Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has sharply criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, accusing him of targeting Israel as a political diversion after Mamdani referred to Netanyahu as a “war criminal.”
The response came Sunday after the Democratic mayor said his administration was reviewing whether New York City could act on the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant if Netanyahu travels to the city.
In a post on X, Netanyahu’s office dismissed the ICC as an illegitimate body, arguing that the court has no authority over either Israelis or Americans. The statement came as reports suggested Netanyahu may soon visit Washington for a White House meeting with President Donald Trump.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has threatened to enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Getty Images)
Netanyahu’s office also attacked the origins of the warrant, saying it was issued by former ICC prosecutor Karim Khan shortly before public allegations of sexual misconduct against him surfaced. The office claimed the move was intended to shift attention away from Khan and shield him from further scrutiny.
The prime minister’s team argued that Mamdani is now using a similar tactic.
Rather than aligning himself with Khan, Netanyahu’s office said, Mamdani should concentrate on what it described as the harm caused by his own policies in New York. The statement accused the mayor of trying to redirect public focus from his missteps by criticizing the leader of Israel, which it called the Jewish state and the Middle East’s only democracy.
Israel has said it will not comply with the ICC warrant as it continues its campaign in Gaza against Hamas, which it describes as a genocidal terrorist organization.
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.”
