New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani defended his decision to mark “Nakba Day” on official city channels, pushing back on criticism from Jewish community leaders.
Speaking at a press conference announcing a second municipally operated grocery store site in the Bronx, Mamdani said that the May 15 post “commemorates the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from 1947 to 1949 during the creation of the State of Israel and for the year that followed.”
“I firmly believe that acknowledging any one people’s pain does not preclude you from the acknowledgment of another people’s,” the mayor said. “When it comes to New Yorkers like Inea and so many others, not only has their pain never been acknowledged, but so often we have seen that even their identity is up for debate.”
Inea was featured in the “Nakba” day video.
“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 said.
Jewish leaders are reportedly planning to skip the upcoming event.
The UJA-Federation of New York stated that it “will not be attending the Jewish American Heritage Month celebration at Gracie Mansion being hosted by a mayor who denies a core pillar of our heritage—the State of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.”
Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council-N.Y., told the New York Post that “it’s a really telling and concerning sign of where things stand in New York City right now” and that his group won’t participate.
And, the Post reported, Rabbi Joseph Potasanik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, doesn’t plan to attend. “Jewish heritage should include recognition of the state of Israel,” he said. “Jewish history didn’t end in 1946,” he added. “We will be marching in the Israel Day Parade to express our support for Israel.”
Rabbi David Niederman, head of the United Jewish Organization of Williamsburg, plans to attend, the Post reported.
