Mayor’s Nakba Day Video Ignites Fury

A man speaking at a rally with supporters holding protest signs

New York City’s new mayor posted a Nakba Day video declaring “the catastrophe continues to this day” — a one-sided indictment of Israel’s founding that fits a consistent pattern of anti-Israel positions critics say crosses the line from political critique into something far more troubling.

Story Highlights

Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted a Nakba Day video framing Israel’s 1948 War of Independence as an ongoing catastrophe against Palestinians.
Mamdani supports the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel and has repeatedly called Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide.”
He declined to co-sponsor resolutions recognizing Israel’s independence and commemorating the Holocaust while serving in the New York State Assembly.
Prominent Jewish leaders have publicly labeled Mamdani antisemitic; he has defended the phrase “Globalize the Intifada,” which critics call an invitation to violence.

Nakba Day Video Sparks Immediate Backlash

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted a Nakba Day video on May 16, 2026, claiming “the catastrophe continues to this day.” The Times of Israel reported that the video presented a one-sided view of Israel’s War of Independence, framing the founding of the Jewish state entirely through the lens of Palestinian displacement. The statement drew immediate criticism from Jewish leaders and pro-Israel organizations who argued the mayor of America’s largest city had no business using his platform to promote what they called a politically charged anti-Israel narrative.

The Nakba — Arabic for “catastrophe” — refers to the displacement of Palestinian Arabs during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, a conflict triggered when Arab armies invaded the newly declared State of Israel hours after its founding. Critics of Nakba commemoration note that the war was initiated by Arab states seeking to destroy Israel, and that framing the outcome solely as an Israeli-inflicted catastrophe omits that foundational context entirely. Mamdani’s video, according to reporting, did not address that broader history.

A Documented Record of Anti-Israel Positions

Mamdani’s Nakba video did not emerge in a vacuum. The Forward reported that he “has a long history of criticizing Israel,” openly supports the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, and has repeatedly accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The Times of Israel confirmed he has “consistently referred to Israel’s actions in Gaza as a ‘genocide'” and stated that the United States is “subsidizing a genocide.” These are not isolated remarks — they form a sustained ideological record that critics argue reflects deep hostility toward the Jewish state.

While serving in the New York State Assembly before his mayoral run, Mamdani declined to co-sponsor resolutions recognizing Israel’s right to exist and commemorating the Holocaust. The Forward reported he came “under fire” for both refusals. His explanation — that he focused only on legislation he could act on substantively — struck many Jewish community leaders as a thin justification for avoiding symbolic solidarity with the Jewish people on two of the most significant events in modern Jewish history.

Defending “Globalize the Intifada” and Revoking Pro-Israel Orders

Politico reported that Mamdani defended the phrase “Globalize the Intifada” during a media interview, a slogan critics describe as an open call to violence against Jewish people worldwide. Though he later said it was “not the language that I use,” he simultaneously argued that “the role of the mayor is not to police language” — a response many found deeply inadequate given the phrase’s associations with terrorism and attacks on Jewish communities. Prominent Jewish leaders cited this exchange as one of several reasons they labeled him antisemitic, a charge he rejects.

After taking office, Mamdani revoked executive orders issued by former Mayor Eric Adams that had restricted city resources from being used to promote anti-Israel activism. The pro-Palestinian advocacy group Democracy for the Arab World Now praised the move, claiming Mamdani had “restored the free speech rights of New Yorkers” and protected criticism of Israel from what it called “nefarious meddling” by the Israeli government. To many New Yorkers — particularly in the Jewish community — the revocation signaled that City Hall had shifted from a posture of neutrality to one of active alignment against Israel. Taken together, the Nakba video, the BDS support, the genocide rhetoric, the Holocaust-resolution refusals, and the revocation of anti-BDS orders paint a picture of a mayor whose sympathies on this issue are unmistakable.