Mayor Zohran Mamdani doubled down on his video commemorating “Nakba Day” as criticism from Jewish organizations mounted Monday.
Hizzoner downplayed The Post’s report on Sunday that at least three high-profile leaders of mainstream Jewish groups were rejecting invitations to his “Jewish Heritage” event at Gracie Mansion Monday evening over his anti-Israel rhetoric.
“My message to Jewish leaders across the city is that my door is always open, that I look forward to welcoming a number of those leaders to Gracie Mansion this evening through Shavuot,” Mamdani told reporters at an unrelated press conference in The Bronx.
“It is part of a commitment to be the mayor for everyone, and that means a mayor for those who voted for you, who didn’t vote for you, who didn’t vote at all, and that also means that there will be times where you will meet New Yorkers at an event, at a specific conversation out on the street, and I look forward to all of those interactions,” he added.
One of the local leaders snubbing the mayor’s event, Mark Treyger, the CEO Jewish Community Relations Council, which organizes the city’s Israel Day Parade, specifically called out Mamdani for his anti-Israel message sent out just before Jewish New Yorkers observed Shabbat.
National Jewish groups also expressed outrage over the post about the displacement of Palestinians during the creation of Israel in 1948, noting it omitted key historical context.
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“Using City Hall resources to post a one-sided video about Israel’s founding — omitting the UN partition plan, the Arab rejection, the reasons that many Palestinians left, the many who stayed and the 850,000 Jewish refugees forced to leave Arab lands — isn’t commemoration. It’s propaganda,” The Anti-Defamation League of New York and New Jersey railed in a post to X Monday morning.
“Releasing it right before Shabbat isn’t leadership. It’s provocation,” the group added.
But the fallout didn’t stop Mamdani from doubling down on the video at Monday’s press conference.
“I firmly believe that acknowledging one people’s pain does not preclude you from the acknowledgement of another people’s,” he said, adding that it was a “privilege” to share the story of Inea Bushnaq, a “Nakba survivor” and city resident in the video.
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