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Saturday, May 16, 2026
Mamdani posts Nakba Day video, claims ‘the catastrophe continues to this day’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleLuke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani posts a video and a statement for Nakba Day.
The video shows an interview with a “Nakba survivor,” New York resident Inea Bushnaq. She describes fleeing her home because “the Zionists were coming into Jerusalem.”
“Nakba is Arabic for ‘catastrophe,'” the video says. “It refers to the expulsion and displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians between 1947 and 1949 during the creation of the State of Israel and the year that followed.”
“The Haganah, Irgun and Lehi militias, among others, destroyed more than 400 Palestinian villages and cities, killing thousands of Palestinians and carrying out dozens of massacres,” the video says. “May 15 is the annual commemoration of the Nakba. For Palestinians, their displacement and the Nakba continues to this day.”
Today marks Nakba Day, an annual day of remembrance to commemorate the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians between 1947 and 1949 during the creation of the State of Israel and the year that followed.
Inea is a New Yorker and a Nakba survivor. She shared her story with us… pic.twitter.com/z2PBOaJq5Z
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) May 15, 2026
The video, produced by the mayor’s office and released shortly before Shabbat, presents a one-sided view of Israel’s War of Independence.
For example, it does not mention the Arab massacres of Jews, that Arab armies invaded the territory to eliminate its Jewish community, that the Palestinians refused a two-state solution that could have prevented the war, or that Jews were ethnically cleansed from Jerusalem in the conflict.
The video and the Nakba narrative reinforce the so-called “Right of Return,” a primary demand of Palestinians that would end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.
Mamdani releases the video as hardline anti-Zionist groups hold Nakba Day rallies in Manhattan.
Mamdani has refused to march in the Jewish community’s annual parade, called Israel Day on Fifth, taking place later this month.
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