After hosting Mary Robinson, Ireland’s first female president from 1990-1997, for breakfast at Gracie Mansion in the morning, Mayor Mamdani kicked off his first St. Patrick’s Day parade. Robinson, the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – and the majority of Irish people – have been ardent supporters of Palestine. Mamdani took that opportunity to thank Irish New Yorkers, whose ancestors faced their own subjugation and repression, for helping with the “fight for a future of justice.” Ahead of the parade that starts at St. Patrick’s cathedral in midtown, Mamdani said: “For those who have long cared about universal human rights and the extension of them to Palestinians, silence, however, is nothing new, for Palestinians are so often left to weep alone. Yet, former President Robinson has never been silent.”