New York City is about to become the stage for one of the unusual diplomatic standoffs in recent memory.
Recently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the USA for the United Nations General Assembly and posted a video on social media before the visit, in which he directly addressed Mayor Zohran Mamdani and said, effectively, that he should be remorseful himself for accusing them of stoking hatred against Jewish New Yorkers.
The exchange is the latest chapter in a feud that has been building for months and shows no sign of cooling down.
Netanyahu and Mamdani: How the Dispute Began
During Mamdani’s mayoral campaign, the mayor continually argued that he should be arrested if he ever visited New York. That became the reason for the dispute between the two men and was tied to the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in November 2024, which accused him of war crimes, such as starvation as a method of warfare and directing attacks against civilians, along with several crimes against humanity. However, Israel fully rejected the warrant and claimed the court was unjust and the charges were baseless.
As Netanyahu’s expected September visit for the General Assembly drew closer, Mamdani released a video message on the city’s official channels calling the Israeli leader a war criminal and describing him as the architect of what he called a horrific campaign against the Palestinian people. In the same video, though, Mamdani made a notable reversal. He admitted that his administration had reviewed every legal option available and concluded that New York City simply does not have the independent authority to arrest a foreign head of government. Instead, he called on the federal government to join the ICC and carry out the warrant itself, while still insisting that Netanyahu was not welcome in the city.
Netanyahu’s Response Escalates the Dispute
Netanyahu did not stay quiet after that video went public. Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity, he accused Mamdani of pitting different communities in New York against each other. He said the mayor was turning residents against the city’s Jewish population. He went further in a follow-up video posted on social media, where he accused Mamdani and his wife of celebrating the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and linked what he called Mamdani’s hate speech to a stabbing attack against a Jewish man in New York that occurred the day after the mayor’s video was released. Netanyahu also declared that no one would stop him from, in his words, fighting for Israel’s truth at the United Nations.
The Washington Post’s September 22 reporting captured the latest, and perhaps sharpest, exchange, in which Netanyahu told Mamdani he should feel ashamed, framing his upcoming trip as a stand against what he described as hatred spread by the mayor’s office.
Jewish Organizations Enter the Debate
The dispute has not stayed confined to the two men themselves. The UJA-Federation of New York, one of the city’s largest Jewish philanthropic organizations, issued its own sharply worded statement accusing Mamdani of political grandstanding and of putting Jewish residents at greater risk during a period of rising antisemitism across the country. The organization argued that Mamdani was making Israel the centerpiece of his political image rather than focusing on his job as mayor, and closed its statement with the same phrase Netanyahu would later use himself, telling him simply, “Shame on you”.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, also dismissed Mamdani’s campaign as a political stunt, insisting that Netanyahu would still address the General Assembly regardless of the mayor’s objections. Danon went so far as to suggest that if anyone deserved arrest, it should be Mamdani himself, accusing him of continuing to incite against Israel.
Public Opinion Is Divided
It would be a mistake to treat this simply as a two-person argument, because the underlying questions it touches on are ones where Americans themselves disagree quite sharply. A YouGov poll conducted around the same time found that nearly half of Americans believe Netanyahu is guilty of war crimes in Gaza and think he should be arrested if he sets foot on American soil. At the same time, plenty of voices, including survivors of the October 7 attacks, have pushed back hard against Mamdani’s characterization of the war, arguing that his language is dangerous and oversimplifies a deeply painful conflict. President Donald Trump has also made his own position clear, stating flatly that Netanyahu will not be arrested in any form while he is in the United States, which effectively closes off the path Mamdani had originally called for.
What Happens During Netanyahu’s New York Visit?
None of this rhetoric changes the basic legal reality that a sitting mayor cannot order the arrest of a visiting foreign leader, something Mamdani himself has now publicly acknowledged. What he can still do, and has said he intends to do, is make Netanyahu feel unwelcome through public statements and by supporting demonstrations planned around the visit. So while the arrest question appears settled for now, the war of words between Gracie Mansion and Jerusalem looks likely to continue right through the General Assembly session and probably well beyond it, feeding into a broader and far more consequential debate about the war in Gaza that neither man is going to resolve on his own.
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The views and opinions expressed in this article/paper are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Paradigm Shift.
Hooria Akbar is an independent researcher and content writer with a strong interest in contemporary issues across AI, technology, society, and emerging trends. She writes research-informed articles, thought pieces, and blogs on a wide range of topics, aiming to present complex ideas clearly and engagingly for diverse audiences.
