Netanyahu says NYC’s Mamdani ‘fomenting hate’, calls war-crimes charges ‘bogus’

Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is “fomenting hate” by calling the prime minister a war criminal who should be arrested over the war in Gaza if he visits 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 suggestion that he is not welcome.

Mamdani said last week that while New York City does not have legal authority to execute an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court – the world’s top war-crimes court – 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 Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.

“But he’s trying to turn one group against the other.”

The prime minister has become an increasingly polarising figure over Israel’s war in Gaza, which was ignited by the October 7, 2023, deadly attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants.