‘Traitor’: Anti-Zionist protesters rage at Mamdani at Oct. 7 coexistence event

NEW YORK — Anti-Zionist protesters railed at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday at an Israeli-led coexistence event commemorating the anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, as Jewish leaders condemned a statement the mayor made earlier in the day accusing Israel of genocide.

The protesters first gathered outside City Hall in lower Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon. The event was led by leading anti-Zionist activist groups in the city, including Within Our Lifetime, Students for Justice in Palestine and Pal-Awda.

Several subgroups from the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani’s home base, and university clubs were also listed as sponsors. Protesters at the event held a flag for the Young Democratic Socialists of America. The group initially posted an advertisement for the rally on social media, then removed it.

At the City Hall protest, the demonstrators chanted, “Mayor Mamdani, pick a side, justice or genocide,” “Muslim mayor, we know you, you’re a normalizer too,” and, “Tell me what you’re fighting for: intifada people’s war.”

“This mayor ran on a campaign to make promises to this community,” a speaker told the crowd. “From his first day in office, he has failed.”

The protesters attacked Mamdani for Israel real estate events taking place in the city, for the public college system’s investments in defense companies, for policing of protests, and for keeping NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who is Jewish, in office.

Mamdani has identified as an anti-Zionist, has said that the Palestinian cause is the reason he got into politics, and has made anti-Israel activism central to his persona. His anti-Zionism has repeatedly antagonized Jewish groups, who say his rhetoric inflames hostility toward New York’s Jews.

Wednesday was the first anniversary of October 7 since Mamdani became mayor at the beginning of the year.

The protesters carried signs showing Mamdani that said, “Pro-Palestine mayor?” and depicting him rolling out a red carpet for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who visited the city for the UN General Assembly last month. Mamdani had initially promised to arrest Netanyahu, but acknowledged ahead of the General Assembly that lacked the authority to do so.

One sign showed Mamdani wearing a nametag that said, “Ziohran,” with a Star of David, and a badge for the Shomrim, a Jewish neighborhood watch group.

Later, the protesters marched uptown, toward Union Square. Some carried flags for the Hamas and Hezbollah terror groups, and photos of terror leaders, or wore terrorist headbands.

A lone counterprotester walked at the front of the march, holding a sign that said, “On Oct. 7, 2023, your ‘resistance’ killed 809 civilians, kidnapped 251, raped.”

The protesters harassed her, putting middle fingers in her face and shouting, until police separated the two sides.

“You’re all pedophiles. You’ll always be a Nazi bitch,” one of the protesters shouted at the woman.

At Union Square, a leftist group called Israelis for Peace had planned a coexistence event aimed at mourning those killed on October 7 and Palestinians killed during the war in Gaza.

The group had set up a semicircle of chairs in the square, and some of the participants were seated, when several hundred anti-Zionist protesters descended on the area, shouting at the coexistence event’s attendees and chanting, “Death, death to the IDF,” and, “Long live Hamas.”

One man in a keffiyeh held up a photo of the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar toward Israeli participants, while a woman from the coexistence group held up a sign that said “Mourn.”

Nicole Izsak said she had come to the event to honor her sister-in-law’s cousin who was murdered at the Nova music festival on October 7.

“It’s disgusting. These are scum. They don’t know what they’re talking about, and to use this day, and to sabotage this event, which is about coexistence and peace, shows how disgusting and revolting they are,” she said.

The coexistence event was unable to proceed at its original location, so police set up a cordon further into the plaza, and organizers allowed in attendees who they knew, for safety reasons.

The anti-Zionist protesters cheered when the attendees entered the barricade, shouting, “Go to Poland,” and, “Run, bitch. Go run like your soldiers ran on October 7.”

Brad Lander, a Jewish Mamdani ally who won a primary for a US House seat earlier this year, joined the event’s attendees inside the barricade. Lander identifies as a “liberal Zionist.”

Protesters shouted, “Lander, kill yourself,” and, “Fuck you Lander, you Nazi fuck.”

“I still find it ironic to call Jews Nazis,” one of the protesters said.

“That gets under their skin the most. That’s why you got to use it,” another responded.

Police and metal barricades kept the two sides separated. Inside the cordon, attendees held electric candles and signs that read, “Not one more life,” in English and Hebrew.

