NYC Mayor Adams urged to call for Gaza ceasefire

(The Center Square) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is being pressured by his workers to declare that Israel's war in Gaza is a "genocide" and call for a ceasefire in the hostilities.

More than 300 New York City employees signed onto an anonymous letter saying they are "grieving and sickened by the unfolding genocide in Gaza" and demand that Adams speak out against civilian casualties as Israel targets Hamas following the Oct. 7 attack by the terror group that killed more than 1,400 Israelis.

"Make no mistake, cutting off water, electricity, access to humanitarian aid and bombing a civilian population of over 2 million people for over 20 days non-stop is genocide," the workers wrote. "Our Administration’s silence on these atrocities is deafening."

The employees accused Adams of showing an "immediate and resounding affirmation of the humanity of Israelis and Israeli New Yorkers," but ignoring Palestinians and "thousands of Palestinian New Yorkers" caught in the middle of the conflict.

They also claimed that the free speech rights of New Yorkers are being violated for speaking out for Palestine and accused politicians and the media of "wrongly conflating protests against the attacks on Gaza as ‘pro-terrorism’ rallies."

"This false conflation of peaceful protests and speaking out has led to loss of positions, housing denial, retaliation, harassment and hate crimes," they wrote.

The letter referenced recent news reports about an Arab tenant who was allegedly kicked out of his apartment in the Bronx by his landlord and called a terrorist, and a Muslim teenager who told police her hijab was pulled off and called a terrorist on the train.

An Adams spokesperson declined to comment on the letter posted on a free online forum.

New York state has one of the largest concentrations of Jewish people in the world. Adams and many of the state's other top elected leaders, on both sides of the political aisle, were quick in their condemnation of the terrorist attacks and to show support for the Israeli people and their right to defend their country.

But there have been dozens of pro-Palestinian protests in New York City in recent weeks, some including some elected officials, that have resulted in hundreds of arrests and exposed divisions between the state's Democratic leadership.

Several of New York's far-left Democrats — including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman — have called for a ceasefire in the Gaza hostilities, while Adams and other Democrats have defended Israel's right to defend itself and declined to call for a pause in the fighting.