Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu said that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani was using bogus criminal charges argument against him which was making Jewish New Yorkers uncomfortable.
Transcript:
Mamdani: “And when it comes to Palestinian New Yorkers who are disappointed, I understand it. Because we are talking about someone who has been charged with crimes against humanity, someone who has visited this city on many an occasion and who has been welcomed by previous mayors. And I want to make it very clear that that that welcome ends with me. I will not be welcoming Benjamin Netanyahu or any other war criminals when they come to this city.”
BARTIROMO: “So, prime minister, you just heard what Zohran Mamdani had to say. He’s calling you a war criminal, you’re not welcome in New York City. We, of course, also heard from President Trump on this, and many others, who said this is absolutely not happening. But what are your plans? Are you still going to come to the U.N. General Assembly? Are you concerned about —”
Netanyahu: “I certainly — no, I’m not concerned, and I certainly intend to do so. I’ve appeared just about every year. Not every year, but almost every year in my primeministership, — unless there are security conditions. But barring that — and I don’t expect that to be the case this time — yes, I do intend to to come to New York.”
BARTIROMO: “The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for you and your former defense minister for genocide. What is your response to this?”
Netanyahu: “Well, the one who promoted that was the ICC, the International Criminal Court prosecutor, who has since been completely exposed as a criminal. He himself was accused, was going to face charges of sexual harassment by two women. He knew that, and he was going to come to Israel, and he spoke warmly about Israel’s judicial system and the fact that there has to be an extensive investigation before any conclusions. And on the day that he was supposed to visit Israel, he canceled everything, called a news conference and accused me and the former defense minister of war crimes.
Now we learned why. Because a few days before that, he was basically confronted by his chief of staff who said, ‘You know, these two employees of yours, female employees of yours, are going to charge you with sexual crimes.’ So he thought, ‘How am I going to divert my criminality to something that will protect me?’ And the best way, he thought, was Israel-bashing and, frankly, bashing me, and thereby getting the protection of all the anti-Israel crowd. And that’s basically what he did. And it worked for a while.
But then the truth came out by various organizations, including the left-wing newspaper, The Guardian. And as it came out, he was — basically, he lost his job. He thought, ‘If there’s an indictment, I’m to going to have a job.’ There was an indictment and he lost his job because he was removed by a vast majority of nations who knew that he was a con job. His name is Karim Khan, he pulled a con job on the international community with these bogus charges of war crimes on us. Now he’s going to be in the dock.
And that tells you the whole thing the mayor of New York is basing himself on, this criminal’s bogus charges, that’s what he’s using? And look at what he’s doing. He’s fomenting hate. He’s supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers, Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone. But he’s trying to turn one group against the other, and he’s forcing hate and fear.
I speak to Jewish-Americans in New York and they’re afraid right now. And I don’t think it’s accidental that after he made this hate speech against Israel and against me, the next day a Jew is stabbed coming out of a synagogue. I think — and with a cry of ‘Allah Akbar.’ And you know what that means. So I think that it’s shameful. This thing is very bad for New York. I think it’s very bad for peace. But I think the answer to your question, I intend to come and speak the truth, speak for Israel and for the Israeli-American alliance from the podium of the United Nations.”
BARTIROMO: “Well, this is a very important point that you’re making, though, because this rhetoric from Zohran Mamdani is more than just talking about Israel and a personal fight that he’s having with you. I’m wondering if you believe that this are rhetoric is making Jewish New Yorkers unsafe, and is that what’s behind so much upset and this anti-Israel sentiment raging across the country?”
Netanyahu: “Well, I do think the Jews feel very uncomfortable, because I speak to quite a lot of my friends and they say, ‘Look, it’s like a different world. We’re afraid to go into the streets. We certainly do not want to wear yarmulkes or any clothing that would give away that we’re Jews.’ But, yes, they feel frightened. And I think that’s part of this incitement language that is sweeping a lot of the circles with anti-Semitism, a lot of circles in the West, in the United States and, unbelievably, in New York City, which has the second-largest Jewish population in the world after Israel. And I think it’s wrong. The whole thing is wrong.
And what are they doing? I mean, what Mamdani is supporting, his wife, his family, he celebrated October 7th massacre, the worst massacre against Jews since the Holocaust. He’s basically supporting — or he tries to say that he doesn’t, but he’s supporting the Hamas murderers who raped our women, then beheaded them, burnt babies alive, slaughtered our men, took innocent people hostages, 251 men, women, children, babies. That’s who he’s supporting. And they’re the ones who are responsible for genocide. They would have killed, as their charter says and as they themselves proclaim, they would have killed every single Jew in Israel and every Jew in the world.
So the genocide charge belong to our enemies. What we’re doing is trying to fight this genocidal terrorist organization that embeds itself among civilians, prevents us from moving the civilians out of harm’s way, they use gunpoint. That’s where the real criminals are. But Mamdani is aligning himself with the criminals, with these murderers. But the worst thing is that he’s tormenting his own — his own citizens, his own voters. No, that is wrong. And I — you know, I’ve been to New York so many times, Maria, over the years, I’ve met all the New York mayors. They all saw themselves as mayors of all New Yorkers, not pitting one part of the population against the other.”
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