Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News he was "not concerned" about New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's previous pledge to arrest him. Netanyahu also accused the mayor of "fomenting hate." The two have been publicly trading criticisms over an arrest warrant from an international court that is still hanging over the Israeli leader.

In the Fox News interview, Netanyahu brought up two stabbings in New York. In those incidents, a suspect stabbed a Jewish man and an Asian man blocks apart. The suspect allegedly shouted "Allahu akbar" and was charged with hate crimes. Both victims survived. Netanyahu said Jewish New Yorkers were "afraid right now" and told the interviewer, "I speak to Jewish Americans." He argued that Mamdani "is supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers, Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone, but he's trying to turn one group against the other" (BBC). The Independent reported that Netanyahu went further, effectively suggesting Mamdani was "behind" the stabbing of a Jewish victim through his rhetoric (The Independent).

The exchange is the sharpest escalation in an unusual confrontation between a sitting national leader and a city mayor. It has raised questions about international law, the legal protections given to visiting heads of state, and the domestic politics of both countries.

What Is the ICC and Why Does It Want to Arrest Netanyahu?

The International Criminal Court, or ICC, is a global court that prosecutes people for serious crimes like war crimes. It issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in 2024, accusing him of war crimes in Gaza. The court's prosecutor, Karim Khan, pursued the case (NPR). Netanyahu has called the ICC charges "bogus," and Israel has denied committing war crimes in Gaza (BBC).

Countries that join the ICC's founding treaty agree to arrest people the court has charged if those people enter their territory. But the United States has not joined that treaty. So the U.S. does not enforce ICC warrants, whether for its own citizens or for allied leaders visiting American soil.

What Did Mayor Mamdani Promise — and Then Reverse?

Mamdani's opposition to Israel's military operation in Gaza was a central part of his mayoral campaign. He promised while campaigning to enforce the ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister entered New York City. In an address the week before the BBC's reporting, Mamdani called Netanyahu a "war criminal" and declared, "Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City." Reuters separately reported that Mamdani accused Netanyahu of committing "genocide in Gaza" while calling for enforcement of the ICC warrant (BBC).

Mamdani walked back the arrest threat the week before the BBC article. He acknowledged he lacked the legal authority to enforce the ICC warrant on his own. He instead urged the federal government to arrest Netanyahu (BBC). Politico reported on July 21 that Mamdani had reversed his campaign pledge to arrest Netanyahu under the ICC warrant (Politico). NPR confirmed the reversal on July 22, reporting that Mamdani said New York City cannot arrest Netanyahu (NPR).

The reason Mamdani reversed course is straightforward. Independent legal experts told Reuters that a city mayor cannot arrest a foreign leader because the United States generally recognizes immunity for sitting heads of state. That means while a leader is in office, they are protected from arrest in the U.S. (Reuters). Reuters published its legal analysis on July 22, 2026, titled "Why New York's Mamdani cannot have Israel's Netanyahu arrested" (Reuters).

Netanyahu's Response

Netanyahu also posted a direct response to Mamdani on his official X account: "My answer to Mamdani: I will come to New York to fight for the truth of the Jewish people" (X/@netanyahu). The post was published on July 26, 2026.

The Fox News interview itself is hosted at foxnews.com/video/6402184997112 (Fox News). The Guardian reported on July 26 on Netanyahu's "fomenting hate" accusation over Mamdani's calls for the Israeli PM's arrest (The Guardian). The New York Times covered the Netanyahu-Mamdani story in a July 26 article that included an interview with Mayor Mamdani (New York Times). The mayor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC.

The Bigger Picture

The broader context here is a clash between three areas that rarely intersect so directly: international law, U.S. legal practice, and local politics. The ICC warrant puts Netanyahu in a small group of sitting national leaders facing international charges. Countries that belong to the ICC's treaty are supposed to carry out its arrests. But the United States does not belong to that treaty. That gap is what made Mamdani's original pledge unworkable. It also means only the federal government could conceivably act on an ICC warrant on U.S. soil — something Mamdani himself admitted.

What gives this confrontation its political energy is not the legal details but the setting. New York City hosts the United Nations headquarters, so foreign leaders visit regularly. Think of the U.N. as a kind of neutral ground, similar to how an embassy in a foreign country offers a protected space for the visiting country's officials. Netanyahu's stated plan to travel to New York "to fight for the truth of the Jewish people" positions the visit as a challenge to both the ICC and his local critic. For Mamdani, the clash strengthens the image that helped him win his campaign — that of a national voice on U.S. policy toward Israel and Gaza, even on matters well beyond a mayor's legal reach.

The stabbings Netanyahu referenced add another layer. By connecting Mamdani's words to acts of street violence, Netanyahu is framing the mayor's statements not as political disagreement but as something that could lead to physical danger for communities. Mamdani's office has not yet publicly responded to that characterization. Whether that argument lasts beyond the current news cycle depends on whether the link Netanyahu drew between political speech and actual violence holds up over time, or whether it stays, for now, an assertion made from an interview studio.