New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani invoked Nelson Mandela’s legacy to condemn Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, questioning why the world so often waits until atrocities become history before finding the courage to oppose them.

“Why must we wait until thousands more parents bury their children, until even more lose their limbs, their homes, their futures?” Mamdani asked, denouncing the international silence as Palestinians continue to endure relentless bombardment, displacement, and mass killing.

He warned that history will expose today’s hypocrisy, saying that one day nearly everyone will claim they stood against the devastation in Gaza. The true measure of conscience, he stressed, is not where people stand after the killing ends, but where they stand while Palestinians are still being slaughtered.