New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s statement on October 7, marking the second anniversary of the Hamas-led attack, has ignited a firestorm of reactions across the political spectrum. Mamdani began by mourning the 1,100 Israelis killed and hundreds taken hostage, but swiftly pivoted to condemn Israel’s military response, labeling it a ‘genocidal war’ with a death toll exceeding 67,000. He criticized the U.S. government’s complicity and called for an end to occupation and apartheid. However, his failure to explicitly mention ‘Palestinians’ or ‘Palestine’ drew sharp criticism from pro-Palestine advocates, who accused him of flattening the power imbalance between Israelis and Palestinians. Palestinian activist Nerdeen Kiswani denounced the statement as ‘disgraceful,’ arguing it dehumanized Palestinians by equating Hamas’s actions with Israel’s systemic violence. Journalist Sana Saeed accused Mamdani of ‘genocide apologia’ for framing Palestinian resistance within the same moral register as Israel’s decades-long occupation. Others, including journalist Aaron Mate, criticized factual inaccuracies in Mamdani’s statement, particularly regarding the number of Israeli casualties. Meanwhile, the pro-Israel base, including the Israeli foreign ministry, condemned Mamdani for allegedly advocating for Hamas and spreading propaganda. Despite attempts to strike a measured tone, Mamdani’s statement left him politically isolated, alienating both his progressive base and Israel’s defenders. Critics argue his centrist approach risks losing credibility, while supporters contend he faces the pragmatic realities of electoral politics in a city with a significant Jewish population.