NETANYAHU HEADS TO WASHINGTON, VOWS TO GO TO NYC DESPITE ICC ARREST WARRANT

Mon 27 July 2026:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday departed for Washington for talks with US President Donald Trump.

Netanyahu is visiting Washington at Trump’s invitation and will discuss issues of mutual interest to Israel and the US, according to the official Israel in Arabic account on US social media platform X.

The Israeli prime minister said on Sunday that he plans to attend the UN General Assembly in New York despite calls for his arrest by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Last Tuesday, Mamdani called Netanyahu a “war criminal” and urged the US government to enforce an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against him if he enters the US.

US President Donald Trump, however, has vowed that Netanyahu “will not be arrested” while visiting the US.

The ICC issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Netanyahu slammed Mamdani during an interview on the Fox News programme Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, continuing to push a series of baseless claims about the leftist politician who has said Netanyahu should be arrested if he comes to the US.

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“I intend to come and speak the truth – speak for Israel and for the Israeli-American alliance from the podium of the United Nations,” Netanyahu said.

Mamdani’s outspoken criticism of Israel and support for Palestinian rights, views shared by a growing number of people in the US, has attracted the ire of pro-Israel figures who have sought to portray those criticisms as a form of anti-Semitism.

“He’s fomenting hate. He’s supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers – Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone,” Netanyahu said, mirroring those claims. “But he’s trying to turn one group against the other. I speak to Jewish Americans, and they’re afraid right now.”

However, a June survey of more than 1,000 Jewish adults across the US by the Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research appeared to indicate otherwise.

The survey found that about four in 10 Jewish adults, 44 per cent, viewed Mamdani “somewhat” or “very” favourably, while a similar share, 39 percent, viewed him “somewhat” or “very” unfavourably. About two in 10 Jewish adults say they don’t know enough to have an opinion either way.

On the other hand, only about one-third of Jewish adults had a “somewhat” or “very” favourable opinion of Netanyahu, while about six in 10 have a “somewhat” or “very” unfavourable view, including 42 percent who have a “very” unfavourable opinion. About one in 10 say they don’t know enough to say.

Such arguments appear increasingly out of step in the US, where voters have undergone a seismic shift away from support for Israel over the last several years.

Despite a deluge of attacks on Mamdani over his support for Palestine, a recent AP-NORC poll found that Jewish adults in the US have a more favourable view of the mayor than they do of Netanyahu himself, and that 30 percent believe Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.

Mamdani stated during his campaign that he would have Netanyahu arrested if he visited New York City, but stated recently that, while Netanyahu is a war criminal who should be arrested if he comes to the US, New York City does not have the authority to do so itself.

A YouGov poll published this week found that 46 percent of people in the US believe Netanyahu should be arrested, while 28 percent said he should not be.

Netanyahu falsely claimed in his interview that Mamdani and his wife had “celebrated” the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,100 people.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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