Netanyahu accuses NYC’s Mamdani of ‘fomenting hate’ after arrest threat
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he plans to attend the UN General Assembly in New York this fall, despite the city’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, threatening to arrest him.
Last week, Mamdani walked back the threat, acknowledging that he did not have the legal authority to detain Netanyahu under an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, the world’s top war crimes court.
The Israeli leader told Fox News on Sunday that he was “not concerned” by Mamdani’s previous promise and accused the mayor of “inciting hatred.”
“He is supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers, Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone, but he is trying to turn one group against another,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu was referring to a double stabbing in New York on Thursday, in which a suspect stabbed a Jewish and an Asian man a few blocks away from each other.
According to the police, the suspect allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the stabbing. Each victim was charged with hate crimes.
Both men survived attacks that drew condemnation from the city’s Jewish and Asian American leaders.
Afterwards, Netanyahu said that Jewish New Yorkers were “scared right now.”
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A staunch supporter of Palestinian rights, Mamdani made his opposition to Israel’s military operation in Gaza a central plank of his campaign last year. He called Netanyahu a “war criminal” in a speech last week.
As part of this platform during the campaign, Mamdani promised to enforce the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for Netanyahu in 2024, accusing the prime minister of committing war crimes in Gaza.
While Israel denies accusations that it committed war crimes in Gaza, Netanyahu called the accusations “fake”.
The Israeli army entered Gaza after the attack on Israel led by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Approximately 1,200 people died and 251 people were taken hostage.
More than 73,000 people have since been killed in Israeli offensives in Gaza, according to the region’s Hamas-run health ministry; among them are more than 21,000 children. The figures are considered reliable by the UN.
Last week, after the New York Times pressed Mamdani about his promise to arrest Netanyahu, Mamdani said his administration was reviewing the law and found: “We do not have independent legal authority to enforce this order.”
Mamdani called on the federal government to arrest the prime minister, saying: “Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York.”
