In an escalating political exchange, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has accused New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani of diverting attention from his municipal governance issues by criticizing the Jewish state. This follows a controversial statement from Mamdani, labeling Netanyahu as a “war criminal.”
The prime minister’s team responded vehemently on Sunday after Mayor Mamdani, a Democrat, asserted that his administration was investigating the possibility of arresting Netanyahu during his anticipated visit to New York City. This claim hinges on an arrest warrant supposedly issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Netanyahu’s office dismissed the legitimacy of the ICC, branding it a “kangaroo court” without authority over either American or Israeli citizens. This statement was made via a post on the social media platform X, amid speculations of Netanyahu’s upcoming meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump.
Tensions are escalating as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani considers enforcing the International Criminal Court’s arrest mandate against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Getty Images)
Further intensifying the dispute, Netanyahu’s office criticized the ICC arrest warrant, which it claims was orchestrated by Karim Khan, a former ICC Prosecutor with allegations of sexual misconduct surfacing shortly after. The statement from Netanyahu’s office suggests Khan’s action was a strategic move to divert scrutiny away from his own controversies.
Mamdani is following the same playbook, the office added.
“Instead of backing Khan’s criminal behaviour, Mr. Mamdani should focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York,” the post concluded. “Like Karim Khan, Mamdani appears interested in diverting public attention from his follies and attacking the leader of the Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East.”
Israel vowed to ignore the ICC warrant while it roots Hamas, “a genocidal terrorist organization ,” out of Gaza.
Under Prime Minister Netanyahu’s leadership, Israel has taken unprecedented wartime measures to minimize harm to civilians while confronting Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that uses Palestinians as human shields and deliberately targets innocent Israeli civilians,” the office’s post read.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends Weekend” earlier Sunday that Mamdani is ostensibly hyperbolizing for “political theater.”
“This is a communist, antisemitic mayor trying to make news for his own audience,” Pompeo said. “There’s nothing more than that. This is no chance he’s going to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu when he comes to New York in September for the U.N. General assembly.
“It’s just simply not going to happen, and he knows it.”
Even some Democrats have rejected Mamdani’s stance, warning it could embolden terrorists at home and abroad.
“This isn’t a college protest,” former Democrat Mayor Eric Adams wrote on X. “This is the City of New York.”
“Threatening to arrest the democratically elected leader of one of America’s closest allies during U.N. General Assembly week isn’t bold. It’s reckless,” Adams continued. “American diplomats, service members, and officials are stationed in dangerous places around the world. Irresponsible rhetoric like this doesn’t stay in New York. It can put Americans at greater risk abroad. Leadership means understanding that your words have consequences. Reckless political theater can have very real-world costs.”
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has long broken with Democrats on becoming the “anti-Israel party,” telling the “clown” Mamdani to “sit down.”
“It’s such a tough guy to say that kind of thing,” Fetterman told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “He has no way to do that, of course. Obviously, America is not even part of that corrupt court. And so he’s just a clown to even say that. So he won’t try that. Just sit down and focus on other the problems that they have in New York. That’s really not your purview. You and I know that. Sit down.”