Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to as Mayor Zohran Mamdani an anti-semite throughout a contentious speech on the U.N. Normal Meeting on Thursday, as greater than 100 protesters, together with Democratic Home candidates, entertainers and different elected officers, had been arrested exterior.
“Disgrace on you. Disgrace on you for distorting the info,” Netanyahu stated, calling out New York’s first Muslim mayor throughout a greater than 20-minute speech defending Israel in opposition to allegations it dedicated genocide in Gaza.
Mayor Mamdani has been overtly vital of the Israeli prime minister, sharing a video final month calling Netanyahu a conflict felony — whilst he backed off a earlier promise to arrest him if he got here to New York Metropolis.
Whereas Mamdani has conspicuously prevented encouraging protests of Netanyahu’s speech, the mayor didn’t again down from his criticism, saying earlier this week that Netanyahu “is the architect of a horrific genocide in opposition to Palestinians.”
On Thursday, Mamdani responded to the prime minister’s feedback, saying in a press release that Netanyahu had used his time in the course of the annual gathering of world leaders “to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize the genocide of Palestinians.”
“But no lie can change the truth that he stays the topic of an Worldwide Felony Court docket arrest warrant alleging conflict crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity,” Mamdani stated.
A United Nations committee stated in September 2025 that Israel was committing a genocide in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, assault in Israel by the terrorist group Hamas.
Earlier this week, Netanyahu accused Mamdani of encouraging violence in opposition to Jewish New Yorkers, which he reiterated on Thursday.
“Mr. Mamdani, because you had been elected mayor of this metropolis, many Jews now not really feel secure in New York,” he stated.
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Earlier Thursday, the mayor posted a video that confirmed him planting an olive tree at Gracie Mansion the evening earlier than alongside Palestinian households. Additionally they shared dinner contained in the mayor’s official residence.
Many leaders and different delegates walked out of the Normal Meeting in protest earlier than Netanyahu’s speech.
Jewish Voice for Peace, which organized the protest exterior the UN, stated elected officers, nominees for Congress, and musicians and actors joined a whole bunch of Jewish, Palestinian, Iranian and Lebanese New Yorkers to protest the speech.
A complete of 104 protestors had been arrested after blocking visitors with indicators calling on the US to cease arming Israel. The listing contains Metropolis Councilmembers Alexa Avilés, Jennifer Gutiérrez, and Chi Ossé; and Assemblymember Emily Gallagher.
A minimum of two main candidates for Congress had been additionally arrested, together with Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic nominee for a district spanning Higher Manhattan and The Bronx.
Avila Chevalier marketing campaign spokesperson Natalia Latif confirmed she was amongst these arrested, however the marketing campaign didn’t know her actual whereabouts.
Former metropolis comptroller Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee for a U.S. Home seat in Manhattan and Brooklyn, was additionally arrested, in response to Jewish Voice for Peace.
It was not the primary time both Ossé or Avila Chevalier had been arrested throughout protests this yr.
Ossé was arrested in Brooklyn this spring protesting the eviction of a constituent who alleged she was a sufferer of deed theft.
Avila Chevalier was arrested on April 13 in one other anti-war occasion organized by Jewish Voice for Peace exterior of the Manhattan workplace of Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority chief. Avila Chevalier is a staunch supporter of Palestine and was a pacesetter of the Columbia College encampments earlier than working for workplace and defeating the longtime incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat in one of many greatest main upsets of the 2026 midterms.
