Netanyahu says Mamdani should "focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York"
Benjamin NetanyahuPrime Minister of Israel, in a statement from the Prime Minister's Office
In a July 19 statement from the Prime Minister's Office, Netanyahu said Mamdani should focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York instead of backing what the statement called the criminal behaviour of International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan. It said Mamdani, like Khan, appears interested in diverting public attention from his follies.
“Instead of backing Khan's criminal behaviour, Mr. Mamdani should focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York Like Karim Khan, Mamdani appears interested in diverting public attention from his follies and attacking the leader of the Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East”
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Is Mamdani's campaign against Netanyahu's UN visit fomenting hate, or is it accountability for war crimes?
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has repeatedly called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "war criminal" and the "architect" of what he calls a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, citing the International Criminal Court's 2024 arrest warrant against Netanyahu. In July 2026, Mamdani said his administration had reviewed the law and concluded New York City lacks independent legal authority to execute the warrant, and called on the federal government to do so instead. Netanyahu has responded by accusing Mamdani of "fomenting hate" and, more recently, of supporting Hamas and inciting unrest against Jewish New Yorkers, citing a stabbing of a Jewish man in an Upper West Side attack. The dispute has continued through September 2026 as Netanyahu traveled to New York for the UN General Assembly, with Israeli officials accusing Mamdani of inciting chaos and Mamdani declining to join planned protests against Netanyahu while maintaining his position on the arrest warrant.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
Reports the July 19, 2026 statement from the Prime Minister's Office, which said Mamdani should focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York instead of backing what the statement called Khan's criminal behaviour, and that he appears interested in diverting public attention from his follies.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
The remarks came shortly after Mamdani first said his administration was exploring an arrest.
After the quotation
Fetterman separately made similar remarks calling Mamdani a "clown" the same weekend.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The statement accuses Mamdani of backing what it calls Khan's criminal behaviour and says he appears interested in diverting public attention from his follies, so it condemns his conduct.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Zohran Mamdani
Corrections to this statement
These notices document reporting corrections, classification changes, and topic-label updates.
Reporting correction
Correction to: Statement by Benjamin Netanyahu
- Previous language
- This entry quoted Netanyahu as saying "Mamdani should concern himself with the homeless epidemic, the affordability crisis and the floods on New York City's roads rather than illegally meddling," and its summary said he pointed to homelessness, affordability and infrastructure and to what he called illegal meddling.
- Corrected language
- The entry now quotes Netanyahu's July 19 statement from the Prime Minister's Office: "Instead of backing Khan's criminal behaviour, Mr. Mamdani should focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York." Its summary says the statement told Mamdani to focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York and said he appears interested in diverting public attention from his follies.
We attributed a quotation about homelessness, affordability and floods on New York City's roads to Benjamin Netanyahu in error. The All Israel News article we cited reports that Brooklyn City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov said those words to the New York Post. Netanyahu's statement, as the article reports it, said Mamdani should focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York. We replaced the quotation and rewrote the summary, title and speaker description, and corrected the source excerpt, to match his statement.
This corrects our account of what happened.
Reports the July 19, 2026 statement from the Prime Minister's Office, which said Mamdani should focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York instead of backing what the statement called Khan's criminal behaviour, and that he appears interested in diverting public attention from his follies.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)More from this case
Read the full caseHochul says Netanyahu hurt his own credibility by accusing Mamdani of supporting Hamas
“I have enormous disagreements with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and this is added to the list The mayor has never said he supports Hamas. He has called them a terrorist organization, exactly at odds with what Netanyahu just said. So he has hurt his own credibility”Read statement
Mamdani calls Netanyahu's United Nations remarks "baseless lies"
“As he has done time and again, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians. Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity.”Read statement
Netanyahu says Mamdani tried to silence him at the United Nations
“Mr. Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here. … You tried to silence me. Well, you can't silence me. You can't silence the truth. … Israel didn't commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide. And that's exactly what Mr. Mamdani's Hamas buddies would have done to us had we not stopped them.”Read statement
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- Netanyahu says Mamdani should "focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York"
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The Dispute Index. "Netanyahu says Mamdani should "focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York"". First published: 2026-09-22. Last updated: 2026-09-26. https://disputeindex.com/events/1524-in-a-july-19-statement-from-the-prime