New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked Nakba Day on Friday in a social media post that included a video interview with a Palestinian New York resident, referred to as “Inea.”
“Today marks Nakba Day, an annual day of remembrance to commemorate the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians between 1947 and 1949 during the creation of the State of Israel and the year that followed,” Mamdani’s post accompanying the interview read.
In the interview, Inea, who he referred to as a survivor of the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” describes her family fleeing their home due to the “Zionists coming into Jerusalem.”
Inea lamented her family’s displacement and her alien status as she moved from country to country following her family’s leaving Palestine.
The content in the video ignored the violence and subsequent war launched against Israel by Arab residents and neighboring Arab nations, including one-sided statements such as “the Hagana, Irgun, and Lehi militias, among others, destroyed more than 400 Palestinian villages and cities, killing thousands of Palestinians and carrying out dozens of massacres. May 15 is the annual commemoration of the Nakba. For Palestinians, their displacement and the Nakba continue to this day.”
The video interview was accompanied by shots showcasing the Palestinian artistry and imagery in Inea’s home. Among the art featured was a “Visit Palestine” poster created in 1936 by Frank Krausz, who was a Holocaust survivor and a Zionist.
Among those who reacted to Mamdani’s post was Israeli activist Hen Mazzig, who recounted his family’s own story of displacement.
“My grandmother fled North Africa and Iraq after the Farhud [pogrom] of 1941. Six years before any war over Israel. Palestinians were expelled during a war Arab states launched against us. Over 850,000 Jews were driven from Arab lands. Almost none remain,” he said.
“Maybe the mayor of New York should stay out of it. Or speak to both. Don’t weaponize one trauma while actively erasing another. Especially when using this ‘Visit Palestine’ poster created by Frank Krausz, a Holocaust survivor and a Zionist Jew.”
Mamdani’s focus on the Israel-Palestine conflict
Mamdani’s stance on the Israel-Palestinian conflict has been a point of public focus since he was elected to office in November.
Mamdani began his political career by joining the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) because of his pro-Palestinian activism, the New York State assemblyman told a 2021 conference, where he also expressed his commitment to his socialist objectives and to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) anti-Israel strategy.
“The reason that I joined the DSA, if I had to pick one, was because there was no exception for Palestine, because the same fight, the same struggle was understood to be a universal one,” said Mamdani, based on a YouTube video of the event.
Post-election polls suggested that Mamdani’s support for Palestinian rights and his anti-Israel stance drove 62% of his voters to the polls.
Several of Mamandi’s administrative staff members are vocal anti-Israel activists, and the mayor’s wife, Rama Duwaji, was in headlines last month for liking several Instagram posts regarding Hamas’s October 7 massacre attack on Israel.
Michael Starr contributed to this report.
