Almost all of the local elected officials linked to the Democratic Socialists of America refused Monday to condemn the group’s h▨ate-filled ⛄pro-Palestinian rally in Manhattan a day earlier.
The widely criticized rally — where an Israeli flag was stomped on and burned and a pro-Israeli faction taunted with a swastika image — occurred just a day after Palestinian terrorists launched Saturday’s sneak attack on Israel on the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret, killing more than 800 people, mostly civilians, and abducting at least 150 more.
In the midst of the deadly chaos and unspeakable tragedy, hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators still converged in the Crossroads of the World on Sunday — including some who grabbed an Israeli flag from counter-protesters and stomped on it before lighting it ablaze.
A pro-Palestinian supporter also was pictured flaunti🌱ng an image of a swastika on their pho🃏ne.
Yet the vast majority of elected, taxpayer-funded officials from New York City with ties to the DSA failed Monday — Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous Peoples Day, which is a city governmental holiday — to even respond to Post requests for comment on the rally as the Mideast grapples with one of its biggest crises in at least 50 years.
Just two out of the 17 politicians replied to The Post — a♛nd even then, they couched their comments to remind people of their pro-Palestinian stance.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bronx/Queens)
After publication, Ocasio-Cortez, described by the DSA as its “foremost socialist superstar,” told The Post in a statement that she denounced the acts of “bigotry and callousness” that took place at the rally.
“It should not be hard to shut down hatred and antisemitism where we see it. That is a core tenet of solidarity,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “The bigotry and callousness expressed in Times Square on Sunday were unacceptable and harmful in this devastating moment. It also did not speak for the thousands of New Yorkers who are capable of rejecting both Hamas’ horrifying attacks against innocent civilians as well as the grave injustices and violence Palestinians face under occupation.”
But she on Saturday about the attack in general, saying, “Today is devastating for all those seeking lasting peace and respect for human rights in Israel and Palestine.
“I condemn Hamas’s attack in the strongest possible terms. No child or family should ever endure this kind of violence and fear, and this violence will not solve the ongoing oppression and occupation of the region. An immediate ceasefire and de-escalation is urgently needed to save lives.”
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-Westchester County/Bronx)
Bowman did not respond to a request for comment but issued a statement on X on Saturday about the conflict in general, condemning the Palestinian terror group Hamas’s attack and calling for “peace in the region.” The pol has previously been at odds with the DSA over his voting for Israeli defense funding but was ultimately as an advocate against the “Zionist lobby,” in 2021.
State Sen. Julia Salazar (D-Bushwick, Brooklyn)
Salazar, a “Democratic socialist,” did not respond to a request for comment.
State Sen. Jabari Brisport (D-Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn)
Brisport, who won re-election in 2022 with the , issued a statement to The Post saying: “I continue to oppose any minimizing or glorification of death and warfare, including in statements made at a rally yesterday. I also oppose the right’s exploitation of this horror to mislead the public, score political points, and justify further atrocities against Palestinians.”
State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez (D-Astoria, Queens)
Gonzalez, who was also elevated to Albany last year with the DSA’s support, did not respond to a request for comment.
Assembly member Jessica González-Rojas (D-Jackson Heights, Queens)
González-Rojas, who won ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚher first term in the stateh🐎ouse last year, did not respond to a request for comment.
Assembly member Zohran Mamdani (D-Astoria, Queens)
Mamdani, a lawmaker, told The Post in a statement: “My support for Palestinian liberation should never be confused for a celebration of the loss of civilian life. I condemn the k🌱illing of civilians and rhetoric at a rally yesterday s♎eeking to make light of such deaths.”
A day before, he posted a statement on X which read, in part, that the “path towards a just a lasting peace can only begin by ending the [Israeli] occupation and dismantling apartheid.”
Assembly member Emily Gallagher (D-Greenpoint, Brooklyn)
Gallagher, who is , did not respond to a requesꦫt for comment.
Assembly member Marcela Mitaynes (D-Sunset Park, Brooklyn)
Mitaynes, a “Democratic socialist,” did not return a request for comment.
