Mamdani Booed by His Base at October 7 Vigil for ‘Betraying’ the Palestinian Movement

Mayor Zohran Mamdani made an abrupt exit from a vigil for October 7 on Wednesday evening as leftists protesters — many representing the Democratic Socialists of America that he once organized — hurled insults at him for being a “traitor.”As the mayor attended a vigil honoring victims of the terror attack and Palestinians killed since it took place in Union Square Park, protesters calling for the end of the Israeli state taunted him with chants “traitor, traitor.” As the activists overwhelmed the event, bodyguards ushered the mayor to a waiting SUV. Over a bullhorn, a female protester led a call-and-response of, “Zohran, Zohran, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide.” Thus the sun set on a day that began for Mr. Mamdani with denunciations pouring in from around the world after he dedicated all but the first sentence of his statement marking the anniversary to once again accusing Israel of committing “genocide” and war crimes against Palestinians. City Council Speaker Julie Menin, a fellow Democrat and the body’s first Jewish leader, led criticism from within the mayor’s own party over his statement. She called out the mayor in a speech to the UJA-Federation of New York. “This is a very, very difficult day for the Jewish community and I think to say anything but that is not OK,” she said to cheers. The pair are scheduled to hold a joint press conference Thursday morning.After leaving the vigil, Mr. Mamdani was photographed dining at Hind’s Hall, a Palestinian restaurant on the Upper West Side.In the hours before the confrontation at Union Square, protesters gathered in front of City Hall calling for an end to Israel’s “occupation” of land they say has been “stolen” from Palestine. The rally was organized as part of a “citywide protest” by a dozen leftwing groups, including the Young Democratic Socialists of America and a handful of its campus chapters. One protester from the Maoist Communist Union carried a sign Wednesday dubbing Mr. Mamdani “Chief Executive of the NYPD SRG,” a reference to the protest response task force that has been the subject of legal action over its aggressive tactics. Mr. Mamdani renewed his pledge to wind down the unit last week. However, recent reporting suggests that he has personally signed off each time the unit has been deployed in recent months.He also had to back down from a campaign promise to arrest Mr. Netanyahu this summer, and later denied encouraging New Yorkers to protest the Israeli leader’s visit. A handful of Mr. Mamdani’s prominent DSA allies were arrested by the SRG while doing so. The mayor also drew criticism from the city’s powerful teachers union for reversing course on a bill to boost pay for the aides who support special needs students, whose pay starts at $32,000. He won the union’s endorsement after backing the paraprofessional pay bill, only to sue when it became law. That case is still pending.Being targeted by anti-israel protesters shows of how much the tables have turned for Mr. Mamdani. Footage resurfaced of him addressing a similar protest against Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu back in 2023, just weeks before the terror attacks would claim approximately 1,200 lives. “Who is ready for Palestinian freedom?” Mr. Mamdani, then a DSA-endorsed New York State Assemblyman, shouts at the crowd. “Who is ready for the end of apartheid?” He led protesters in chanting “Not on our dime.”But the assemblyman who once called to defund the New York Police Department and to “make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF,” has given way to a mayor who has given the department wide latitude to carry on as it did under his predecessor.

Mamdani Booed by His Base at October 7 Vigil for ‘Betraying’ the Palestinian Movement

Mamdani Booed by His Base at October 7 Vigil for ‘Betraying’ the Palestinian Movement

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