Schumer, Jeffries dodge Mamdani controversy as fellow New York Dem unloads

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has come under fire for his comments on the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, but two leading voices in New York politics have so far remained quiet.

Mamdani’s post on Wednesday briefly acknowledged Hamas’ blitz on Israel that left more than 1,100 Israelis dead and more than 250 others captured and held hostage by the terrorist organization. But the bulk of his statement spent time on criticizing Israel for its actions in Gaza in the three years since.

“The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians — including more than 21,000 children,” Mamdani said on X. “Even since the so-called ceasefire, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed.”

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“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,” he continued. “Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them — all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes.”

Mamdani notably did not mention the Jewish community in New York City, which is home to nearly 1 million Jews, according to a 2023 study from the UJA-Federation of New York.

And while at least one New York Democrat, Rep. Dan Goldman, laid into Mamdani for his comments, neither Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer nor House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the two most powerful Democrats in Congress, has reacted.

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“This is a reprehensible statement on the anniversary of the horrific terrorist attack by a Palestinian terrorist organization against innocent Israelis,” Goldman said on X. “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.”

Neither Schumer nor Jeffries responded to requests for comment on Mamdani’s remarks. They put out their own statements on the Oct. 7 attack on Wednesday.

Schumer, who is Jewish, noted that the attack was the “single deadliest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust.” His support of Israel has become a wedge issue for some Senate Democrats, who have slowly pushed back against funding arms for Israel following three years of conflict in Gaza.

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“Today, we reaffirm our commitment to the security of the Israeli people, to the aid and wellbeing of the Palestinian people and the recovery of the devastation in Gaza that the ensuing conflict brought, and to doubling down on efforts for a lasting peace resulting in two states where Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in equal measures of peace, security, dignity, and mutual recognition,” Schumer said.

Jeffries was more aligned with Schumer’s left flank in his statement, while recognizing that “we are reminded of the painful reality that the Jewish people are in a constant struggle for survival, as has been the case for thousands of years.”

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“Throughout the past three years, considerable suffering has plagued the Middle East. The horrific death of Palestinian civilians, destruction of civil society and devastation in Gaza is reprehensible and can never be allowed to happen again,” Jeffries said.

“In order to end the vicious cycle of bloodshed, for the good of the Israeli and Palestinian people, American policy in the region must change dramatically,” he continued. “We must commit to the creation of an independent Palestinian state to provide dignity, respect and self-determination for the Palestinian people.”