Those who like social-media posts praising Oct. 7 are antisemitic, and the phrases “From the river to the sea” and “Globalize the intifada” are Jew-hatred, Ofir Akunis, the Israeli consul general in New York, said at an Anti-Defamation League event in New York on Monday.
“When someone says ‘from the river to the sea,’ they are antisemitic. When they want to say ‘globalize the intifada,’ they are antisemitic,” he said. “When they call Israel a ‘genocidal state,’ they are antisemitic.”
“When they like posts or cheer the murdering of children and raping of women during the Oct. 7 massacre, they are antisemitic and don’t have a heart at all,” he added.
On Tuesday, Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City, again accused Israel of “genocide” during a St. Patrick’s Day event, and his wife, Rama Duwaji, has liked several posts praising the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks.
Mamdani has said that he would have the Israeli Prime Minister arrested in New York, and he has said that Israel shouldn’t exist as a Jewish state.
Akunis didn’t name-check any politicians in his remarks.
“We do not need anyone to recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people, and we do not intend to ask for that recognition,” he said. “Not from presidents, not from prime ministers, and not from mayors.”
He also took aim at Western leaders for their silence on Iran.
“This campaign is intended not only to defend Israel and the United States, but the entire free world,” he said. “Those same leaders who rushed to condemn Israel after the Oct. 7 massacre have suddenly lost their voice.”
“If you do not speak up and stand alongside Israel and the United States, you support the ayatollahs,” Akunis said.
