New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday compared the story of the Irish to the liberal narrative about Palestinians during a St. Patrick’s Day event.
At the event, Mamdani recognized former Irish president and the United Nations’s former high commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, who was in attendance. The mayor praised Robinson’s record on climate issues, LGBT issues, feminism, and “reproductive rights.” He also hailed what he described as her record of support for Palestinians, whom he said have endured hardship similar to that of the Irish.
“I think also of how she stood steadfast alongside the people of Palestine,” Mamdani said. “I say this, as over the past few years, we have witnessed a genocide unfold before our eyes. There has been a deafening silence from so many.”
“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 Robison has never been silent,” Mamdani continued. “As she once said, commemoration is a moral act.”
Mamdani’s remarks came during a breakfast event at Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s residence, which marked the first time he had hosted a foreign dignitary at his home. Mamdani later plans to walk in the city’s traditional St. Patrick’s Day parade on Fifth Avenue, alongside New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
During his remarks, Mamdani suggested that the Irish stood in solidarity with Palestinians because of what he described as their shared history of “oppression.”
“Solidarity is many things. Unwavering, sincere, and chief among them, Irish,” he said.
“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 New York City, is at one time a story of subjugation and discrimination. As we know, it was on Irish soil that the British Empire developed its colonial project, so much of the exploitation later imposed elsewhere across the world was first honed in the plantations of Ireland,” Mamdani continued. “When Irish immigrants arrived in New York City, they were often barred from employment and from housing.”
On St. Patrick’s Day, Mamdani said, New Yorkers “celebrate not just a day of revelry, but a day of continued obligation to one another, to a better world, to all those who still weep.”
During his mayoral campaign last year, Mamdani declined to definitively condemn the antisemitic phrase “globalize the intifada,” which is commonly used by Palestinian activists. This month, his wife was criticized for social media posts she has liked about the Palestinian narrative that are anti-Jewish, including a post that claimed Hamas’s Oct. 7 rape of Jewish women was a “mass hoax.”
In New York City, Mamdani’s ideas have gained significant traction as the first democratic socialist to take power in City Hall.
Despite his politics, Mamdani has formed a close working relationship with President Donald Trump, with the two men holding calls and meetings, including one at the White House.
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Last month, Mamdani appeared to pitch an idea to Trump that would bring 12,000 new housing units to New York City.
“I had a productive meeting with President Trump this afternoon,” Mamdani posted on X, featuring a photo of the two in the Oval Office. “I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City.”
