Benjamin Netanyahu rips New York’s mayor over his push to have the Israeli premier arrested, accuses the mayor of fueling anti-Jewish bigotry.By World Israel News StaffPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani of encouraging hostility toward Jews and Israel after the mayor called for federal authorities to arrest the Israeli leader if he visits New York for the United Nations General Assembly.“He’s fomenting hate,” Netanyahu said Sunday during an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo.“He’s supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers — Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone,” Netanyahu added. “But he’s trying to turn one group against the other.”Netanyahu confirmed that he intends to travel to New York in September to address the annual gathering of world leaders, despite Mamdani’s declaration that the Israeli prime minister is unwelcome in the city.The prime minister said he would use his UN address to defend Israel, the Jewish people and the US-Israel alliance.Mamdani said last week that New York City does not possess the independent legal authority to enforce the arrest warrant issued against Netanyahu by the International Criminal Court. He instead urged the Trump administration and federal law enforcement agencies to carry out the warrant.In a video statement, Mamdani said Netanyahu was “not welcome in New York City” and repeated his position that the Israeli leader should face trial in The Hague.Mamdani had pledged during his mayoral campaign to have Netanyahu arrested if the prime minister entered the city. His administration subsequently reviewed the city’s legal powers and concluded that municipal authorities could not independently execute an ICC warrant.During a separate City Hall press conference, Mamdani described Netanyahu as “the architect of the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” while saying, “My administration will follow all applicable local laws.”The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant on November 21, 2024, over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity connected to the Gaza war. The accusations have not been tested at trial, and Netanyahu has rejected both the court’s jurisdiction and its findings.Neither Israel nor the US is a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty establishing the ICC.President Donald Trump has also assured Netanyahu that he “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America.”Netanyahu on Sunday called the allegations against him “bogus” and sought to connect the warrant to the misconduct scandal surrounding former ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan, who originally requested the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.ICC member states voted Friday to remove Khan from office after concluding that he had committed serious misconduct and a serious breach of duty. Khan, who has denied wrongdoing, has said he plans to challenge the decision.Khan’s removal does not automatically invalidate arrest warrants previously approved by ICC judges, including the warrant against Netanyahu.Netanyahu also warned that longstanding bipartisan support for Israel in the US was weakening as progressive Democrats adopted increasingly hostile positions toward the Jewish state. He said Jewish residents of New York were feeling increasingly uncomfortable amid rising antisemitism.The confrontation underscored the widening political divide between Israel’s government and Mamdani, one of the most prominent anti-Israel elected officials in the US.Mamdani’s office did not immediately issue a new response to Netanyahu’s remarks Sunday.The post Mamdani ‘fomenting hate’ against Jews, says Netanyahu appeared first on World Israel News.