Netanyahu accuses Mamdani of 'fomenting hate' and calls ICC war-crimes
charges 'bogus'
[July 27, 2026]
By LISA MASCARO
WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that New York
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is “fomenting hate” by calling the prime minister a
war criminal who should be arrested over the war in Gaza if he visits
the city for the United Nations General Assembly.
Netanyahu said he intends to be in New York in September to address the
annual U.N. gathering of world leaders, despite the mayor's suggestion
that he is not welcome. Mamdani said last week that while New York City
does not have legal authority to execute an arrest warrant issued by the
world's top war-crimes court, he encouraged the federal government to do
so.
“He’s supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers — Jews, Christians,
Muslims, everyone,” Netanyahu said on Fox News Channel's “Sunday Morning
Futures” with Maria Bartiromo. “But he’s trying to turn one group
against the other.”
The prime minister has become an increasingly polarizing figure over
Israel's war in Gaza, which was ignited by the Oct. 7, 2023, deadly
attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants. Israel also joined the
U.S. in starting the war against Iran on Feb. 28 before launching a
ground invasion in southern Lebanon in response to fire from the
Iranian-backed Hezbollah group.
Netanyahu on Sunday dismissed the International Criminal Court's war
crimes charges against him as “bogus.” He pointed to sexual misconduct
allegations against the ICC's top prosecutor, who was removed from that
post on Friday, and said the warrant was an attempt to divert attention.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment
Sunday.
Bipartisan U.S. support for Israel at risk, Netanyahu says
Netanyahu said he was concerned that once-bipartisan political support
for Israel in the U.S. is at risk, particularly as progressive and
far-left Democrats aligned with the Mamdani wing of the party splinter.
He also warned against rising antisemitism in the U.S. and other Western
countries, saying that when he talks to people in New York City, home to
the second-largest Jewish population in the world, "Jews feel very
uncomfortable.”
“And I think it’s wrong. The whole thing is wrong,” he said.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the state
memorial for Ze'ev Jabotinsky, at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in
Jerusalem, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Throughout his mayoral election campaign last year, Mamdani said he
would seek to order the city’s police to execute the ICC’s arrest
warrant over Netanyahu's role in the war in Gaza.
But Mamdani acknowledged last week that his city did not have the legal
authority to arrest Netanyahu and called on federal authorities to step
in.
“I want to be equally clear, Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New
York City, nor is any other war criminal at large,” he said in a video
message.
He told New Yorkers that he understood their frustration and that
expressions of protest is something the city would “always respect.”
The Hague-based court has accused Netanyahu, his former defense minister
and the late leader of Hamas of crimes against humanity. The Palestinian
territory’s Health Ministry says over 73,000 people have been killed in
Israel’s offensive — roughly half of them women and children. Some 1,200
people, most of them civilians, were killed in the initial Hamas attack
on Israel.
Trump has assured Netanyahu he won't be arrested
Trump told Netanyahu in a social media post Monday that he “will not be
arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of
America.”
Netanyahu is expected in Washington this week to meet with Trump and
attend funeral services for the late Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of
South Carolina.
Graham, a leading defense hawk and strong supporter of Israel, died
suddenly two weeks ago of a likely torn aorta. The prime minster called
him an “extraordinary American patriot.”
___
Associated Press reporter Anthony Izaguirre in New York contributed to
this report.
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