"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. And I also said on that same campaign that I would have a responsibility as the mayor of the city to ensure the safety and security of each and every New Yorker."
Sunday's parade is expected to draw tens of thousands of marchers and spectators to Fifth Avenue, an annual tradition that goes back 62 years. This year's theme? "Proud Americans, Proud Zionists."
But Mayor Mamdani is not a Zionist. While condemning the October 7th massacre, he has blasted the Israeli response as an act of "genocide."
"It has become harder and harder to wake up every morning and see more and more Palestinians massacred with our tax dollars," he said in February 2024.
Mamdani has tried to embrace the city's Jewish community, while holding anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian views.
"As we celebrate Rosh Hashanah the sounds of the Shofar will echo across every corner of our city," he said earlier this year in a YouTube video.
His decision not to march will break a longstanding tradition. The mayor of New York has attended every year-from Eric Adams and Bill DeBlasio to Michael Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani, and his predecessors back to 1965.
Rabbi Joe Potasnik, a member of the New York Board of Rabbis and who served on Mamdani's transition team, said he thinks the mayor "should" march.
"When you're elected mayor, you represent the City of New York, the people who live here, with different opinions. He may have his narrative. We may have our narrative. There's no reason why he can't walk with us. 61 years of mayors walking in a parade. I think we can find another year, this mayor, to walk the parade."
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