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Netanyahu: ICC War-Crimes Charges Bogus07/27 06:24
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that New York
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is "fomenting hate" by calling the prime minister a war
criminal who should be arrested over the war in Gaza if he visits the city for
the United Nations General Assembly.
Netanyahu said he intends to be in New York in September to address the
annual U.N. gathering of world leaders, despite the mayor's suggestion that he
is not welcome. Mamdani said last week that while New York City does not have
legal authority to execute an arrest warrant issued by the world's top
war-crimes court, he encouraged the federal government to do so.
"He's supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers -- Jews, Christians,
Muslims, everyone," Netanyahu said on Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning
Futures" with Maria Bartiromo. "But he's trying to turn one group against the
other."
The prime minister has become an increasingly polarizing figure over
Israel's war in Gaza, which was ignited by the Oct. 7, 2023, deadly attack on
southern Israel by Hamas militants. Israel also joined the U.S. in starting the
war against Iran on Feb. 28 before launching a ground invasion in southern
Lebanon in response to fire from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group.
Netanyahu on Sunday dismissed the International Criminal Court's war crimes
charges against him as "bogus." He pointed to sexual misconduct allegations
against the ICC's top prosecutor, who was removed from that post on Friday, and
said the warrant was an attempt to divert attention.
The mayor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment
Sunday.
Bipartisan U.S. support for Israel at risk, Netanyahu says
Netanyahu said he was concerned that once-bipartisan political support for
Israel in the U.S. is at risk, particularly as progressive and far-left
Democrats aligned with the Mamdani wing of the party splinter.
He also warned against rising antisemitism in the U.S. and other Western
countries, saying that when he talks to people in New York City, home to the
second-largest Jewish population in the world, "Jews feel very uncomfortable."
"And I think it's wrong. The whole thing is wrong," he said.
Throughout his mayoral election campaign last year, Mamdani said he would
seek to order the city's police to execute the ICC's arrest warrant over
Netanyahu's role in the war in Gaza.
But Mamdani acknowledged last week that his city did not have the legal
authority to arrest Netanyahu and called on federal authorities to step in.
"I want to be equally clear, Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York
City, nor is any other war criminal at large," he said in a video message.
He told New Yorkers that he understood their frustration and that
expressions of protest is something the city would "always respect."
The Hague-based court has accused Netanyahu, his former defense minister and
the late leader of Hamas of crimes against humanity. The Palestinian
territory's Health Ministry says over 73,000 people have been killed in
Israel's offensive -- roughly half of them women and children. Some 1,200
people, most of them civilians, were killed in the initial Hamas attack on
Israel.
Trump has assured Netanyahu he won't be arrested
Trump told Netanyahu in a social media post Monday that he "will not be
arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America."
Netanyahu is expected in Washington this week to meet with Trump and attend
funeral services for the late Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Graham, a leading defense hawk and strong supporter of Israel, died suddenly
two weeks ago of a likely torn aorta. The prime minster called him an
"extraordinary American patriot."
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