Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hit back at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, accusing him of "fomenting hate" after Mamdani had previously threatened to arrest him over an International Criminal Court warrant. Speaking to Fox News, Netanyahu confirmed he still intends to attend the UN General Assembly in New York this autumn, saying he was "not concerned" about Mamdani's earlier pledge, and accused the mayor of turning New Yorkers against one another rather than representing "all New Yorkers, Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone".

Netanyahu pointed to two stabbings in New York last Thursday, in which a Jewish man and an Asian man were attacked by a suspect who allegedly shouted "Allahu akbar"; both survived, and the attacker faces hate crime charges, with Netanyahu saying Jewish New Yorkers were "afraid right now". The row stems from a 2024 ICC warrant accusing Netanyahu of war crimes in Gaza, which Mamdani had vowed during his campaign to enforce, before admitting last week that his administration lacked the legal authority to do so; he has since called Netanyahu a "war criminal" and said he is "not welcome" in the city. Israel denies committing war crimes in Gaza, where over 73,000 people have reportedly been killed since the war began following Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack, which killed about 1,200 people in Israel.