Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will arrive in New York City soon \u2013 and to the dismay of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, he won\u2019t be met with a pair of handcuffs.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu will address the United Nations Thursday at the organization\u2019s 81st annual General Assembly. Mamdani has been an outspoken pro-Palestinian advocate for years, from co-founding a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter<\/a> as a student at Bowdoin College, to sponsoring legislation in the state Assembly<\/a> prohibiting not-for-profit organizations from participating in unauthorized support of Israeli settlements. Mamdani maintained his position while on the mayoral campaign trail, most notably calling for Netanyahu\u2019s arrest in alignment with the International Criminal Court\u2019s 2024 warrant.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n His election as mayor captured Netanyahu\u2019s attention and criticism, with the Israeli leader most recently saying in a video that he would \u201ctell the truth\u201d about Mamdani during his UN address.<\/p>\n Ahead of that speech, City & State compiled a brief timeline of the two leaders\u2019 public back-and-forth.<\/p>\n Sept. 22, 2023: Then-Assembly Member Mamdani protests Netanyahu\u2019s speech<\/a> at the 78th U.N. General Assembly outside the U.N.\u2019s Headquarters, alongside members of Jewish Voice for Peace and other advocacy organizations.<\/p>\n Oct. 8, 2023: Mamdani posts on X<\/a> about the Oct. 7 attacks. \u201cI mourn the hundreds of people killed across Israel and Palestine in the last 36 hours,\u201d he wrote. \u201cNetanyahu\u2019s declaration of war, the Israeli government\u2019s decision to cut electricity to Gaza, and Knesset members calling for another Nakba will undoubtedly lead to more violence and suffering in the days and weeks to come. The path toward a just and lasting peace can only begin by ending the occupation and dismantling apartheid.\u201d Mamdani later participated in a five-day hunger strike<\/a> outside of the White House advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza.<\/p>\n July 23, 2024: Mamdani posts on X<\/a> supporting Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez\u2019s boycott of Netanyahu\u2019s address to Congress \u201cafter killing 40,000 Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n Dec. 2, 2024: Now a longshot candidate for New York City mayor, Mamdani says<\/a> during an interview on the campaign trail that if elected, the city would arrest Netanyahu if he visits. Throughout the campaign, Mamdani continues to criticize Netanyahu in public<\/a> posts<\/a> and statements, accusing him of war crimes, citing starvation and blocked aid to Gaza.<\/p>\n July 8, 2025: Soon after Mamdani\u2019s primary win, Netanyahu tells<\/a> reporters he\u2019s \u201cnot concerned\u201d about Mamdani\u2019s pledge to arrest him, calling the vow \u201cappalling\u201d and \u201cnot serious.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n July 21, 2025 (filmed July 8): Netanyahu calls Mamdani\u2019s proposed policies for New York City \u201cnonsense,\u201d in an interview on the Full Send podcast<\/a> and predicted Mamdani would likely only serve one term if victorious in November\u2019s general election.<\/p>\n Sept. 12, 2025: Mamdani reaffirms<\/a> that if elected he would order the New York City Police Department to arrest Netanyahu, having him apprehended at the airport if he were to visit the city.<\/p>\n Sept. 26, 2025: The last time Netanyahu spoke at the United Nations, again during the General Assembly. Mamdani posts<\/a> on X: \u201cAs Netanyahu addresses the United Nations in New York City this morning, the world recoils in horror at the ongoing genocide in Gaza.\u201d Then-Mayor Eric Adams attended the speech in person, as a gesture of support.<\/a><\/p>\n Nov. 16, 2025: In an ABC7 appearance<\/a>, mayor-elect Mamdani doubles down on arresting Netanyahu.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Dec. 3, 2025: In an interview<\/a> at The New York Times DealBook Summit, Netanyahu reaffirms he would come to New York regardless of Mamdani\u2019s threat, and suggested he\u2019d meet with Mamdani if he \u201cchanges his mind\u201d and says Israel has a right to exist. When asked that question before<\/a> at a primary debate, Mamdani had said that he supports Israel as a \u201cstate with equal rights,\u201d later saying in a Fox 5 interview<\/a>, \u201cI\u2019m not comfortable supporting any state that has a hierarchy of citizenship on the basis of religion or anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n July 7, 2026: Netanyahu responds<\/a> to how Mamdani answers that question with fervent disagreement. \u201cHe conveniently forgets that the only democracy in the Middle East is Israel. 20% of our citizens are in fact Muslims \u2026 that\u2019s the only place in the Middle East where you actually have this equality that he\u2019s talking about \u2026 it\u2019s ridiculous, it\u2019s absurd,\u201d Netanyahu said, calling Israel an \u201cimperfect Democracy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n July 18, 2026: Mamdani tells the Times<\/a> that his administration is involved in ongoing conversations with the city\u2019s Law Department about whether he had the authority to arrest Netanyahu. When asked what would happen if Netanyahu came to New York in September for the U.N. General Assembly, Mamdani said the following:\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. He\u2019s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court. And what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years. I\u2019ve also said that I will follow the laws that we have here in New York City because I believe that there\u2019s an importance in following the law as a leader who presides over our city. And that\u2019s something that I plan to do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n July 21, 2026: Mayor Mamdani issues a video address<\/a> on X calling Netanyahu a \u201cwar criminal\u201d and \u201cthe architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people.\u201d Mamdani cites the targeting of neonatal care centers, as well as the blockage of humanitarian aid and other United Nations findings. He admits that his administration doesn\u2019t have the authority to execute the warrant, but calls on the U.S. government to pursue Netanyahu\u2019s arrest. \u201cI call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cAnd I want to be equally clear: Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at-large.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A day later, the Times report<\/a>s that when Mamdani said in the Times interview that he was still looking into options, he had already been advised by lawyers that he didn\u2019t have the authority to arrest Netanyahu.<\/p>\n Sept. 4, 2026: Netanyahu posts an AI video<\/a> showing Mamdani on the phone with Turkey\u2019s president Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, Iranian leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas. The group is shown celebrating the idea of Netanyahu\u2019s election loss \u2013 he is currently running for reelection. The prime minister’s Likud Party has also included an image of Mamdani with the world leaders on campaign posters<\/a> around Israel.<\/p>\n Sept. 21, 2026: Mamdani doubles down on his previous comments calling Netanyahu a war criminal in a CNN interview.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Sept. 22, 2026: In advance of his New York visit for the General Assembly, Netanyahu issues a video statement on X<\/a> firing back at Mamdani and accusing him of supporting Hamas, which Mamdani has condemned. \u201cShame 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. I\u2019m coming to the U.N. I\u2019m going to tell the truth about our heroic soldiers, and I\u2019ve got to tell the truth about you,\u201d he said. Mamdani responded<\/a> the same day, calling Netanyahu\u2019s comments \u201cnot true,\u201d once again mentioning Netanyahu\u2019s ICC warrant and calling him a war criminal and architect of genocide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will arrive in New York City soon \u2013 and to the dismay of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3895,60,9,24,11,10,49,51,50,82],"class_list":["post-355335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-israel","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}