betrayed his duty and continued to fuel anti-Jewish hatred,” Akunis concluded.