Netanyahu accuses NYC mayor of fomenting hate over calls for his arrest

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday accused New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani of “fomenting hate” after the mayor suggested Netanyahu should be arrested as a war criminal related to Israel’s war in Gaza if he comes to the city for the United Nations General Assembly.

Netanyahu said he intends to be in New York in September to address the annual UN gathering of world leaders, despite the mayor’s indication that he is not welcome. On Wednesday, Mamdani said that while New York City has no legal authority to execute an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), he encouraged the federal government to do so.

“He’s supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers – Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone,” Netanyahu said on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. “But he’s trying to turn one group against the other.”

The prime minister dismissed the ICC’s war crimes charges against him as “bogus,” pointing to sexual misconduct allegations against the ICC’s top prosecutor, who was removed from his post on Friday. Netanyahu warned that once-bipartisan U.S. political support for Israel is at risk, particularly among progressive and far-left Democrats aligned with Mamdani.

He also warned of rising antisemitism in the U.S. and other Western countries, saying that in New York City, home to the world’s second-largest Jewish population, “Jews feel very uncomfortable.”

Throughout his 2025 mayoral campaign, Mamdani said he would seek to order city police to execute the ICC arrest warrant. In a video message on Wednesday, he stated, “Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at large.”

The Hague-based ICC has accused Netanyahu, his former defense minister, and the late Hamas leader of crimes against humanity. Gaza’s health ministry says more than 73,000 people have been killed in Israel’s offensive, with about 1,200 killed in the initial Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday in a social media post that Netanyahu “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America.” Netanyahu is expected in Washington, D.C., on Monday to meet with Trump and attend funeral services for the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who died suddenly on July 11.