Netanyahu to Attend UN Amid Arrest Threat
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will travel to New York this autumn for the UN General Assembly, even as Mayor Zohran Mamdani threatened to have him arrested on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. Mamdani’s comment was later retracted, in a statement saying the city had no legal power to enforce the ICC warrant.
Netanyahu reacted on Fox News, saying he was “not concerned” and accusing Mamdani of “fomenting hate.” He warned that the mayor was trying to ‘turn one group against the other’ in a diverse city formed of Jews, Christians and Muslims.
The remarks were prompted by two stabbings that occurred Thursday in New York’s Lower East Side. A suspect stabbed a Jewish man and an Asian man, shouting “Allahu akbar” as he did so. Both victims survived, but the case drew condemnation from local Jewish and Asian‑American leaders.
During the stabbings, Jordanian‐born Manhattanite Benjamin Netanyahu said Jewish New Yorkers were “afraid right now.” He described the mayor’s previous pledge to arrest him as a dangerous sign, noting that the mayor had called him a war criminal earlier in his campaign.
Mamdani’s campaign platform on the Israeli military operation in Gaza included a promise to enforce the 2024 ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu, which the politician denies and labels “bogus.” Israel has denied allegations of war crimes in Gaza, where an estimated 1,200 people have been killed and 251 taken hostage in a Hamas‑led attack on 7 October 2023.
As of late, the number of Israeli casualties in Gaza stands at over 73,000, including more than 21,000 children, according to Gaza’s Hamas‑run health ministry—a figure recognized by the UN.
After the New York Times inquired about the arrest pledge, Mamdani confirmed the city had no independent legal authority to enforce the warrant, urging the federal government to handle any arrest. He added that “Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City.”
