Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani of “fomenting hate” after the mayor previously said he would seek to arrest the Israeli leader if he visited the city.
Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News that he still plans to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York later this year and is “not concerned” by Mamdani’s earlier remarks. He criticised the mayor for, in his words, turning communities against one another rather than representing all New Yorkers.
Mamdani, a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights, had pledged during his election campaign to enforce the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued against Netanyahu in 2024. However, last week he acknowledged that New York City does not have the legal authority to execute the warrant and said any enforcement would have to come from the U.S. federal government.
Netanyahu rejected the ICC allegations as “bogus” and reiterated Israel’s position that it has not committed war crimes in Gaza.
The dispute comes amid heightened tensions over the Gaza war, which began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 73,000 people, including over 21,000 children, have since been killed in Israeli military operations.
Netanyahu is due to visit the United States this week for meetings with President Donald Trump and to attend the funeral service of late Senator Lindsey Graham, although New York is not part of his current itinerary.
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