Organizers initially planned the vigil to remember the 1,200 Jews murdered during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, and the thousands of Palestinians who have been killed in the years since in the war in Gaza.
Yet what began as a somber act of remembrance soon spiraled into chaos after some 200 demonstrators — mostly clad in face masks and keffiyehs, waving Palestine flags and chanting “Normalize the intifada” — crashed the Union Square vigil. The group had gathered in City Hall Park at just after 4 p.m. and ended up in Union Square at around 6:30 p.m.
The nearly 50 members of Israelis for Peace, who organized the event, were completely outnumbered by the group of protesters, who had begun their chaotic display outside City Hall Park just after 4 p.m. before making their way to Union Square.
Among those attending the vigil were former City Comptroller (and current Congressional candidate) Brad Lander, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and, most notably, Mayor Mamdani. But as soon as speakers attempted to read statements from those who have experienced trauma in the Middle East, the crowd attempted to drown them out by shouting “Long Live Hamas!”
Elected officials rejected the shameful display of the demonstrators’ support of the terrorists responsible for the Oct. 7 attack.
“I am here tonight, and I hear, and I receive, and understand all of the anger, all of the hurt, all of the trauma that is out there. This is what trauma does. This is what horror does,” Williams yelled. “I am in this space, because they have created a space where you do not have to choose whose life is more precious than the other. Quite the opposite. Lives are brought into the space that are otherwise ignored, and I will not be in a space where I cannot honor the hurt and the pain of everyone who is here tonight.”
Yet Williams’ appeal fell on deaf ears.
Pro-Palestine protesters turn on Mamdani
Amazingly, the protesters then focused their rage on Mamdani — a long-time supporter of the Palestinian cause. He angered Jewish New Yorkers earlier that day with his statement offering sympathy for the Oct. 7 victims, but had attached to it a condemnation of the Israeli government’s alleged “genocide” in Gaza.
That wasn’t enough for the protesters Wednesday night as Hizzoner showed up at the vigil. They jeered him upon his arrival, called him a “traitor” and a “sellout” — and even accused him of complicity in the alleged “genocide.”
They chanted “Mamdani, what do you say? How many books did you lick today?” and “Mamdani we outside, we charge you with genocide.”
The mayor appeared to lose his trademark smile and stared stoically onward. He remained at the vigil until its conclusion, but did take the microphone and speak.
As Mamdani made his exit, protesters followed him to the motorcade and continued to hurl insults, pushing up against police barricades until he had driven away.
Hours later, Gov. Kathy Hochul did not hold back in condemning the chaotic protest in a social media post.
“On a day of profound pain for so many New Yorkers, disrupting a vigil for the victims of October 7 while waving the flags of terrorist organizations is absolutely despicable. Jewish New Yorkers deserve to mourn in peace, free from hatred and intimidation. There is no excuse for this. None,” Hochul wrote.
Mamdani has not yet commented publicly on the matter.
