Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he was going to the United Nations to “fight for the truth about our heroic soldiers” and to “expose the truth” about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Netanyahu also said Jerusalem was working closely with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to expand the Abraham Accords. “I believe we can achieve broader peace,” he said in a Hebrew-language clip posted to X. “I think it could be even much more than people think.”
Mamdani told CNN on Monday that he still believes Netanyahu should be arrested during his upcoming visit for the U.N. General Assembly.
The interview followed Mamdani’s meeting with Trump at Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence. Mamdani said the issue was discussed during the meeting.
“When it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu, I have described him as I believe him to be—a war criminal and an architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people,” the mayor said.
Mamdani cited the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip during the war against the Hamas terror group. “I do believe that that is something that should be honored,” he said.
“If the International Criminal Court deems someone worthy of an arrest because of a violation of those laws, then who are we to say that anyone should be above that?” he added.
Mamdani has vowed for months to arrest Netanyahu if he came to New York, though he recently acknowledged lacking the authority to do so.
Ofir Akunis, Israel’s consul general in New York, said on Monday that “after nearly 10 months of intimidation” by Mamdani, Netanyahu will “proudly stand at the General Assembly podium on behalf of the Jewish state.”
“Israel is working with the New York City Police Department and federal agencies to ensure the prime minister’s safety, as well as that of Israeli and Jewish New Yorkers,” Akunis wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
Akunis in the piece thanked “the many New Yorkers standing with Israel and supporting democratic values.”
