"Moral abomination": The attack on Mamdani following October 7

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani faced harsh criticism following a post he published on the anniversary of the October 7 massacre. Journalist Bret Stevens attacked him in a New York Times column, accusing him of distorting the memory of the victims and of being a direct continuation of his anti-Israel past.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani faced harsh criticism following a post he published on the anniversary of the October 7 massacre. Senior journalist Bret Stevens sharply attacked him in a New York Times column, accusing him of distorting the memory of the victims. Stevens compared the post to a situation where a mayor would mark the September 11 attacks with a superficial mention of the victims followed by a long attack on American foreign policy. He noted that Hamas violated the ceasefire from October 6, and that many of those killed were peace activists living in kibbutzim. Stevens emphasized the sadistic cruelty of the terrorists, which included sexual violence, beheadings, and murder of children. It was further written that Mamdani's stance is not merely a response to the current war but a direct continuation of his anti-Israel past: he boycotted Jewish organizations in college, wrote a rap song supporting those convicted of funneling money to Hamas, and rushed to condemn Israel on October 8 before condemning Hamas. Stevens dismissed the accusation of genocide against Israel as a false and malicious claim, arguing it is a sophisticated form of Holocaust denial. The column concludes with a message to Mamdani that the Jewish community deserves more than an "all lives matter" approach, and that it would have been fitting for him to say: "Jewish lives matter. Israeli lives matter. Period."