Israeli President Isaac Herzog says NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, 34, is spreading hateful and antisemitic rhetoric and endangering New Yorkers in an exclusive interview from his Jerusalem residence.
Mamdani posted a video on social media on July 21 in which he called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a war criminal” and “the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people.”
“Mamdani does not respect my nation’s right for self-determination… the Jewish people’s inherent right to have a nation of their own. And he’s basically spreading blasphemy, hate, antisemitic rhetoric. He should understand that he’s risking his own citizens, he’s risking their safety, well-being and life,” Herzog said.
Herzog’s denunciation marks a significant escalation in the international spotlight on Mamdani.
“This cannot be accepted in New York, which is a city which is dear to our heart, dear to the Israelis, and dear to me personally,” Herzog said. “I think New York will continue way after Mamdani. And I hope he won’t create an irreversible damage,” he added.
The conflict centers on Mamdani’s video clarification from July 21.
“My administration has reviewed every avenue available under applicable law to determine whether New York City could execute the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant if Benjamin Netanyahu came here,” Mamdani said in the video. “It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant. The federal government, however, does, and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant.”
Asked Wednesday if he would call Hamas’ October 7 attacks a genocide, Mamdani said the group committed “a horrific war crime.” “I know that there are Jewish New Yorkers who agree with my analysis, there are those who disagree with my analysis, and my responsibility to them is to ensure that they are cherished, they are celebrated, and they are safe in their city,” he said.
The mayor’s statement attempted to walk back his months-long campaign pledge.
Mamdani has long denied claims that he is antisemitic. However, his rhetoric on Jews and Israel has stoked controversy, including during his mayoral campaign last year when he declined to condemn the antisemitic phrases “globalize the intifada” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” arguing he interpreted them as “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights.” In March, debate again erupted when his wife came under scrutiny for social media posts she liked celebrating Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israeli civilians, including a post that claimed its rape of Jewish women was a “mass hoax.”
Herzog claimed Mamdani is endangering New York’s Jews with his positions.
The Israeli president’s comments came weeks after the mayor took office in January.
“On his very first day as New York City mayor, Mamdani shows his true face: He scraps the IHRA definition of antisemitism and lifts restrictions on boycotting Israel,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry wrote on X. “This isn’t leadership. It’s antisemitic gasoline on an open fire.” On day one in office, Mamdani revoked all orders issued by Adams after he was indicted on federal corruption charges, including one that barred city agencies from boycotting or divesting from Israel.
Mamdani has been frequently and often harshly critical of Netanyahu since his campaign for mayor in 2025 — leading many Jewish leaders, for example, to boycott an event marking Jewish American Heritage Month in May.
In December, Mamdani first articulated his Netanyahu pledge.
Mamdani told Mehdi Hasan, “No. As mayor, New York City would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu. This is a city that our values are in line with international law. It’s time that our actions are also.”
“It is important that New York City is in compliance with international criminal law,” Mamdani told The New York Times’ Astead Herndon in an interview published Tuesday.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” Mamdani told “The Interview,” a Times podcast, in an episode published Saturday.
Netanyahu had previously laughed off the threat in July.
“I’m not concerned about that,” Netanyahu told reporters at the White House on Monday evening during his working dinner with President Trump. “There’s enough craziness in the world, but I guess it never ends. This is folly and it’s silly in many ways,” the prime minister continued.
The International Criminal Court warrant, issued in November of 2024, conveys an indictment alleging Netanyahu is “responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.”
Mamdani cannot arrest Netanyahu, and if he did federal agents would have to intervene. The city of New York has no say in the matter, as the federal government gets to determine the foreign policy of the United States and certainly not cities.
“Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America,” President Trump said on social media.
The viral moment centered on Mamdani’s campaign vow to arrest Netanyahu in late 2024.
Mamdani, a fierce critic of the Israeli government who has repeatedly condemned Israel’s military operations in Gaza as a “genocide,” discussed the possibility of arresting Netanyahu while on the campaign trail last year.
Mamdani rescinded a series of executive orders on his first day in office in January, including one that deemed anti-Zionist rhetoric as antisemitic.
Prominent anti-Netanyahu bloc frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot says the New York City mayor is attempting to ‘rewrite history’ after calling on the U.S. government to enforce the ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu.
Herzog said this week that the ICC warrant itself should be questioned.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan issued the arrest warrants against Netanyahu in order to distract from allegations he raped a staffer, which led member states of the ICC to vote to remove him from the top leadership position. “Only in hindsight now we know clearly that it was in order to divert attention from the sexual allegations,” Herzog said.
Netanyahu could visit New York later in 2026 to attend the United Nations’ general assembly.