Hochul says Netanyahu hurt his own credibility by accusing Mamdani of supporting Hamas
Kathy HochulGovernor of New York, in an interview with WNYC
Governor Kathy Hochul said in a WNYC interview that Mayor Zohran Mamdani has never said he supports Hamas and has called it a terrorist organization, and that Netanyahu hurt his own credibility by saying otherwise.
“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”
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
Report by Jon Campbell of WNYC and Gothamist, distributed through the New York Public News Network, on Governor Kathy Hochul's WNYC interview about Netanyahu's video accusing Mamdani.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
On September 22, Netanyahu released a video ahead of his UN General Assembly appearance accusing Mamdani of supporting Hamas and inciting riots against New York Jews. Mamdani told reporters that what the prime minister said in the video was not true.
After the quotation
Hochul, who traveled to Israel after the October 7, 2023 attacks, said she understood the stress around them, but that Netanyahu's not telling the truth as he came to New York needed to be called out.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The case asks whether Mamdani's campaign against Netanyahu's UN visit is fomenting hate or is accountability for alleged war crimes, and Netanyahu's accusation that Mamdani supports Hamas and incites riots is part of that dispute. Hochul disputed the accusation, saying the mayor has never said he supports Hamas and has called it a terrorist organization. She addressed that description rather than the arrest campaign itself, so we labeled it Challenged the characterization.
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- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Benjamin Netanyahu, Zohran Mamdani
More from this case
Read the full caseMamdani 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
Vietor calls Netanyahu's video attacking Mamdani "dumb"
“This dumb video is helpful for @NYCMayor because everyone hates @netanyahu. Democrats hate him. Republicans hate him. Israel's supporters hate him because of what he's done to his country. Israel's critics hate him because of what he did to Gaza. Time to vote his ass out!”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Hochul says Netanyahu hurt his own credibility by accusing Mamdani of supporting Hamas". First published: 2026-09-26. Last updated: 2026-09-26. https://disputeindex.com/events/2816-governor-kathy-hochul-said-in-a-wnyc-interview