Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sharply criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani during an appearance on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures, accusing the mayor of promoting division and hatred while arguing that his rhetoric has contributed to growing fears within New York’s Jewish community.
In a pointed interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, Netanyahu condemned Mamdani’s recent remarks about Israel and the Israeli leader, claiming the mayor’s comments have created an atmosphere of hostility toward Jewish residents.
“Look at what he’s doing,” Netanyahu said of Mamdani. “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 foisting hate and fear.”
Netanyahu went on to say that Jewish Americans in New York have expressed concerns to him about their safety.
“I speak to Jewish Americans in New York and they’re afraid right now,” he said.
The prime minister also appeared to connect Mamdani’s rhetoric to the stabbing of a Jewish man outside the Jewish Center in Manhattan on Thursday.
“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 ‘Allahu Akbar.’ And you know what that means,” Netanyahu said.
Calling the situation “shameful,” Netanyahu argued that the developments are harmful both to New York City and to broader efforts toward peace.
“I think that it’s shameful. This thing is very bad for New York. I think it’s very bad for peace,” he added.
The comments follow a series of statements by Mamdani directed at Netanyahu earlier in the week.
On Wednesday, the mayor said Netanyahu would no longer receive a welcome in New York City under his administration.
“We are talking about someone who has been charged with crimes against humanity, someone who has visited this city on many an occasion and has been welcomed by previous mayors,” Mamdani said. “I want to make it very clear that that welcome ends with me. I will not welcome Benjamin Netanyahu or any other war criminals when they come to this city.”
Earlier in the week, Mamdani also threatened to act on an International Criminal Court warrant seeking Netanyahu’s arrest on war crimes allegations. The mayor later acknowledged that he does not have the legal authority to carry out such an arrest.
Mamdani has also referred to Netanyahu as “the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people.”
During the interview, Bartiromo asked Netanyahu whether he believes such rhetoric is making Jewish New Yorkers feel increasingly unsafe amid what she described as growing anti-Israel sentiment.
“I’m wondering if you believe that this 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,” Bartiromo asked.
Netanyahu responded that many Jewish residents have told him they no longer feel comfortable openly identifying themselves in public.
“I do think that Jews feel very uncomfortable,” he said. “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.”
The Israeli leader argued that such fears are tied to what he described as growing anti-Semitic incitement in parts of the United States and the broader West.
He noted that New York City is home to the second-largest Jewish population in the world after Israel and said the current climate is deeply troubling.
Netanyahu concluded by accusing Mamdani of “aligning himself with the criminals, with these murderers” who carried out the Oct. 7 attacks.
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