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Netanyahu accuses NYC Mayor Mamdani of 'fomenting hate' after arrest threat - BBC
7/27/20261 min read
Mamdani walked back his threat last week, acknowledging he lacked the legal power to arrest Netanyahu on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
✨ Key Highlights
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he intends to attend the UN General Assembly in New York City this autumn, dismissing an earlier threat by NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani to arrest him.
- Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Netanyahu said he was "not concerned" and accused Mamdani of "fomenting hate," arguing the mayor should represent all New Yorkers rather than turning groups against one another.
- Netanyahu is travelling to the US on Monday for a separate visit, meeting President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday and attending a funeral service for the late senator Lindsey Graham, though New York is not on this trip's itinerary.
- Netanyahu referenced a pair of stabbings in New York on Thursday, in which a suspect allegedly shouted "Allahu akbar" while attacking a Jewish man and an Asian man blocks apart; both survived, and the suspect was charged with hate crimes.
- Mamdani, a supporter of Palestinian rights who has called Netanyahu a "war criminal," had campaigned on enforcing a 2024 International Criminal Court arrest warrant against the Israeli leader, but last week acknowledged his administration lacks "independent legal authority to enforce this warrant."
- Israel denies committing war crimes in Gaza, calling the ICC charges "bogus"; the conflict began after the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel, while more than 73,000 people, including over 21,000 children, have since been killed in Gaza, according to its Hamas-run health ministry.
"He's supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers, Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone, but he's trying to turn one group against the other," Netanyahu said.