Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday compared the plight of the Irish to the “genocide” in Palestine — as he used a St. Patrick’s Day celebration to rip the “deafening silence from so many” on the Israel-Hamas war.
The Democratic socialist dropped the Gaza-related remarks as he hosted Ireland’s former President Mary Robinson for a breakfast at Gracie Mansion to kickstart the Big Apple’s annual St. Patrick’s Day festivities.
“Who can better understand those who weep than those who have been made to weep for so long? The story of the Irish, both in Ireland and in New York City, is at one time a story of oppression, of subjugation and of discrimination,” Mamdani said.
He went on to laud Robinson, who was the first female president to lead Ireland in the ’90s, for her human rights record and history of standing with Palestine.
“I say this as over the past few years, as we’ve witnessed a genocide unfold before our eyes, there has been deafening silence from so many,” he said.
“For those who have long cared about universal human rights and the extension of them to Palestinians, silence, however, is nothing new, for Palestinians are so often left to weep alone. Yet, former President Robinson has never been silent.”
Elsewhere, Mamdani also thanked Irish New Yorkers for helping to take up the “fight for a future of justice.”
His politicized remarks came just hours before Hizzoner was slated to attend a Catholic mass alongside NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and then march down Fifth Avenue in the city’s iconic parade.
A day earlier, the mayor was stumped by a question about whether he supported a unified Ireland — the political push for all 32 Irish counties to be governed as one independent nation — after confirming he would be marching alongside Irish New Yorkers.
“I gotta be honest I haven’t thought enough on that question,” he said.
