Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has renewed his criticism of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has said the Israeli leader could be arrested on war-crimes charges if he visits the city.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in 2024 over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Mamdani has said his administration would seek to enforce the warrant if presented with an opportunity to do so.
Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity this week, Netanyahu accused the mayor of siding with Iran, which he described as a mortal enemy of both Israel and the United States.
“The army of Israel, the young men and women of Israel, the public in Israel… stand up and say, ‘Yes, we’re willing to stand up at this moment and stand in the breach with the United States.’ This is the ally that Mamdani and his ilk are vilifying,” Netanyahu said.
“And what is he supporting? Iran. Who is he supporting? Hamas. Who is he supporting? Hezbollah,” he added, accusing Mamdani and other critics of Israel of “moral cynicism” and “absurdity.”
Iran, Hamas, and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah movement are part of what Tehran calls the regional “axis of resistance,” an alliance opposed to Israel and its influence in the Middle East.
Public opinion in the US has shifted against Israel in recent years as Netanyahu’s government expanded military operations in Gaza and Lebanon and lobbied Washington to join forces for an air campaign against Iran. In a recent Economist/YouGov poll, 47% of respondents said they believed Netanyahu had committed war crimes in Gaza, while 49% supported enforcing the ICC warrant if he entered the US.
Israel’s influence on American foreign policy, particularly President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran, has also fueled divisions within the MAGA movement. Prominent Trump allies, including former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, have publicly broken with the president over the issue.
Mamdani is regarded as a rising figure in the Democratic Party. His victory in the New York mayoral election was widely seen as proof that outspoken criticism of Israel is no longer necessarily a barrier to electoral success in the US, even in a city with one of the world’s largest Jewish communities. The Israeli government equates criticisms of its policies with anti-Semitism.