New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani will break with decades of political tradition on Sunday by not attending the annual parade honoring Israel a staple event for mayors, governors and national figures seeking to connect with the city’s Jewish community.
The decision follows Mamdani’s public support for Palestinian rights, including a video released two weeks ago by his office commemorating the Nakba, the displacement of an estimated 700,000 Palestinians during the 1948 Arab‑Israeli war. The video, believed to be the first of its kind from a sitting NYC mayor, featured the story of Inea Bushnaq, who described losing her home at age nine and living her life as “an outsider.”
“I said on the campaign trail that I wouldn’t be attending the parade, and I’ve made my views on the Israeli government abundantly clear,” Mamdani said Thursday. Still, he pledged a strong security operation to ensure the event proceeds “seamlessly and peacefully,” adding that preparations have been underway for weeks.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who is Jewish, said she would attend the parade. “It is the mayor’s decision not to march, and it is my decision to march proudly,” she said while standing beside Mamdani at police headquarters.
The mayor’s absence long expected has intensified criticism from opponents who argue his stance crosses into antisemitism. Rabbi Marc Schneier, a prominent Jewish leader and president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, called Mamdani’s decision “a slap in the face to all Jewish New Yorkers,” adding, “Do us a favor, stay home. We don’t need you. We don’t want you.”
Schneier also condemned the Nakba video as “propaganda,” echoing concerns from other Jewish leaders who said it lacked historical context about Jewish displacement during the same period.
Supporters of Israel expressed outrage, arguing the video should have acknowledged the mass expulsion of Jews from Muslim‑majority countries and the broader regional dynamics of 1948. Mamdani’s allies, meanwhile, say the mayor is highlighting a narrative long overlooked in mainstream American politics.
The controversy underscores the deepening political divide in New York over Israel‑Palestine issues and the shifting expectations of elected officials navigating one of the most diverse constituencies in the world.
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