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Netanyahu vs Mamdani
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani of “fomenting hate” after Mamdani publicly contemplated his arrest over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Netanyahu said on Fox News that “He's fomenting hate,” and argued Mamdani was trying “to turn one group against the other” while he warned that “I speak to Jewish Americans in New York, and they're afraid right now.”
The dispute followed Mamdani telling The New York Times he was speaking with city lawyers about having Netanyahu arrested on an International Criminal Court warrant if he comes to New York for the UN General Assembly in September.
In 2024, the ICC charged Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, with committing war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, and Mamdani later released a video saying he didn’t have “the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant.”
The immediate backdrop to the controversy included a stabbing in New York City, where Moshe Grunhaus, 50, was stabbed in the chest with a screwdriver after leaving a Jewish religious service in the city's Upper West Side neighborhood.
Arrest calls and reactions
Netanyahu reiterated his stance on Sunday that Mamdani’s calls for an arrest over Israel’s war in Gaza are wrong, saying on Fox News that “He’s supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers – Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone.”
He also dismissed the ICC’s war crimes charges against him as “bogus,” pointing to sexual misconduct allegations against the ICC’s top prosecutor and saying the warrant was an attempt to divert attention.
Mamdani, in a Wednesday video message, said New York City does not have legal authority to execute an arrest warrant issued by the world’s top war crimes court, but he encouraged the federal government to do so.
In that same message, Mamdani said, “I want to be equally clear, Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at large,” while telling New Yorkers the city would “always respect” expressions of protest.
The Independent also reported that Netanyahu said he wasn’t worried about visiting New York City and planned to attend the UN General Assembly, adding, ”I intend to come and speak the truth, speak for Israel and for the Israeli-American alliance, from the podium of the United Nations,”.
What’s at stake next
The confrontation is playing out as Netanyahu prepares to attend the UN General Assembly in September in New York, despite Mamdani’s insistence that Netanyahu is “not welcome in New York City.”
The Guardian links the political pressure to Netanyahu’s broader polarizing position over Israel’s war in Gaza, which was ignited by the 7 October 2023 deadly attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants, and it cites the Palestinian territory’s health ministry saying more than 73,000 people have been killed in Israel’s offensive.
Netanyahu also warned that he is concerned bipartisan political support for Israel in the US is at risk, and he said that when he talks to people in New York City, “Jews feel very uncomfortable.”
In parallel, the Independent reported that Trump told Netanyahu in a social media post that he “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America,” as Netanyahu planned to meet Trump and attend funeral services for Lindsey Graham.
The Guardian further frames the ICC dispute as part of a wider international legal fight, noting that the Hague-based court has accused Netanyahu, his former defense minister and the late leader of Hamas of crimes against humanity, while Netanyahu continues to argue the warrant is a diversion.