“We will still do what we came here to do, which is uphold the sanctity of human life, no matter where it is from,” said Tamar Glezerman, an organizer with Israelis for Peace. “What better future is possible between the river and the sea that omits the humanity of any single person?”

Mamdani arrived with New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and stood near the podium, but did not address the crowd.

Mamdani’s office had said he planned to attend an October 7 vigil at the time of the event, without specifying the location. He attended the same group’s vigil last year.

After Mamdani arrived, the protesters chanted, “Zohran, you can’t hide, you support genocide,” “Traitor, traitor, come on out, you sold all your people out,” and, “Mamdani, what do you say? How many kids did you kill today?”

“Mamdani your hands are red”: Anti-Zionist protesters chant against Mamdani as he attends October 7 coexistence event pic.twitter.com/ikyL5Fgmov

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— Luke Tress (@luketress) October 8, 2026

A woman who said she was a former intern for Mamdani told the crowd, “Mayor Mamdani is a sellout. You got into office from our people and now you’ve acted like a traitor,” with the protesters repeating what she said.

“We’re not making any excuses for you. We don’t care about where you’re from. You cannot tokenize being Muslim anymore. You cannot weaponize being brown anymore,” she said. “We demand that you stop using our people for clout and profit. You have lost this game.”

Mamdani remained at the vigil for more than an hour, holding an electric candle and not reacting.

Speakers at the event read testimonies from families who lost loved ones in Israel on October 7, and from Palestinians killed in the war in Gaza. Protest chants drowned out the testimonies from both sides.

“Mamdani, your hands are red, 700,000 dead,” the crowd chanted. “Mamdani, you’re a liar, you set Palestine on fire.”

Separately, on Wednesday afternoon, anti-Zionist protesters chanted for an intifada outside Columbia University.

Around 100 protesters chanted, “Globalize the intifada,” “No peace on stolen land,” and “Every fascist state will fall,” to the beat of a drum.

In Arabic, they chanted, “Palestine is Arab.”

The rally took place on a public sidewalk outside of Columbia’s gates. The leading campus anti-Zionist activist groups are no longer recognized by the university.

“Long live the student intifada,” a speaker who identified as a Palestinian Columbia student told the crowd. “Glory to our martyrs, glory to the people of Palestine and glory to the resistance.”

Jewish Columbia students set up a display of chairs on campus with photos of October 7 victims.

Mamdani statement infuriates Jewish leaders

On Wednesday morning, Mamdani released a statement that mourned those killed in the October 7 attack and condemned Hamas.

The bulk of the statement criticized Israel, however, accusing the Jewish state of genocide, war crimes and apartheid.

This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7. On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others. We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable…

— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) October 7, 2026

“This day is profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers. It marks three years since the horrific war crimes of October 7,” the statement said. “We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss.”

“The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza,” he said. “That suffering has intensified with every Israeli bomb dropped on ambulances waiting outside hospitals, every drone strike targeting a residential building or journalist, and every shipment of food aid turned away at a border crossing.”

The comments infuriated New York and national Jewish groups, and Jewish members of Congress.

The UJA-Federation of New York, the city’s leading Jewish group, said Mamdani’s statement put “Jewish New Yorkers at risk.”

“Today should have been a day for New York to stand with the victims of October 7,” the UJA-Federation of New York said. “Instead, Mayor Mamdani chose to respond to the grief of Jewish New Yorkers by advancing false and inflammatory attacks against Israel.”

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the head of the Union for Reform Judaism, said, “I’ve told Mayor Mamdani directly that his words matter. But he once again found an opportunity to be callous toward Jewish pain.”

“You cannot proclaim empathy and care for the Jewish community and then fail to show basic humanity toward us in our grief,” Jacobs said. “Turning this anniversary into an indictment of the Jewish state is not only hurtful, and deeply offensive, but it also makes Jewish New Yorkers less safe.”

US Rep. Dan Goldman of New York, who lost his primary race to Lander, said, “This is a reprehensible statement.”

“In the guise of “grieving” with those mourning that day, Mayor Mamdani asserts as fact hotly disputed allegations that he knows full well will offend and further upset those same people he pretends to grieve with,” Goldman said.