The remarks drew immediate condemnation from New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has publicly called for Netanyahu’s arrest. In a statement, Mamdani accused the Israeli leader of using his speech to “repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians.” Mamdani noted that Netanyahu remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity. Netanyahu, in turn, attacked Mamdani directly, labeling him the “antisemitic mayor of New York” and claiming that many Jews no longer feel safe in the city since Mamdani’s election. “You tried to stop me from coming here. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me and you can’t silence the truth,” Netanyahu said, reiterating claims that Mamdani supports Hamas and has incited riots against New York Jews. Mamdani has denied supporting Hamas and rejected accusations of antisemitism.
Israel faces active legal challenges regarding its conduct in Gaza. South Africa brought a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) alleging genocide, and the court has ordered Israel to take provisional measures under the Genocide Convention, though it has not yet ruled on whether the crime occurred. In September 2025, an independent U.N. commission of inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide, a finding also supported by the International Association of Genocide Scholars, which stated that Israel’s policies met the legal definition of the crime. Israel has rejected these findings.
The dispute between Netanyahu and Mayor Mamdani stretches back to the latter’s mayoral campaign. Mamdani, a longtime critic of Israel’s military actions, vowed to have Netanyahu arrested under the ICC warrant. He later acknowledged that New York City lacked the independent authority to execute the warrant and called on the U.S. federal government to act instead. In New York, anti-Jewish incidents accounted for 57% of all reported hate crimes in 2025, according to NYPD data. In response to rising tensions, Mamdani’s administration proposed increasing the city’s hate-crime prevention budget from $3 million to $26 million and maintained a dedicated Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism.
During his address, Netanyahu also targeted other nations, accusing Qatar of financing universities and the Al Jazeera media network to “brainwash young minds to hate Israel, America and the West,” while also criticizing the country for hosting Hamas leaders. He similarly accused Turkey of being a “super-spreader of antisemitic lies” and condemned President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for hosting Hamas figures. Neither Turkey nor Qatar immediately responded to the accusations. Netanyahu praised President Donald Trump, stating that Israel has “no greater partner” and highlighting a joint U.S.-Israeli operation that he said destroyed much of Iran’s nuclear program following a conflict in February. He described the decision to attack Iran as “one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make as Prime Minister.” Outside the U.N., several hundred protesters gathered with chants demanding a stop to arms sales to Israel.
