Olivier Sarfati

[Simon Wiesenthal Center @simonwiesenthal]

Mayor Mamdani did not simply express a personal political opinion. He used the authority, symbolism, and credibility of the mayor’s office to issue what amounted to an official public address declaring that the democratically elected leader of the world’s only Jewish state is a ‘war criminal’ who is ‘not welcome in New York City.’ That is a profound misuse of the office entrusted to him by all New Yorkers.

After acknowledging that New York City has no independent legal authority to execute the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant, the mayor nevertheless chose to transform that legal reality into a televised political spectacle. Respect for the separation of powers and the legal limits of public office is a bedrock of American democracy; those limits should not be treated as an inconvenience to be exploited for political theater.

Perhaps most telling was what the mayor chose to leave out. His address made no mention of Hamas or the October 7 massacre of innocent civilians. Instead, he delivered a sweeping moral indictment of Israel while erasing the terrorist atrocities that ignited this war. Appeals to universal humanity and justice ring hollow when they exclude the victims whose suffering does not fit a preferred political narrative.

This is no longer simply about Prime Minister Netanyahu. It reflects a broader pattern in which Mayor Mamdani repeatedly singles out Israel while using the prestige of his office to legitimize rhetoric that further isolates the Jewish state and deepens division here at home. At a time when Jewish New Yorkers are experiencing alarming levels of antisemitism, harassment and intimidation, they deserve a mayor who refrains from fomenting hatred against the world’s only Jewish country while maintaining the fiction that this is not anti-Jewish.

Throughout his campaign, Mayor Mamdani repeatedly insisted that his responsibility as mayor would be to focus on New York City and the issues affecting New Yorkers. New Yorkers elected him to make their neighborhoods safer, combat hate and unite a diverse city, not to conduct foreign policy or transform City Hall into a stage for ideological declarations about world leaders.

New Yorkers elected a mayor, not a prosecutor of foreign leaders. Mayor Mamdani should spend less time trying to demonize only one leader and one country from City Hall and more time protecting the New Yorkers he was elected to serve.

#Mamdani #MayorMamdani #Israel

[Olivier Sarfati @onsinnyc]

@poiu477 @ColinLA @DavidM_Friedman Isn’t Hamas a designated terrorist organization by the US, the EU, the UK, Canada etc ? Would you call a ‘militant’ of a terrorist organization a ‘terrorist’?

[John Spencer @SpencerGuard]

“They are killing enormous numbers of civilians…they are targeting one, two, three enemy combatants and in the process killing huge numbers of civilians. @piersmorgan Piers a few minutes later – “If you can’t say exactly how many civilians have been killed in Gaza, what you say about numbers is bull.”

Dear @piersmorgan I tried to explain to you where numbers in the Gaza war (or any war) are going to come from "simply.” But let me type it out so you have a record of it instead of the interruptions and the tactic of just asking the same question over and over while I explain how the numbers work. The same numbers by the way that you used minutes before to criticize Israel and constantly repeat or have guests on that repeat, or more often state not even Hamas numbers but false numbers about xx civilians, xx women, xx children, xx percentages that go beyond Hamas's actual list of casualties.

First, let me correct you again (like I did to start the segment) by providing you my actual quotes:

1 - "Israel and the IDF have implemented more measures (sometimes quoted as precautions) to prevent civilian harm in urban warfare than any military in history,"

That is testable against urban warfare history of any similar situation (mostly attack of defended urban terrain). Israel civilian harm mitigation measure have included advance notification (flyers, phone calls, text messages, voicemails, drones with speakers, tv, radio, social media), safe corridors to include improving roads used for safe corridors in the middle of the war, roof knocking (notifying all residents of a building in advance for evacuations and then using non-penetrating low-yield munitions on top of the building before then waiting to strike), over daily multi-hour pauses in fighting (over 400 days of the 800 days of fighting) to allow civilian evacuations and aid movement, establishing a one-star commanded civilian harm mitigation cell that created a real time civilian presence (using cell phone presence, drones, satellite images, etc.) software reflected on all combat operating systems, handing out their own military maps to the entire population (to include the enemy) and then communicating the location of IDF operations, areas to avoid or further evacuate, using major call outs of buildings and neighborhoods, restrictive rules of engagement based on likely civilian presence, rigorous fires processes and legal reviews that often ended in calling mission off out of civilian harm estimates. Many of these measures have never been attempted, by any military.

2 - "Israel has a lower civilian to combatant ratio than any similar context (war or battle) in the history of urban warfare.” After acknowledging the lack of comparative cases (size of enemy forces (which I asked you about, you don't know), tunnels, density, strategy, tactics, prevention of civilian evacuations) but still doing the simple analysis, in order to provide the evidence for this statement I use the same numbers you and your frequent guests push to condemn Israel. But here:

Q: How do you estimate the number of civilians deaths?

