Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani of “fomenting hate” after the mayor called for the enforcement of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant if Netanyahu travels to the city for the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Netanyahu said that he intends to visit New York for the annual gathering of world leaders, despite Mamdani’s position that the Israeli leader should face arrest over the ICC’s allegations connected to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Mamdani has acknowledged that New York City does not have the legal authority to execute the ICC warrant but has urged the federal government to enforce it.
“He’s supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers, Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News. “But he’s trying to turn one group against the other.
Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the report.
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The dispute adds to an increasingly public clash between the Israeli prime minister and the newly elected New York mayor over the Israel-Gaza war and the role of the ICC. During his 2025 mayoral campaign, Mamdani said he would seek to have New York police enforce the court’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu over his role in the conflict.
“I want to be equally clear, Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at large,” Mamdani said in a video message earlier this week, while also saying the city would respect peaceful expressions of protest.
The ICC has accused Netanyahu, his former defense minister and a former Hamas leader of crimes against humanity in connection with the Gaza conflict. Netanyahu has rejected the allegations and on Sunday described the court’s charges as “bogus.” He also pointed to sexual misconduct allegations involving the ICC’s former top prosecutor, who was removed from the post on Friday, as evidence of what he described as problems surrounding the case.
The Gaza war began after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to the report. Israel’s subsequent military offensive has killed more than 73,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry, with women and children accounting for roughly half of the deaths.
Netanyahu also warned that political support for Israel in the United States, which has historically been bipartisan, is increasingly under pressure. He linked that shift to divisions within the Democratic Party and the growing influence of progressive politicians aligned with Mamdani.
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He separately warned of rising antisemitism in the United States and other Western countries, saying that Jewish residents in New York, which has one of the world’s largest Jewish populations, increasingly feel uncomfortable.
The controversy comes as Netanyahu prepares to travel to Washington, where he is expected to meet President Donald Trump and attend funeral services for the late Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a prominent supporter of Israel who died July 11. Trump has separately said Netanyahu “will not be arrested” while in the United States.
The dispute is likely to intensify ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, where Netanyahu’s expected appearance could bring the ICC warrant, the G