New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani hit back at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday after the Israeli leader claimed that Jews haven’t felt safe in New York since he was elected, and accused him of being friendly with Hamas.

Mamdani, a staunch opponent of Israel who has been in office since January 2026, responded to Netanyahu’s speech by accusing the Israeli premier of leading a genocide against the Palestinian people, a charge that he has made previously and that Israel rejects.

“As he has done time and again, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians,” Mamdani said in his statement, according to local media reports. “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.”

Mamdani’s statement was issued in response to Netanyahu’s address at the UN General Assembly, a portion of which was dedicated to the New York City mayor.

Netanyahu, in his speech, accused Mamdani of antisemitism and said that Jews “no longer feel safe in New York” thanks to him.

“You falsely and repeatedly accuse Israel of genocide. Mr. Madani, you tried to stop me from coming here, you tried to silence me. You can’t silence me. You can’t silence the truth,” Netanyahu had continued.

“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. They would have killed every last one of us,” Netanyahu asserted.

Mamdani did not publish his response to Netanyahu on social media, instead sharing a video of an olive tree planting ceremony held at his mayoral residence on Wednesday night with Palestinian families from Gaza.

“Last night I planted an olive tree at Gracie Mansion with Palestinian families from Gaza. May peace be in our future,” the caption accompanying the video read.

Netanyahu’s speech also angered Qatar,........

© The Times of Israel