Mamdani posts Nakba Day video, saying the ‘catastrophe’ continues until today

Shortly before Shabbat, NYC mayor shares footage in support of Palestinian right of return and presenting one-sided narrative of 1948 war, drawing furious backlash from leading Jewish groups

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Friday posted a video and a statement for Nakba Day, an annual Palestinian event, drawing furious backlash from leading Jewish groups in the city.

Nakba is Arabic for “catastrophe,” and refers to Israel’s founding and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. The Nakba narrative and the associated “right of return” for the refugees’ descendants are seen by many as demands for Israel’s demise as a Jewish state.

Mamdani’s video, posted shortly before Shabbat, showed an interview with a “Nakba survivor,” New York resident Inea Bushnaq. She described fleeing her home because “the Zionists were coming into Jerusalem.”

“Nakba is Arabic for ‘catastrophe,’” the text in the video said. “It refers to the expulsion and displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians between 1947 and 1949 during the creation of the State of Israel and the year that followed.”

“The Haganah, Irgun and Lehi militias, among others, destroyed more than 400 Palestinian villages and cities, killing thousands of Palestinians and carrying out dozens of massacres,” the video said. “May 15 is the annual commemoration of the Nakba. For Palestinians, their displacement and the Nakba continue to this day.”

Bushnaq in the video described the use of keys as a symbol of the right of return.

“People, of course, locked their houses when they left, and all they had of it was the key when it turned out there was no going back,” she said. “It became sort of a symbol — you have the key but not the house.”

The video, produced by the mayor’s office, presented a one-sided narrative of Israel’s War of Independence.

For example, it did not mention Arab massacres of Jews, that Arab armies invaded the territory to eliminate its Jewish community, that the Palestinians refused a two-state solution that could have prevented the war, that Jews were ethnically cleansed from Jerusalem in the conflict, or that more than 800,000 Jews were made refugees from Arab lands due to the war.

The right of return is seen by many as a central obstacle to a two-state solution. Palestinians demand the return to Israel of all the descendants of refugees, now numbering in the millions, a demand that is a non-starter for Israel because the influx would swamp the country’s Jewish population.

International arbiters like the UN do not grant any population besides the Palestinians hereditary refugee status, and do not allow any other group to retain its refugee status after receiving citizenship elsewhere.

The video’s statement that the Nakba “continues to this day” signals Mamdani’s support for the right of return.

Mamdani’s video drew furious pushback from Jewish leaders in the city, despite coming out shortly before Shabbat. Mamdani, an anti-Zionist, is a harsh critic of Israel who has often sparred with mainstream Jewish groups.

The UJA-Federation of New York said in a statement, “Mayor Mamdani: the refugees you post about exist because 22 Arab states launched a war to destroy Israel.”

“In its aftermath, 800,000 Jews were expelled from Arab lands. Your post mentions none of this. And you chose 5:40 PM on Friday to post it — as Jewish New Yorkers prepare to light Shabbat candles. We noticed,” the federation said.

Criticism also poured in from the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, city and state lawmakers, former City Hall staff and members of Congress.

Many critics pointed to the video’s one-sidedness, while others connected the Nakba narrative to discrimination and threats against Jews.

“Still wondering why hatred against Jews is so high in NYC? We have a mayor who is using government resources to disseminate a narrative and incite hostile propaganda,” said New York State Assemblymember Simcha Eisenstein, from Brooklyn. Jews are targeted in hate crimes more than all other groups combined in New York City, according to NYPD data.

“Mr. International Law guy forgot to include the fact that the Arab world rejected the UN’s partition plan to establish a Palestinian state,” Eisenstein said, referring to Mamdani’s frequent invocations of international law to condemn Israel.

“Rewriting history to portray the existence of Israel itself as the original sin is not education or remembrance. It is propaganda,” said Assemblymember Sam Berger, who represents a largely Jewish area in Queens. “This mayor constantly tries to market himself as an ally to the Jewish community while amplifying narratives that fuel hatred against the Jewish people.”

Mamdani released the video as hardline anti-Zionist groups held Nakba Day rallies in Manhattan. The protesters waved a flag from the Hezbollah terrorist group, stomped on Israeli flags, called for Israel’s destruction and harassed police, video showed.

Mamdani posted the video shortly after thanking law enforcement for arresting an alleged terrorist for plotting to attack a New York synagogue on behalf of Iran’s anti-Zionist regime.

Mamdani said the arrest “comes amid an alarming rise in antisemitism across the country.”

“Let me be clear: antisemitism, violent extremism, and terrorism have no place in our city. This kind of hate is despicable,” he said.

Mamdani has refused to march in the Jewish community’s annual parade, called Israel Day on Fifth, taking place later this month.