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U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Jewish Democrat from Parkland, Fla., sharply criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for his comments regarding the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre.

"He basically said 'The Jews that died, sad, but it’s their fault,'" Moskowitz wrote on X. "He needs the city’s antisemitism policy for himself. Just an atrocious statement."

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel, including hundreds at the Nova Music Festival, and took 251 hostages. Mamdani’s official statement opened by calling the day "profoundly painful for so many New Yorkers" and describing the "horrific war crimes" of Oct. 7. However, the statement then shifted focus to Israel, stating that the suffering "did not begin nor end that day."

Mamdani accused the Israeli government of an "ongoing genocide in Gaza" and cited contested Palestinian casualty figures. The statement devoted one paragraph to those murdered by Hamas and three to Palestinian deaths, without condemning the Hamas organization.

Other Florida officials joined in the criticism. U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Broward Democrat, described the statement as "obscene."

"Desecrating the memory of murdered, innocent Jews today of all days and refusing to even condemn Hamas is obscene," she wrote. "There are 364 other days you can wrongly criticize Israel for defending herself."

The discourse occurs as Moskowitz runs for re-election in Florida’s newly redrawn 25th Congressional District. According to Matt Isbell of MCI Maps, approximately 25% of the district’s residents are Jewish, the highest share of any district in the state. Moskowitz faces a challenge from Republican Scott Singer, the former mayor of Boca Raton, who has alleged that Moskowitz is distancing himself from Israel to align with his party’s shifting politics.