The Mayor of New York responds to Netanyahu: A lie cannot change the fact that he is wanted by international justice

The Mayor of New York City, Zahran Mamdani, responded on Thursday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech before the United Nations, which included accusations of "anti-Semitism and distortion of facts related to Israel."

Mamdani said in a statement: “As he has done repeatedly, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies aimed at beautifying the genocide he is committing against the Palestinians.”

He added: "However, no lie can change the fact that he is still wanted under an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity."

It is noteworthy that the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu, but the United States is not a member of the court and made it clear that it will not arrest him.

Netanyahu had said to Mamdani: “Damn you! Damn you for distorting the facts. Damn you for reversing the roles between the victim and the aggressor. Damn you for spitting in the face of the truth, Mr. Mamdani. Since your election as mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York. They tell me that this is not the city we remember.”

In defending Israel's behavior during the three-year war on Gaza, Netanyahu said: "Here is a simple fact: Israel did not commit genocide, but rather prevented it from occurring; and this is exactly what Mr. Mamdani's allies in the Hamas movement would have done to us if we had not stopped them."

Earlier this week, Mamdani sharpened his criticism of Netanyahu, calling him a "war criminal," even as he admitted that he did not have the authority to arrest the Israeli leader while he was in New York, despite his promise to do so during his election campaign.