Historical revisionism:' NYC Jewish community leaders react to Mayor Mamdani's Nakba Day post

Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted on X to mark Nakba Remembrance Day, describing it as an annual commemoration of the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians between 1947 and 1949 during the creation of the State of Israel and the following year. The post included a documentary-style video featuring a Palestinian New Yorker, describing her experience as a nine-year-old fleeing her home. The video states that militias and other groups destroyed more than 400 Palestinian villages and cities and killed thousands of Palestinians. NYC Jewish leaders criticized the post, saying it delegitimizes Israel’s existence. A pro-bono Jewish legal advocate called the promotion state-sanctioned historical revisionism and said it uses the mayor’s office to distort history and delegitimize Israel’s self-determination. Mamdani said he would not attend Israel Day on Fifth Parade on May 31.

"In a May 15 post on X, the mayor described Nakba Day as 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. The post included a video interview with a Palestinian New Yorker named Inea, who described her experience as a 9-year-old of having to flee her home during the historical event."

"The video, produced by the mayor's office in a documentary style with captions, interviews, and somber music, explains that militias and other groups destroyed more than 400 Palestinian villages and cities, killing thousands of Palestinians. Many NYC Jewish leaders, however, took offense with the post, saying it delegitimizes Israel's existence."

"Mayor Mamdani's official promotion of a one-sided Nakba Day' narrative is nothing less than state-sanctioned historical revisionism, Brooke Goldstein, executive director and founder of The Lawfare Project, a pro-bono legal services group for the Jewish community, said. He is using his office to distort history to delegitimize Israel's existence as the indigenous Jewish people's exercise of self-determination after centuries of exile and the Holocaust."

"Goldstein added that the mayor has chosen to align with voices that traffic in eliminationist rhetoric as protests in NYC still pop up with messaging, chants and harassment targeting Jewish people. Mamdani said he will not attend the Israel Day on Fifth Parade, taking place on May 31 this year."

Read at www.amny.com