Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Mayor Zohran Mamdani of endangering Jewish New Yorkers with his criticism of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, saying during a speech at the United Nations on Thursday that the mayor has spread lies about Israel.
Calling Mamdani “the antisemitic mayor of New York,” Netanyahu spent part of his time speaking to the United Nations General Assembly to assail the man who threatened to have him arrested if he came to the city.
“Mr. Mamdani, since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York. They talk to me, they tell me ‘this isn’t the city we remember, it changed so quickly,’” Netanyahu said.
It’s the latest in a back-and-forth between the Netanyahu and New York City’s first Muslim mayor, who has long been a vocal critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza and has called Netanyahu a “war criminal” who is “the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people.” Mamdani has said that his criticism of Israel and advocacy for Palestinian rights don’t amount to antisemitism.
The mayor met with U.S. President Donald Trump this week in New York. Netanyahu, during his speech Thursday, praised the president for his support of Israel, saying “we’ve had no greater partner than President Trump.”
In a statement, Mamdani repeated his criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, where more than 73,000 people have been killed since Netanyahu launched a punishing war in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.
“As he has done time and again, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians. Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he said in the statement.
During his mayoral campaign last year, Mamdani said he would direct police in New York to execute the war crimes court’s arrest warrant against Netanyahu, but has more recently acknowledged the city does not have the authority to take him into custody. The mayor has since encouraged the federal government to arrest Netanyahu, though Trump has said the prime minister will not be arrested.
“Mr. Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me and you can’t silence the truth,” Netanyahu said in his speech.
Around 100 people were arrested near the United Nations during a large protest over Netanyahu’s appearance, including celebrities Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder, according to the advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace.