Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, released a video on Tuesday stating that New York City doesn’t have the authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he called a war criminal.
Mamdani, who made that a campaign promise, said that federal authorities should arrest the Israeli leader. In the video, he cited statistics that resemble those of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror organization that counts its fighters as civilians.
In the past, Mamdani’s spokeswoman has said that synagogues violate international law when they host pro-Israel events.
Danny Danon, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, stated that it was “enough with the blood libels.”
“Enough with the attacks on Jewish organizations. Enough with the outreach to the Iranian regime,” he said. “You were elected to serve New Yorkers not Hamas’s propaganda. Do your job.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) stated that the statement came “from the same guy who opposed Nicholas Maduro’s capture and arrest, despite him being indicted by the United States Southern District two times.”
“This raging antisemite has no problem defending dictators, despots and terrorist regimes,” the congressman said. “Sadly, he has not called for the arrest of Putin, Xi, the ayatollah or any other enemy of America. The question is why?”
Vickie Paladino, a member of the New York City Council, stated that “the mayor of New York is just straight up promoting” an “antisemitic blood libel courtesy of Hamas propaganda from an official government social media account tonight.”
Mamdani was doing so “Less than a week after his administration tried to arrange a diplomatic meeting with the Iranian terror regime, which has repeatedly pledged to kill every Israeli and murder the president of the United States,” Paladino said.
“And barely a day after confirming to the New York Times that he held an International Criminal Court ruling above American law and was trying to arrange the arrest of the Israeli prime minister in a direct challenge to American sovereignty,” she said.
“All while New York synagogues are now regularly under siege from mobs of his followers, and the Democratic Socialists of America marches through the street with Hezbollah and Hamas flags,” she added.
David Friedman, a former U.S. envoy to Israel, stated that Mamdani’s video “may be the most horrific package of lies against the State of Israel ever promoted by a government official.”
“Even Hamas does not lie to this extent,” he stated. “It is despicable and entirely unbecoming a mayor of New York City. To those who voted for this Jew-hater, shame on you.”
Daniel Rosenthal, vice president of government relations at the UJA-Federation of New York, stated that it was “no accident” that Mamdani’s pre-recorded message dropped right after a fifth person died from Legionnaires’ disease in New York.
The mayor “should focus on his day job,” he said.
Benny Polatseck, a Chassid and a former multimedia producer in the mayor’s office under Eric Adams, told JNS that Mamdani’s video was “red meat” for his democratic socialist base.
“That’s all this is about. Part of why he wanted to be mayor was to do this,” Polatseck said. “This is what he believes, and he doesn’t really care about the consequences for the Jewish community.”
“This is all part of a strategy, a plan,” added Polatseck, who advises political candidates on digital media strategy. “He knew the whole time that he can’t arrest Netanyahu. He said the law department was looking into it to keep the interest going.”
