Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and founding senior rabbi of The Hampton Synagogue, sharply criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday after the mayor again described Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the “architect of genocide in Gaza.”
“Mayor Mamdani today yet again called Prime Minister Netanyahu the ‘architect of genocide in Gaza.’ It is time to pronounce what few have said out loud. Mayor Mamdani is the architect of antisemitism in New York,” Rabbi Schneier said.
“He is leading the effort to bifurcate Israel from Judaism, and he is attempting to brainwash an entire generation of future leaders. He is fixated on Israel, while ignoring atrocities elsewhere, including in Iran, whose foreign minister is visiting New York. Mamdani exhibits how his selective form of antisemitism grows, reaching people across the city while ignoring other global issues. The mayor’s rhetoric and diatribe are dangerous and has already led to physical attacks on Jews in New York,” he added.
Rabbi Schneier called on New Yorkers to oppose what he described as the normalization of anti-Jewish rhetoric by the city’s mayor.
“We will not stand idly by as the mayor of the city with the largest Jewish community outside of Israel attempts to normalize hate speech against our people. He started with this demonizing rhetoric on his college campus, which has metastasized across dozens of campuses and now to the streets of New York. This injustice against the Jewish community must be the concern of all New Yorkers,” he concluded.
Mamdani made his remarks during an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that aired Monday. Discussing Netanyahu, he said, “When it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu, I have described him as I believe him to be a war criminal and an architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people.”
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in 2024 for Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, alleging war crimes committed by Israel during its counterterrorism efforts against Hamas in Gaza.
During his campaign for mayor, Mamdani pledged to direct the NYPD to arrest Netanyahu if the Prime Minister visited New York.
In a July interview with The New York Times, he said he was exploring potential means of detaining Netanyahu. However, he later conceded in a video that the mayor of New York City lacks the legal authority to enforce an ICC arrest warrant and instead urged the federal government to act.
Mamdani told Amanpour that he still believes the ICC warrant should be enforced.
“I do believe that that is something that should be honored, because what we want to see, and we’ve been talking about this today, is a faith in our politics, a faith in accountability,” he said.
“If the International Criminal Court deems someone worthy of an arrest because of a violation of those laws, then who are we to say that anyone should be above that? And I think very clearly that everyone should be held accountable to it,” Mamdani added.
Netanyahu responded to Mamdani on Tuesday, sharply criticizing his position and accusing him of supporting Hamas and encouraging hostility toward New York’s Jewish community.
“Shame on you, Mr. Mamdani. Shame on you for supporting the Hamas terrorist monsters who butchered our people. Shame on you for inciting riots against New York Jews,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also said he would address the issue during his upcoming appearance before the United Nations.
“I’m coming to the UN. I’m going to tell the truth about our heroic soldiers, and I’m going to tell the truth about you,” he said.