New York City Councilman James F. Gennaro delivered a passionate and unapologetic address Friday at the Arutz Sheva and Chazaq Summit in Queens, warning of growing anti-Israel sentiment in the United States and calling on supporters of Israel to confront both external and internal challenges.
Speaking before a packed audience, Gennaro argued that one of the greatest difficulties facing the Jewish community is the presence of vocal Jewish critics of Israel whose statements, he said, provide cover for Israel's enemies.
"It's like a baseball game where you have nine men on the field and three or four are playing for the other team," Gennaro said. "That gives refuge and cover to the Israel-haters."
The councilman, a practicing Catholic whose wife is Jewish and whose family has deep ties to Israel, also turned his attention to what he described as troubling developments within the Catholic Church.
Gennaro sharply criticized the late Pope Francis, describing him as a proponent of Marxist ideas, and expressed disappointment with statements by Pope Leo regarding the Middle East conflict.
Referring to recent calls for a two-state solution and comments concerning those involved in military action against Iran, Gennaro said he had publicly challenged the Vatican's position.
"I wrote that he is the one who should go to confession," Gennaro said, drawing applause from the audience. "That's what needed to be said."
The councilman warned that anti-Israel messages are being heard by Catholics worldwide and claimed that anti-Israel narratives have increasingly found their way into church discourse since the October 7 Hamas massacre.
At the same time, he praised evangelical Christians and the Pentecostal movement for their strong support of Israel.
"For every Jew in America who supports Israel, you've probably got fifty Pentecostals who would die for Israel," he said.
Gennaro also blasted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani over what he described as anti-Israel rhetoric and the promotion of a "Nakba Day" narrative.
Reading from a prepared statement, he accused the mayor of presenting a one-sided version of history that ignores Arab rejection of the 1947 UN partition plan, the invasion of the newly established State of Israel by neighboring Arab armies, and the expulsion of Jews from Arab countries.
"The mayor's Nakba Day propaganda is nothing short of a disgraceful, one-sided rewrite of history," Gennaro declared.
"The mayor's four-minute sob story ignores the Jewish refugees, the decades of pogroms, and the fact that Nakba narratives too often mask the real goal - erasing Israel as a Jewish homeland. This isn't an isolated slip. It's part of the mayor's disturbing pattern of enabling and amplifying anti-Jewish sentiment from his DSA roots and Israel-bashing rhetoric to platforming one-sided catastrophe tales at taxpayer expense while Jewish New Yorkers [face] skyrocketing hate crimes in our streets and schools. He consistently signals which side he despises. New York City has the largest Jewish population outside Israel, yet under leaders like him, It feels like their pain, security, and history or afterthoughts or worse, fair game for distortion," he said.
Gennaro said that Jewish New Yorkers deserve leaders who stand firmly against antisemitism and reject efforts to normalize anti-Israel hostility. "Real leadership means calling out hatred against all communities, not cozying up to eliminationist slogans like 'right of return' that would dismantle the world's only Jewish state. Mayor Mamdani needs to stop dividing New Yorkers with antisemitic fiction. The Jewish community and all fair-minded New Yorkers deserve much better," he said.
"How many Jewish organizations would put out a statement like this?" he wondered.
You know, this strong. Not a lot."
Concluding his remarks on a personal note, Gennaro spoke about his family's connection to Israel. He noted that his wife has relatives throughout the country, including a niece serving in the Israel Defense Forces.
"My wife's brother and sister made aliyah fifty years ago," he said. "She has more relatives in Israel than she can count."
He ended his speech with a declaration that drew enthusiastic applause from attendees: "Am Yisrael Chai."