New York leaders are outraged and standing in solidarity with Israel and the Jewish community after this weekend’s terror attacks and missile assault at the hands of Hamas militants in Gaza.

"So many New Yorkers have been affected by the barbaric attack by sheer evil, in the form of terrorism, the assault on the Israeli homeland," Gov. Kathy Hochul said before marching in the Columbus Day Parade Monday.


What You Need To Know

  • Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday denounced the "barbaric attack" on Israeli civilians at the hands of Hamas in Gaza
  • The Democratic Socialists of America came under fire for promoting a pro-Palestinian rally quickly after the terror attacks
  • Mayor Eric Adams said there will be an increase in police presence for religious institutions, particularly in neighborhoods with large Jewish populations
  • President Joe Biden said Monday afternoon that at least 11 Americans were killed in the attacks and others are probably being held as hostages

For some elected officials, it is deeply personal.

"We were in Tel Aviv at a hotel woken up about 6:30 in the morning on Saturday by sirens," Rep. Dan Goldman told NY1's “Mornings On 1” Monday.

Goldman said he and his family were forced to shelter in a hotel stairwell.

"We experienced, I think, a traumatic experience, obviously. And my kids are still feeling the affects of it," Goldman said. "But it is nothing in comparison to so many in the south. Grandmothers, elderly, children who were brutalized, kidnapped, murdered. It's unconscionable."

The responses stood in stark contrast from the left-wing of New York’s Democratic Party that is backed by the Democratic Socialists of America.

New York's Democratic Socialists of America group boosted a post by the national organization that called the terror attacks "a direct result of Israel's apartheid regime."

The local group also promoted a Midtown rally in "solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to resist 75 years of occupation and apartheid” — a reference to the year the state of Israel was established in 1948.

"They should be ashamed for calling on it. They should be ashamed if they haven't denounced it and everyone who is in public office today should make clear where they stand and everyone should be standing with Israel right now," said Councilman David Carr, a Republican from Staten Island.

Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams also attacked the rally and the Democratic Socialists of America's participation.

"I condemned everyone involved in that. I was not selective," Hochul said. "I condemned the whole concept of having a rally at a time when they're still counting bodies."

"Is that the message that they believe is the right message for a city like New York," Adams added.

Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a Queens Democrat backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, released a statement mourning "the hundreds of people killed across Israel and Palestine." But he then turned his focus to Israel's response to the rape, kidnapping and killing of Israeli civilians.

His colleague, Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein of Brooklyn, took notice.

"Did you simply forget to condemn the terrorists here or do you support these murderers?" Eichenstein wrote.

In a statement to NY1 Monday, Mamdani said his "support for Palestinian liberation should never be confused for a celebration of the loss of civilian life."

"I condemn the killing of civilians and rhetoric at a rally yesterday seeking to make light of such deaths," Mamdani said in the statement.