SerpApi.Org
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee described New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as "an evil anti-Semite" trying to "stoke Jew hate" for claiming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a "war criminal."
Huckabee issued the blistering rebuke Wednesday after Mamdani released a video renewing his criticism of Netanyahu while acknowledging that New York City lacks the legal authority to arrest the Israeli leader if he visits the city for the U.N. General Assembly in September.
"Would be easy to say NY Mayor is just an ignorant bigot, but he is not dumb," Huckabee wrote on X. "He's an evil anti-Semite who deliberately lies about serious things like 'genocide' to stoke Jew hate."
"If anyone should be arrested, it's the Mayor of NY for incitement. NYC should be ashamed," he added.
Huckabee shared a clip of Mamdani calling Netanyahu "a war criminal."
According to The New York Times, Mamdani said his administration reviewed whether the New York Police Department could execute the International Criminal Court's 2024 arrest warrant for Netanyahu but concluded the city lacked "independent legal authority" to do so.
"The federal government, however, does," Mamdani said, urging Washington to join the ICC and execute the warrant.
The socialist democrat mayor also declared that "Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City," accusing the Israeli prime minister of being "the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people."
President Donald Trump dismissed the idea earlier this week, saying Netanyahu "will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form" while visiting the United States.
CNN reported that legal experts likewise rejected Mamdani's suggestion that the city could have carried out such an arrest.
The network's senior legal analyst called the proposal "utterly ridiculous," noting that foreign affairs are handled exclusively by the federal government and that the United States is not a party to the Rome Statute establishing the ICC.
Israel has rejected the ICC's allegations of war crimes in Gaza, maintaining it has taken extraordinary measures to minimize civilian casualties while fighting Hamas following the terrorist group's Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
Mamdani's latest remarks also drew condemnation from Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, who accused the mayor of promoting "Hamas' propaganda" instead of serving New Yorkers.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center likewise criticized Mamdani, saying he was misusing the authority of his office to further rhetoric that isolates Israel and deepens divisions at home, according to CNN.
The dispute marks the latest flash point involving Mamdani, a frequent Israel critic, whose positions on the Middle East have drawn increasing scrutiny as he leads the nation's largest city.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
