By:  Ilana Siyance

Following the harrowing surprise attack on Israel by terrorist organization Hamas, former New York City mayor Bill De Blasio is speaking out, saying New York City should be on alert to thwart terror.  “Of course we stand with the people of Israel,” de Blasio said Sunday on WABC 770 AM’s “The Cats Roundtable” with host John Catsimatidis. “We’ve got to condemn [terrorism] wholeheartedly the second you see it. New Yorkers have felt terrorism. We know exactly what terrorism is, in ways that a lot of other people have not experienced,” the former mayor said, alluding to the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center.

De Blasio said the Hamas’ heartless slaughter of innocent Israelis shows that terrorism is still at bay.  “For New York City right now, we’ve got to be ready … Let’s be honest. This threat is going to exist in the world for quite a while, and we’ve got to protect ourselves,” he said.  He added that under his leadership, the NYPD strengthened its anti-terror capabilities and said the department is prepared to protect New Yorkers.

As reported by the NY Post, De Blasio also spoke out to condemn his fellow Democrats and progressives, particularly in Academia, for failing to condemn the humanitarian crimes committed by Hamas.  De Blasio, who teaches at NYU and formerly taught at Harvard, ripped the many university organizations for cheering on Hamas’ killing spree of innocent Jews in Israel, and for calling it a pro-Palestinian cause.

De Blasio said Hamas’ “disgusting and inhumane” attack on innocent citizens undermines the Palestinian cause for statehood.  “There can’t be any moral relativism or mincing words here. What we saw was disgusting and unacceptable and needs to be condemned by everyone across the spectrum,” de Blasio said.  “I’m teaching at NYU. We had an unfortunate situation where the student leader was trying to justify the terrorism of Hamas. Luckily, a lot of us in the NYU community spoke out against that very quickly. I think that’s what people have to do.”  He also said the Harvard campus has been lax in condemning Hamas’ terror.  De Blasio said that anyone who cares about the Palestinians should “start by condemning Hamas and what they’ve done … I think some of the groups at Harvard haven’t done that — because I still have a connection there.”

Last week, over 30 Harvard University student organizations said Israel is “entirely responsible” for Hamas’ terror attack.  De Blasio said he has signed a letter distributed by some Harvard groups condemning the Hamas’ terrorism.  “We don’t accept this. We don’t accept any form of terrorism. And we don’t accept the environment of a campus that includes organizations that somehow don’t think it’s necessary to see us all as human beings. That if Jewish lives have been destroyed, and children killed in front of their families, that somehow that doesn’t need to be spoken to. Of course, that has to be condemned,” said the former mayor.

Current NYC mayor Eric Adams has also spoken out in support of Israel and condemned Hamas for its terror campaign.  “We are not all right when Hamas believes that they are fighting on behalf of something and their destructive, despicable action that carried out. We are not all right when we still have hostages who have not come home to their family”, Mayor Adams said.