Benjamin Netanyahu declared his intention to attend the UN General Assembly in New York this September, directly challenging the city's mayor over threats to arrest him on international war crimes charges. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, the Israeli prime minister brushed aside the controversy as politically motivated harassment designed to divide Americans along religious lines.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani had said Wednesday that Netanyahu would not be welcome in the city and urged federal authorities to execute an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. The ICC charged Netanyahu with crimes against humanity over Israel's conduct in Gaza, allegations he dismissed as âbogus.â
Netanyahu reframed Mamdani's position as a betrayal of mayoral duty. âHeâs supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers, Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone,â Netanyahu told Fox host Maria Bartiromo. âBut heâs trying to turn one group against the other.â
The prime minister expressed concern that rising antisemitism in American cities, particularly New York, which houses the second-largest Jewish population globally, was being exacerbated by progressive political figures. He stated that Jewish residents told him they felt uncomfortable.
Mamdani, who campaigned for his position partly on pledging to deploy the NYPD to enforce the ICC warrant, doubled down in his statement calling Netanyahu âa war criminal at large.â He said the city âalways respected" expressions of protest but made clear Netanyahu's presence would not be tolerated. His office did not comment further on Netanyahu's televised response.
The ICC also charged Netanyahu's former defense minister and the late Hamas leader with crimes against humanity. Palestinian health officials reported more than 73,000 deaths in Gaza, roughly half women and children. The conflict erupted after Hamas killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in its October 2023 attack on southern Israel.
Netanyahu's UN visit plans received an unexpected boost from Donald Trump, who posted on social media Monday that the Israeli leader "will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America." Netanyahu was scheduled to meet with Trump in Washington on Monday and attend funeral services for Senator Lindsey Graham, a longtime Israel hawk who died in July.
The broader political dynamic reflects Netanyahu's warning that once-bipartisan congressional support for Israel faces erosion as progressive Democrats increasingly oppose the Gaza offensive. His comments suggested concern that figures aligned with Mamdani represent a growing faction within the Democratic Party that views Israeli policy differently than traditional allies.
Author James Rodriguez: "Netanyahu's willingness to defy a sitting mayor over his UN appearance signals confidence that federal authority and international diplomacy will protect him, but it also exposes the genuine fracturing of American consensus on Israel that he clearly finds alarming."
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