Assembly member Phara Souffrant Forrest (D-Fort Greene, Brooklyn)
Souffrant Forrest, who has s🉐aid she has used her office to “,” did not respond to a request for comment.
City Councilmember Kristin Richardson Jordan (D-Harlem, Manhattan)
Richardson Jordan, who declined to seek re-election this year while up against challenges from more moderat💙e Democrats, did not respond to a request for comment.
City Councilmember Tiffany Cabán (D-Astoria, Queens)
Cabán, a former Queens DA with a career filled with eඣndorsements from the DSA, did not respond to a request for comment about the rally.
But she did post a statement on X on Sunday about the conflict in general that partially read, “My wholehearted commitment to safety, peace of mind, and collective self-determination for the Israeli people in no way contradicts my commitment to liberation and human rights for the Palestinian people. In fact, those commitments are one and the same.”
City Councilmember Chi Ossé (D-Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn)
Ossé, who Twitter in 2020 ♔that he was a member of the DSA but h🍎ad since deleted the statement, did not respond to a request for comment.
City Councilmember Alexa Avilés (D-Sunset Park, Brooklyn)
Avilés, who has enjoyed the “strong support” of the DSA, did not respond to a request for comment.
On Sunday, she released a statement condemning all forms of “hate violence and intolerance,” adding, “My heart breaks to see so much death and destruction. My thoughts are with the Israeli and Palestinian civilians who face such terrible violence in the aftermath of yesterday’s attacks.
City Councilmember Shahana Hanif (D-Park Slope, Brooklyn)
Hanif stated in a 2021 questionnaire that she was a DSA member, but she was not endorsed by the group in that election and defeated a candidate propped up by the party. Her office on Mo𒐪nday refused to clarify if she was in the DSA and did not respond to a request for a statement 🔴on the DSA rally.
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams
Williams, a “Democratic socialist” who has been endorsed by the DSA, did not respond to a request for comment but issued a short missive Saturday that called the violence “heartwrenching” while claiming Hamas’s actions did not bring “us closer to a solution.”
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander
Lander — who once founded the Progressive Caucus in the New York City Council and explained in a 2016 op-ed why as a “Jewish Democratic Socialist” he was endorsing Hillary Clinton over DSA-backed candidate Bernie Sanders — did not return a request comment. But he posted a blistering rebuke of the rally on X on Sunday.
“Today’s DSA rally – which effectively celebrated Hamas’ murder & kidnapping of hundreds of Israeli civilians, including children & grandparents – was abominable. There is no place for glorifying terror, left, center, or right,” Lander wrote.
“It is important to work for Palestinian human rights, lives, and freedom – and I am long on the record calling for an end to the Occupation,” the pol added. “But Hamas’ murderous terrorism does not advance that cause. And there’s nothing progressive or liberatory about glorifying it.”
SEIU 1199 Healthcare Workers East, which represents some 400,000 members nationwide and has made donations to DSA-backed candidates in New York City, did also not respond to a requ🍰est for comment Monday.
Local leaders from Gov. Kathy Hochul to New York City Mayor Eric Adams had roundly condemned the rally even before it started, and Hizzoner followed up Monday by saying DSA members “have to do some soul-searching.”
Adams spoke out against the “hateful” protest after marching in the city’s Columbus Day Parade and asked his fellow Democrats to question their allegiance to the DSA, which urged pro-Palestine protesters to wear masks to its “All Out for Palestine!!!” rally, apparently to avoid being identified by authorities.
His message came as police were called to quell skirmishes at other pro-Pales꧋tine rallies in cities such as Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, London and Sydney.
“I think that those council people who associated themselves with DSA, they need to say, is that the message that they speak, is that the message they stand for, is that the message that they believe is the right message for a city like New York?” Adams told reporters.
“They have to do some soul-searching. What we saw played out yesterday, is that something that they stand for? It’s not something I stand for, and they have to make that decision on their own.”
Adams had tweeted before the rally, “At a moment when innocent people are being slaughtered and children kidnapped in Israel, it is disgusting that this group of extremists would show support for terrorism. I reject this. New York City rejects this. Do not use our streets to spread your hate.”
Additional reporting by Carl Campanile and Post Wires
