Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is blaming New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for the stabbing of a Jewish constituent by publicly contemplating his arrest over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
“He’s fomenting hate,” Netanyahu said Sunday on Fox News. “He’s supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers: Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone. But he’s trying to turn one group against the other, and he’s foisting hate and fear.”
The embattled Israeli leader also said, “I speak to Jewish Americans in New York, and they’re afraid right now.”
“And I don’t think it’s accidental that after he made this hate speech against Israel and against me, the next day a Jew is stabbed coming out of a synagogue,” Netanyahu said.
A Mamdani spokesperson didn’t immediately return an inquiry from The Independent.
Earlier this month, Mamdani told The New York Times he was speaking with city lawyers about having Netanyahu arrested on an International Criminal Court warrant if he comes to New York for the UN General Assembly in September.
In 2024, the ICC charged Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, with committing war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
In a video statement released late Tuesday, Mamdani said he didn’t “have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant” but called Netanyahu a “war criminal” and said he wasn’t welcome in New York City.
On Thursday afternoon, Moshe Grunhaus, 50, was wearing a yarmulke when he was stabbed in the chest with a screwdriver after leaving a Jewish religious service in the city’s Upper West Side neighborhood.
The assailant allegedly yelled “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “God is most great,” during the attack and another that targeted an Asian man, 57-year-old Chok Sung, who was stabbed in the back with a knife.
Raul Morales, 51, was arrested and charged with attempted murder and assault as hate crimes in both incidents.
During his Fox News appearance, Netanyahu said he wasn’t worried about visiting New York City and planned to attend the UN General Assembly.
”I intend to come and speak the truth, speak for Israel and for the Israeli-American alliance, from the podium of the United Nations,” he said.
Netanyahu — who last month finished testifying at his long-running corruption trial in Israel — also baselessly accused Mamdani of having “celebrated” the October 7 attacks.
“He tries to say that he doesn’t, but he’s supporting the Hamas murderers,” Netanyahu said.
Shortly after the 2023 attacks, Mamdani condemned “the killing of civilians” and said his “support for Palestinian liberation should never be confused for a celebration of the loss of civilian life,” Politico reported at the time.
In a statement released on the second anniversary of the attacks, Mamdani — who was then all but guaranteed to be elected mayor — also said that “Hamas carried out a horrific war crime” and committed “atrocities,” while describing Israel’s response as a “genocidal war” and accusing the U.S. government of being “complicit” in it.
