Netanyahu accuses Mamdani of ‘supporting’ Hamas ahead of UN visit: ‘Shame on you’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday accused New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) of “supporting” the terror group Hamas ahead of visiting the United Nations General Assembly in the city.

“Shame on you, Mr. Mamdani,” Netanyahu said in a video posted to the social platform X . “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 he was heading for the U.N. to “tell the truth about our heroic soldiers and I’m going to tell the truth about you.” The video’s release came when Mamdani, after meeting with President Trump at the mayor’s home Gracie Mansion on Monday, called the prime minister a “war criminal” in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

Mamdani responded to Netanyahu’s message, saying at a press conference that what the prime minister said “in that video is not true,” Politico reported . He accused Netanyahu of being “the architect of a horrific genocide against Palestinians.”

“What we do know to actually be the truth when it comes to the prime minister is that he is the subject of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Mamdani added.

Mamdani has repeatedly condemned the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and has denied accusations of antisemitism from Republican and some Democratic critics. Netanyahu has dismissed accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity , charges that are the basis of the ICC’s arrest warrant from November 2024.

The mayor floated the idea of adhering to the ICC arrest warrant and having Netanyahu detained during his visit to the U.N. General Assembly. Mamdani later backed off his threat but urged the federal government to join the ICC and execute the warrant.

The U.S. and Israel are not subject to the ICC’s rulings, as neither country ratified the treaty that created the ICC, the Rome Statute, and therefore does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction over its citizens, service members or government officials.

But the ICC asserts jurisdiction over Palestinian territories and recognizes the state of Palestine as a party subject to the Rome Statute.

The prime minister has long been critical of the mayor, who campaigned last year by showing his support for Gaza’s Palestinian population and criticized the U.S. government’s closeness to the Israeli government.

“Look at what he’s doing. He’s fomenting hate,” Netanyahu told Fox News in July. “He’s supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers, Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone.”

The Israel-Hamas war has been on pause for almost one year since both sides agreed to a ceasefire, but Israel has continued to conduct strikes across the territory. About 1,200 Israelis were killed in the initial Hamas attack on Israel in 2023. Israeli attacks on the territory have killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including more than 1,300 since the ceasefire deal was reached, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.