Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brushed aside Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s threat to arrest him as “silly” and teased plans to swing through New York City in defiance of the socialist’s warning.
“I’m not concerned about that,” Netanyahu told reporters at the White House on Monday evening during his working dinner with President Trump.
“There’s enough craziness in the world, but I guess it never ends. This is folly and it’s silly in many ways,” the prime minister continued.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu called Zohran Mamdani’s threat to arrest him “silly.” AL DRAGO/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock
“I’m going to come there with President Trump and we’ll see.”
Trump then quipped, “I’ll get him out.”
Last year, Mamdani told Zeteo that he would not welcome Netanyahu to New York City in light of the International Criminal Court’s warrant for Netanyahu’s and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s arrest, issued last year.
“No. As mayor, New York City would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu. This is a city that our values are in line with international law. It’s time that our actions are also,” Mamdani told Mehdi Hasan last December.
After Netanyahu shrugged off Mamdani’s threat, Trump then publicly assured the Israeli prime minister that he had nothing to worry about under his watch.
“He’s going to be very fine. And we don’t know who the mayor is going to be yet, but this is a communist. He’s not a socialist. He’s a communist, and he’s said some really bad things about Jewish people,” Trump said.
“And he’s said some really bad things about a lot of people. And I think he’s going through a bit of a honeymoon right now but he might make it.
“He’s going to behave,” Trump added, referring to Mamdani. “He’ll behave. He better behave. Otherwise, he’s going to have big problems.”
Trump also re-upped his threat to leverage federal aid to New York City if Mamdani crosses his administration.
The Post contacted Mamdani’s campaign for comment.
Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, scored an upset victory over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in last month’s Democratic primary.
The Queens assemblyman has long been a fierce critic of Israel and Netanyahu, particularly concerning the war in the Gaza Strip and the treatment of the Palestinian people.
“As mayor, New York City would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu,” Mamdani said last year. Paul Martinka for NY Post
Mamdani has publicly rejected recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, saying that he’s “not comfortable supporting any state that has a hierarchy of citizenship on the basis of religion or anything else.”
New York City has the largest Jewish population of any city in the world, at approximately 1.3 million. It also has the largest Muslim population of any US city, with an estimated 750,000 adherents of that faith.
Netanyahu’s White House visit marked his third in the past six months, weeks after the two teamed up against Iran and amid delicate negotiations for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
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While addressing the Mamdani drama, Netanyahu also referenced his answer to a prior question about whether he is open to a two-state solution.
“After October 7th, people said the Palestinians had a state — Hamas state in Gaza — and look what they did with it. They didn’t build it up,” the Israeli prime minister said.
“They built down two bunkers into terror tunnels, after which they massacred our people, raped our women, beheaded our men, invaded our cities and our towns and our kibbutzim and did horrendous, horrendous massacres, the kind of which we didn’t see since World War Two and the Nazis, the Holocaust.”