Netanyahu accuses NCC’s Mamdani of ‘inciting hatred’ after threats of arrest

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he plans to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York City this fall, despite attempts to arrest the city’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani.

Mamdani walked back that threat last week, saying the war crimes tribunal did not have the legal authority to arrest Netanyahu on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.

The Israeli leader told Fox News on Sunday that Mamdani’s previous promises “didn’t bother him” and accused the mayor of “fostering hatred.”

“He should be a mayor of all New Yorkers, Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone, but he’s trying to turn one group against another,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu pointed out a pair of knives in New York on Thursday when a suspect stabbed a Jewish man and an Asian man at separate locations.

The suspect shouted the words “Allahu Akbar” as he committed the crime, police said. Each victim was charged with a related hate crime.

Both men survived the attack, which drew condemnation from the city’s Jewish and Asian American leaders.

Afterward, Netanyahu said Jewish New Yorkers are “scared now.”

The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mamdani, a staunch supporter of Palestinian rights, made opposition to Israel’s military campaign a central plank of his campaign last year. In a speech last week, he called Netanyahu a “war criminal.”

Mamdani, who was part of that platform during the election campaign, pledged to execute a 2024 arrest warrant for Netanyahu from the International Criminal Court (ICC) accusing the prime minister of war crimes in Gaza.

Israel has denied allegations of war crimes in Gaza, and Netanyahu has dismissed the allegations as false.

In the year On October 7, 2023, Israel’s Hamas-led offensive led to Israeli forces entering Gaza. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 people were taken hostage.

Since then, Israel’s offensive on Gaza has killed more than 73,000 people, including more than 21,000 children, according to the state’s Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

After the New York Times pressed Mamdani on his promise to arrest Netanyahu last week, Mamdani said his administration had reviewed the law and said: “We do not have the independent legal authority to execute this warrant.”

Mamdani urged the federal government to arrest the prime minister, and added, “Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City.”