A: Take the number the Hamas Gaza Health Ministry reports (despite that it includes any death in Gaza for any reason or cause (Israel/Hamas/Other terrorists) and has been well documented with inaccuracies (even having to be updated by Hamas of natural deaths, incomplete entries, false entries) and subtract the Israel stated combatant deaths.

The Hamas Gaza Health Ministry claims roughly 72,000 deaths in Gaza. The IDF says it has killed about 25,000-26,000 combatants, a number also reported by President Trump in October 2025. If you subtract 25,000 from 72,000, even using Hamas’s number at face value, you get roughly 47,000 non-combatant deaths, or a bit less than a 2:1 ratio. If you were modest to adjust for natural deaths and Hamas-caused deaths, is likely closer to 35,000–40,000 non-combatant deaths versus 25,000 combatants killed, which puts the ratio closer to 1.5:1.

If you compare 2:1 or 1.5:1 to any numbers we have (in many cases we don’t have) for wars, urban centric wars, contested urban battles they will be some of the lowest ratios (in some cases lowest by far) ever seen despite none of those wars or battles had the context of Gaza. For example:

World War II – 70 million civilians, 20 million combatants, 3.5:1
Korean War – 2.5 million civilians, 90,000 combatants, 27:1
Iraq War – 280-300,000 civilians, 150-200,000 combatants, 1.4:1 to 2:1

But wait, the Gaza numbers are usually aggregated numbers for the entire war, any death ever reported in Gaza.

But if you disaggregate the numbers to specific battles like Rafah, Khan Yunis, Gaza City 2025 for comparison you get different numbers. Based on modest numbers from the Battle of Rafah, the civilian to combatant ratio would be more like 1:100 due to multiple operational variables like the success of civilian evacuations.

Major urban battles (modest comparison of battles with any like variables).

Mosul – 10,000 civilians. Combatant unknown but total estimate in battle 5,000 – 2:1
Manila – 100,000 civilians. Combatants 17,000 – 6:1
Seoul – Unknown/no record of civilian but very likely high ratio based on histories
Mariupol – Unknown/mass graves, estimate 20-22,000 civilians, 3-8,000 combatants - 2.5:1 to 7.3:1

I actually use this discussion about numbers or quote about ratio sparingly despite how many times it has been attribute to me because I know the complexity of casualty counting especially in urban centric wars with combatants that violate the law of war and do not distinguish themselves (uniforms/marking) making determining a body found (if there is a body) or a name reported (such as methods in Gaza) and then classifying that person as was participating in the hostilities (combatant) or not (noncombatant) is beyond just difficult and should always be viewed as questionable. In Mosul, a year after the battle there was not only no agreed upon casualty number, but the Mayor of the city also said there were 40,000 civilian deaths. These numbers are always messy, political, susceptible to manipulation by the different organizations involved.

My point has always been that numbers of casualty reporting in Gaza doesn’t paint the story people routinely push. Actually, the opposite.

Urban warfare is inherently and historically costly against civilians and the infrastructure. All wars involve noncombatant death. The moral, legal requirement is to do proportionality assessments and take feasible steps to prevent excessive civilian harm.

So, using your logic Piers, if you can’t state how many combatants were killed (by Israel, Hamas, terrorist rockets, other terrorists in power struggles) … you can’t say (or allow your guests to say) Israel has killed a “large number of civilians” or “killed a disproportionate number of civilians” like you did in this very interveiw.

You can't spend years saying Israel is killing enormous numbers of civilians and then tell me nobody can estimate civilian deaths so ratios aren't valid. Those two positions can't both be true.

If casualty estimates are reliable enough to accuse Israel, then they're also reliable enough to examine civilian-to-combatant ratios. If they aren't, then they shouldn't be used selectively only when they support one conclusion.

[Benny Polatseck @BPolatseck]

So @NYCMayor Mamdani is using his official NYPD taxpayer funded vehicle to chauffeur around @DarializaforNY from one campaign stop the next.

A clear violation of city ethics and rules.

Will any reporter ask him about it?

@katie_honan

[Kaye @KayeSteinsapir]

This should be widely read. I’ve been trying to explain to some of my non-Jewish friends why @NYCMayor is dangerous for American Jews. Many of us saw it from the beginning, and it will only become more apparent.

How does anyone who cares about social justice and equal rights under the law think it’s ok for Mamdani to suggest American Jews are “monsters” for exercising the same rights to lobby the US government that every other American has?

Mamdani is “othering” American Jews, questioning our patriotism, and blatantly dehumanizing us.

Why is a US city mayor constantly speaking about about a tiny foreign country that’s over 5k miles away 🤨? The US city with the largest Jewish population. Whom he pretends to support, along with a phony smile, if they’re “the right kind” of Jew.

