News World

Columbia Professor Sparks Firestorm Over Netanyahu Remarks

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani faces condemnation from Jewish groups and Republicans for vowing to arrest Israeli PM Netanyahu despite lacking legal authority, with critics calling it antisemitic.

Eleni Papadaki-Van Der Merwe Staff Writer

JULY 23, 2026 AT 8:45 AM

According to Naomi Lim writing in Washington Examiner, Mamdani this week repeated his intention to execute an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued in 2024 against Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Despite acknowledging he lacks legal authority to carry out such an arrest, the mayor released a video claiming Israel targeted neonatal hospitals and maternity facilities, starved civilians, and killed aid workers.

The accusations have drawn fierce backlash from Jewish advocacy groups who say Mamdani is misrepresenting Israel’s response to the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre whilst ignoring the terrorist organisation’s role in murdering American and Israeli citizens.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Los Angeles-based pro-Israel organisation, issued a sharp rebuke stating that Mamdani’s rhetoric goes beyond criticism of Netanyahu personally. The group said the mayor repeatedly singles out Israel whilst using his office to legitimise language that isolates the Jewish state and deepens divisions domestically. With Jewish New Yorkers facing alarming antisemitism, harassment and intimidation, they deserve leadership that refrains from stoking hatred against the world’s only Jewish country, the organisation argued.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, accused Mamdani of obsessing over Israel even as Jewish residents experience record antisemitism and the city faces urgent problems requiring mayoral attention. Writing on X, Greenblatt stated that this fixation reveals both an antisemitic worldview driving Mamdani’s judgment and the behaviour of a perpetual student activist learning on the job at taxpayers’ expense.

The mayor has repeatedly vowed to arrest Netanyahu should the Israeli leader attend the United Nations General Assembly, which convenes annually in New York each September.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, told News Nation that it is Mamdani who deserves arrest for supporting terrorists including Hamas and Iran. Danon noted that days earlier, Mamdani sent his commissioner to meet with Iran’s UN representative whilst American soldiers fight Tehran’s regime. The ambassador also pointed out that weeks ago, the mayor described a terrorist eliminated by Israel as an innocent journalist, accusing Mamdani of instigating and promoting antisemitism.

On X, Danon condemned what he termed Mamdani’s blood libels, asserting the mayor was elected to serve New Yorkers, not Hamas propaganda.

The controversy has also ignited outrage amongst Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina asked on X who wanted to see Mamdani denaturalised and deported back to where he came from.

Other congressional Republicans, led by Representative Addison McDowell of North Carolina, are urging acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to investigate Mamdani’s administration. Their concerns centre on Ana Maria Archila, the mayor’s commissioner for international affairs, who scheduled a meeting with Iranian UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani this month before the State Department intervened to halt it.

In a letter co-signed by 14 other Republican lawmakers, McDowell wrote that the lawmakers support President Trump’s efforts to strengthen American economic and national security interests in the Middle East and understand the delicate nature of ongoing peace negotiations. They believe a formal investigation is necessary to determine whether Archila, acting on behalf of Mamdani, engaged in unlawful activity or communication with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Logan Act prohibits unauthorised Americans from negotiating with foreign governments involved in disputes with the United States, such as the ongoing nearly five-month conflict with Iran.

Previously, the State Department was forced to prevent another meeting between Mamdani’s administration and Colombian representatives.

With information from Washington Examiner

Eleni Papadaki-Van Der Merwe

She was born in 1986 in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is the granddaughter of an immigrant from Crete who settled in the Greek community of Johannesburg (one of the largest in Africa). She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Political Science from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg and a master’s degree in Journalism from Rhodes University in Grahamstown. She began her career at English-language media outlets in Johannesburg, covering politics and economics, with a focus on issues related to migration and the diaspora. She moved to Athens in 2015 to “return to her roots,” initially to pursue graduate studies, and has remained there permanently. She is married to an Afrikaner; they have two children and live in the southern suburbs of Athens.