Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is headed to New York for Thursday’s United Nations General Assembly address, and before getting there, he decided to send New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani a message. “Shame on you, Mr. Mamdani,” Netanyahu said in a video released ahead of the trip, accusing the mayor of supporting Hamas and inciting unrest against Jewish New Yorkers. He then made clear that Mamdani’s criticism wasn’t going to keep him away: “I’m coming to the U.N.” Netanyahu said he plans to defend Israel’s soldiers and respond to Mamdani from one of the biggest diplomatic stages in the world. Mamdani, meanwhile, has called Netanyahu a “war criminal” and an “architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people.” So, folks, we’re well beyond a routine disagreement over Middle East policy. The mayor of America’s largest city and the prime minister of Israel are now publicly accusing each other of some extraordinarily serious things. Reuters reports Netanyahu is scheduled to address the General Assembly Thursday, while protests are expected around his appearance.
That’s the exchange readers should watch for themselves, because Netanyahu isn’t dancing around the issue. But there’s an important distinction we need to make before going any further. Netanyahu’s assertion that Mamdani supports Hamas is Netanyahu’s accusation, not an established fact. Mamdani has condemned antisemitism and argues that his criticism of Israel and its military campaign is being wrongly conflated with antisemitism. The Washington Post likewise reports that Mamdani has not expressed support for Hamas. That doesn’t make the underlying disagreement any less explosive. It simply means we’re going to separate what politicians are accusing each other of doing from what we can actually establish as fact. That’s especially important in a story where words like “genocide,” “war criminal,” “Hamas supporter” and “antisemitism” are being thrown across the political battlefield.
Mamdani’s Arrest Pledge Ran Into a Pretty Big Problem
Here’s where this gets interesting. Mamdani has spent considerable time arguing that the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Netanyahu should be honored. The ICC issued warrants in November 2024 for Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity connected to the Gaza war. Israel rejects the allegations and disputes the ICC’s jurisdiction. Mamdani previously talked about having Netanyahu arrested if the Israeli leader entered New York, but after examining the issue, he acknowledged something rather important: New York City doesn’t have independent legal authority to execute the ICC warrant. He hasn’t abandoned his underlying position. He has instead argued that the federal government should honor the warrant. In other words, the rhetoric survived, but the mayor’s ability to personally carry it out didn’t. The United States and Israel are not members of the ICC, while the Trump administration has been actively opposing and sanctioning the court.
But Why Is New York’s Mayor Playing Foreign Policy?
And here’s another question worth asking: Why is the mayor of New York City this deeply involved in international politics in the first place? Mayors run cities. They deal with crime, housing, sanitation, schools, infrastructure, budgets and the thousand other problems that come with governing more than eight million people. Foreign policy belongs primarily to Washington. Yet Mamdani hasn’t merely offered an opinion about the Gaza war. He has repeatedly discussed an international arrest warrant against the sitting prime minister of Israel, argued that the federal government should join the ICC, declared that Netanyahu won’t be welcomed by his administration and made his position on the Israeli government’s conduct a recurring part of his public profile. Mamdani himself acknowledged in a July interview that, whether he likes it or not, he’s become part of an international conversation about the Middle East. Now, a New York mayor has every right to express views on world affairs—particularly in a city that hosts the United Nations and has enormous Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities. But there’s still a legitimate question for New Yorkers: How much of their mayor’s attention should be devoted to trying to influence international affairs over which City Hall has little actual authority? That’s a political question worth debating without inventing motives or affiliations for which there’s no evidence.
And That’s Where This Becomes Much Bigger Than Mamdani
Strip away the personalities for a minute and there’s a serious question underneath all this: How much authority should an international criminal court have over people inside the United States when the United States never joined that court? That’s the part of this story conservatives shouldn’t ignore. The ICC has 125 member countries, but America isn’t one of them. Neither is Israel. President Trump has made his position unmistakable, attacking the ICC as an institution without jurisdiction over Americans and supporting sanctions against court officials. The administration’s argument is fundamentally about sovereignty: an international tribunal America never joined shouldn’t be able to exercise authority over Americans or America’s allies. ICC supporters argue that the court exists precisely because allegations of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity require an international mechanism for accountability when domestic systems fail. That’s the real debate hiding underneath the shouting match.
The Gaza War Is the Reason This Fight Exists
None of this can be separated from October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing roughly 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. Israel responded with the massive military campaign in Gaza that continues to drive international condemnation and debate. Gaza health officials say tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed; their figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Israel denies that its campaign constitutes genocide and says its objective has been destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, while accusing Hamas of operating among civilians. Mamdani has taken the opposite position on Netanyahu’s responsibility, explicitly describing the Israeli leader as an architect of genocide. The ICC allegations add another layer, but an arrest warrant is not a conviction, and Netanyahu rejects the court’s charges. Those distinctions matter whether they help your preferred side of the argument or not.
Netanyahu Is Coming Anyway
Despite all the rhetoric, Netanyahu is coming to New York. Protests and disruptions are expected around his U.N. appearance, and Israeli officials anticipate another hostile reception from some delegations inside the General Assembly. Mamdani has said he doesn’t plan to participate in the street demonstrations. So the strange reality is that the mayor who believes Netanyahu should face arrest will be running the city Netanyahu is visiting, while lacking the legal authority to make that arrest happen. Meanwhile, the federal government that actually controls American foreign policy is openly hostile to the ICC itself.
Final Thoughts
There’s plenty here for both sides to yell about, but I think there are really two questions Americans should separate. The first is whether Netanyahu and Israel should be held responsible for the allegations surrounding the Gaza war. People can argue that one until they’re blue in the face, and international institutions are already doing exactly that. The second question is much closer to home: Who gets to make American foreign policy, and how much authority should an international tribunal the United States never joined exercise inside this country? Mamdani can criticize Netanyahu all he wants. That’s his right. But when the mayor of New York starts talking about arresting foreign heads of government, urging Washington to join international courts and staking out positions normally debated by presidents, diplomats and Congress, New Yorkers are also entitled to ask whether City Hall is drifting pretty far from City Hall’s job description. Mamdani has already discovered one hard limit: being mayor doesn’t give him the authority to execute the ICC warrant. Netanyahu, meanwhile, appears determined to walk straight into New York, stand before the United Nations and answer his critics himself. Thursday should be interesting.
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