Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly criticised New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani during his address to the United Nations General Assembly
on Thursday, accusing the mayor of contributing to an environment in which Jewish New Yorkers feel unsafe. “Mr. Mamdani, since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York,” Netanyahu said during his speech. “They talk to me. They tell me this isn’t the city we remember. It changed so quickly.” Netanyahu also criticised Mamdani for repeatedly accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza and for previously calling for his arrest if he visited New York. Mamdani had campaigned on the issue but later acknowledged that New York City officials did not have the legal authority to arrest Netanyahu over an International Criminal Court warrant. “You tried to stop me from coming here. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me,” Netanyahu said. “You can’t silence the truth.” Netanyahu rejected accusations that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, saying, “Israel didn’t commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide.” He also accused Mamdani of associating with people he described as supporters of Hamas and criticised the mayor over his positions on Israel. Netanyahu Raises Antisemitism Concerns The Israeli prime minister also pointed to antisemitic incidents in New York, saying Jews had been threatened and attacked in the city. NYPD data shows that confirmed anti-Jewish hate crimes increased 8 per cent year-to-date through August, rising to 229 incidents from 212 during the same period in 2025. Overall confirmed hate crimes increased 15.8 per cent, from 367 to 425. The police data also recorded 27 confirmed anti-Muslim hate crimes during the first eight months of 2026, compared with 18 during the same period last year. The figures concern confirmed hate crimes and do not, by themselves, establish a link between the incidents and Mamdani's statements or policies. Mamdani Responds Mamdani responded after Netanyahu's speech, accusing the Israeli prime minister of repeating what he called “baseless lies” about Israel's actions in Gaza. “As he has done time and again, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he added. Mamdani did not attend protests against Netanyahu during the UN General Assembly. Instead, he posted a video showing him planting an olive tree at Gracie Mansion with Palestinian families from Gaza. The exchange marked another escalation in the public dispute between Netanyahu and Mamdani, with the New York mayor continuing to criticise Israel's military campaign in Gaza while Netanyahu used his UN address to defend Israel and challenge his New York critic.
