‘Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies’: Mamdani slams Israel PM over UN address

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and accused him of using his UN General Assembly speech to repeat “baseless lies meant to sanitise his genocide of Palestinians.“In a statement issued hours after Netanyahu’s address, Mamdani said the Israeli PM is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.“As he has done time and again, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitise his genocide of Palestinians,”Mamdani said.“Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he added.This came after Netanyahu launched a broadside against Mamdani and accused him of endangering Jewish New Yorkers with his “lies about Israel.”While addressing the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu called Mamdani “the antisemitic mayor of New York” and said that Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, liked a post praising the October 7 massacre.“Your wife liked a post praising the October 7 massacre. She liked another post saying Tel Aviv shouldn’t exist. You refuse to condemn any of that. You falsely and repeatedly accuse Israel of genocide. Mr. Mamdani, you try to stop me from coming here,” Netanyahu said.“You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me. You can’t silence the truth. And here’s the simple truth. Here’s a simple truth: Israel didn’t commit genocide; Israel prevented genocide,” he added.Mamdani, the first Muslim mayor of New York, has been a staunch critic of Netanyahu and Israel’s military actions in Gaza. He has, on multiple occasions, called the Israeli PM a “war criminal” who is “the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people.”He has also said that his criticism of Israel and advocacy for Palestinian rights do not amount to antisemitism.During his mayoral campaign last year, Mamdani said he would direct police in New York to execute the war crimes court’s arrest warrant against Netanyahu, but has more recently acknowledged that the city does not have the authority to take him into custody.The mayor has since encouraged the federal government to arrest Netanyahu, though Trump has said the prime minister will not be arrested.Earlier this week, Mamdani met with US President Donald Trump and repeated his criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza.“As he has done time and again, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitise his genocide of Palestinians. Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he said in the statement.Meanwhile, around 100 people were arrested near the United Nations during a large protest over Netanyahu’s appearance, including celebrities Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder, according to the advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace.