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Gaza War Turns New Yorkers Against Israel, With Mayor’s Race as Backdrop

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More New Yorkers say their sympathies lie with Palestinians rather than Israel in the long-running conflict in Gaza, according to a New York Times/Siena poll.

Protesters holding signs calling for the end of a starvation campaign in Gaza march outside the Turkish consulate in Manhattan.

Sept. 10, 2025, 5:04 a.m. ET

Two years after Hamas’s terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza, New Yorkers now broadly sympathize with Palestinians over Israelis in the ongoing conflict, according to a new survey by The New York Times and Siena University.

The yawning gap of perspectives toward the conflict — 44 percent of registered New York City voters sympathized more with Palestinians; 26 percent sympathized more with Israel — is particularly stark given that the city is home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel. The poll also found that voters broadly think that criticizing Israel is not inherently antisemitic, 51 percent to 31 percent.

Israel’s prosecution of the war and its restrictions on aid to Gaza have played a part in sullying New Yorkers’ opinion of the country’s actions, and have led many — including traditionally staunch allies of Israel — to shift their views and speak out against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While the Times/Siena poll has not previously surveyed voters in the city on this topic, national polls have shown Americans becoming ever more critical of Israel as the war has continued.

The New York Times/Siena Poll

of New York City voters, Sept. 2-6

In the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, which side do you sympathize with more: Israel or the Palestinians?

Based on a New York Times/Siena poll of 1,284 registered voters in New York City from Sept. 2-6.

The segments for “Israel” and “Palestinians” include respondents who said they “strongly” or “somewhat” sympathize with each group, as well as those who said they “lean toward” sympathizing with each group.

By Ashley Cai

These views have filtered down to the mayor’s race, which is currently led by Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee who has aligned himself firmly with the plight of Palestinians, calling Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide.”

More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to health officials there. Residents are struggling to feed themselves amid Mr. Netanyahu’s push to expand the war. Mr. Netanyahu has said assertions of a famine in Gaza are exaggerated and that the war must continue until Hamas disarms and releases the remaining hostages it took in 2023, in an attack that killed about 1,200 people.