Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Mayor Zohran Mamdani clashed in public statements on Tuesday, with the mayor again calling the prime minister a war criminal in a CNN interview and Mr. Netanyahu releasing a video attacking the mayor.
Mr. Mamdani, one of Mr. Netanyahu’s most high-profile critics in the United States, has called on the federal government to arrest the prime minister, who is expected to arrive in New York later this week to address the United Nations General Assembly.
CNN on Monday night released clips from an interview with Mr. Mamdani in which he discussed his opinion of Mr. Netanyahu, among other subjects. The full interview aired on Tuesday afternoon. The prime minister, in his own video posted earlier on Tuesday, falsely accused the mayor of supporting Hamas and inciting riots against Jewish New Yorkers.
Addressing the mayor directly, the prime minister said he was coming to the U.N. “to tell the truth about our heroic soldiers” and “to tell the truth about you.”
Mr. Mamdani, New York’s first Muslim mayor and an outspoken supporter of Palestinian rights, has condemned Hamas as a terrorist organization and described the attack it led against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, as “a horrific war crime.”
And while New York has seen an increase in antisemitic hate crimes since the Oct. 7 attacks and Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza, as well as widespread pro-Palestinian demonstrations, there have been no riots targeting Jewish New Yorkers in the city since Mr. Mamdani was elected mayor in November.
Mr. Netanyahu is the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, which has accused him of war crimes in Gaza; he vigorously denies the charges. After Mr. Mamdani’s previous comments calling Mr. Netanyahu a war criminal outraged many pro-Israel Jewish leaders, the mayor’s office convened a meeting at which prominent rabbis urged the mayor to tone down his rhetoric on Israel and its leaders.
Asked about Mr. Netanyahu’s remarks at an unrelated news conference on Tuesday morning, Mr. Mamdani said, “We all know that what the prime minister has said in that video is not true.”
In the 22-minute interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Mr. Mamdani was asked directly about his opinion of Mr. Netanyahu. He said he owed it to New Yorkers to share his honest views.
“When it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu,” the mayor said, “I have described him as I believe him to be: a war criminal and an architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people.”
Mr. Mamdani has faced criticism for his use of the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza. A United Nations commission and international and Israeli human rights groups have also said that Israel’s actions amount to genocide.
During the campaign, Mr. Mamdani pledged to have the Police Department arrest Mr. Netanyahu if he were to come to New York. He repeated his desire to do so in an interview with The New York Times in July. But days later, the mayor released a video saying the city’s Law Department had told him the city did not have the authority to arrest the prime minister, and challenged the federal government to do so.
Mr. Netanyahu, who is in the midst of a pivotal electoral campaign in Israel, has frequently condemned the mayor, calling him a danger to Jewish New Yorkers.
While Mr. Mamdani’s stance on Israel has caused deep unease among many Jews in New York, which has the largest Jewish population outside Israel, many others have supported the mayor, especially his fellow progressives. On Monday, Mr. Mamdani attended a meal marking the end of the Yom Kippur fast at the home of Ruth Messinger, a political ally who has served as Manhattan borough president and as the president and chief executive of the American Jewish World Service.
In the CNN interview, Mr. Mamdani also reflected on his working relationship with President Trump, which has been surprisingly amicable given the hostility that Mr. Trump and his party have directed at the mayor and other democratic socialists.
The two men met for an hour at Gracie Mansion on Monday, where the mayor said they discussed the proposed construction of a major housing development in Queens, as well as Mr. Mamdani’s opposition to Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The mayor said he and Mr. Trump, who spent decades as a New York City developer and tabloid fixture before he was elected president in 2016, were united by their love of the city.
“We are both New Yorkers,” Mr. Mamdani said in the interview. He added, “I am willing to speak to anyone and everyone who has the ability to deliver for New Yorkers, and we know President Trump has that ability and also has that interest.”
Mr. Mamdani also said he wanted the Democratic Party to pursue policies that support the working class and that he believed the success of democratic socialist candidates in New York “will absolutely translate on a national level.”
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