It echoes back to a dark chapter in history. The Jews have always been the canary in the coal mine, signaling a sick society that devalues individual rights and oppresses minorities. It never ends with us. It won’t this time. @KathyHochul

[Olivier Sarfati @onsinnyc]

@MaryJaneBryksa @mdubowitz Genocide libel is antisemitism, Mary Jane.
Even the ICJ did not rule that genocide was “plausibly being committed.”
Israel has no issue with Lebanon, it just happens that Hezbollah, the same group that killed 241 US marines in 1983, is throwing missiles at Israel from Lebanon.

[Olivier Sarfati @onsinnyc]

@sanchezleroy213 @Ostrov_A @dannydanon As to your ‘apartheid’ libel, for your information, 20% of the population in Israel are Arabs. They have exactly the same voting rights, the same access to education and to social security as the Jews. Please inform yourself.

[Olivier Sarfati @onsinnyc]

@kajakallas Dear Kaja,
The term “West Bank” is a modern colonial-era label that simply describes the western bank of the Jordan River under the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan (created by British colonial administration). The historical names for this land are Judea and Samaria.

[Leslie Palti-Guzman @lpalti]

🎙️ New Energy Vista Pod Episode. Are #Gulf states pursuing increasingly divergent paths in their relationships with one another, #Iran, and the #USA?

I exchanged with @danielbenaim @MiddleEastInst about #Hormuz and #hardpower #alliances
🎧 YouTube | Apple | Spotify
#EnergyVista

[Olivier Sarfati @onsinnyc]

@DrSlump1984 @kerrybluemike People with the ability to read will judge for themselves.

[Olivier Sarfati @onsinnyc]

@DrSlump1984 @kerrybluemike @Mish_K_ Nope - the 1937 original was in Hebrew -> A Jewish state in part [of Palestine] is not an end, but a beginning… Establishing a state, even if only on part of the land, will increase our strength, and every increase in strength helps us achieve the whole of the country

[David Collier @mishtal]

Dear @BBCNews

You clearly obsessed over the flotilla . Endless articles about their safety and the return to their homes.

Yet for some reason you didn't write about what happened to the Spanish activists when they returned home. Any reason why?

Asking for a friend.

[Ahmed Al-Khalidi @khalidi79397]

A genocide is happening in Gaza, they tell us. Then scroll your feed:

Comma Cafee, just opened in Gaza City. Espresso machines, plated desserts, dim lighting.

Vanilla Café. Upscale, glass facade.

Nova Restaurant in Khan Younis: sleek wood interior, beachfront seating. Named, apparently without irony, after the music festival where 364 Israelis were slaughtered on October 7.

O2 Restaurant. pizza, ice cream, milkshakes, TikTok food porn.

Open-air markets in Gaza City with apples, avocados, oranges, bananas.

Supermarkets stocked for Ramadan with imported goods.

A "Gaza Coffee" brand selling 100% Arabica premium beans, taking online orders, with five-star reviews dated this year.

Even Al Jazeera's writer concedes the cafes "were built with expensive materials, carefully painted, furnished with tables, sofas, and elegant chairs, with glass facades and shining lights."

Now hold that next to actual genocide.

Rwanda, 1994. 800,000 Tutsi murdered in 100 days. ~8,000 per day. Hutu radio read names of neighbors to be hacked apart by morning. No one opened a café.

Cambodia, 1975–79. Khmer Rouge emptied Phnom Penh at gunpoint in 72 hours. Currency abolished. Markets abolished. Eyeglasses got you killed. Two million dead.

The Holocaust. Warsaw Ghetto: 92,000 dead of starvation and disease before the deportations even began. Auschwitz processed 6,000 people a day into smoke. There were no glass-facade espresso bars in Łódź in 1943.

Srebrenica, July 1995. 8,372 men and boys executed in days. No restaurants reopened. They were in mass graves.

Armenia, 1915. Death marches into the Syrian desert. No imported avocados.

The common thread of genocide is that the targeted population is not allowed to exist. Not in cafes, not in markets, not in their homes, not anywhere. The perpetrator's entire project is their absence.

Gaza in 2026, by every honest description, is something else: a brutal war zone, partially destroyed, with a population suffering real hardship and simultaneously a place where new businesses open, beachfront restaurants serve customers, and a post war economy is being written about in business pages. Both things are true.

That is what war looks like. Lebanon 2006. Mosul 2017. Mariupol 2022. Aleppo 2016. Civilians die and life adapts around the destruction.

It is not what genocide looks like.

So why the word?

Because "genocide" is the most powerful word in the post-WWII moral vocabulary. It triggers automatic legal obligations, suspends normal debate, and short-circuits proportionality analysis. Apply it successfully and your adversary loses the right to defend itself before the argument even begins. That is exactly why it is being deployed by a side that started a war on October 7, took hostages, embedded itself in hospitals and schools, and now needs the West to force a ceasefire it could not win on the battlefield.

It is asymmetric warfare with a thesaurus. The rockets failed. The tunnels failed. The word might not.

Coffee in Gaza doesn't prove there is no suffering. It proves there is no genocide. Those are not the same claim and the people conflating them are counting on you not to notice.