NEW YORK, Sep 25 (APP):Zohran Mamdani, New York City's first Muslim and South Asian mayor, pushed back against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, accusing him of spreading "baseless lies meant to sanitize the genocide of Palestinians" after Netanyahu fiercely attacked him in his UN General Assembly speech. In his address, Netanyahu directly attempted to berate Mamdani, branding him as the “antisemitic mayor of New York”, claiming the City's …
New York Mayor Mamdani hits back as Netanyahu mounts direct attack in UN speech
NEW YORK, Sep 25 (APP):Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor, pushed back against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, accusing him of spreading “baseless lies meant to sanitize the genocide of Palestinians” after Netanyahu fiercely attacked him in his UN General Assembly speech.
In his address, Netanyahu directly attempted to berate Mamdani, branding him as the “antisemitic mayor of New York”, claiming the City’s Jewish residents no longer feel safe under his leadership, and accusing him of associating with “Hamas buddies”.
Netanyahu, who was speaking to a half empty hall following a massive walkout by delegates, mockingly referenced Mamdani’s previous mayoral campaign promises to have him jailed, saying, “Mr. Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here… you try to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me.”
Mamdani, noted for his courage and conviction, immediately counter-punched with a statement pointing out that Netanyahu remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The 34-year-old mayor reiterated that Netanyahu is the “architect of a horrific genocide” and accused him of using the global stage to cover up the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“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.
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, after he dedicated a portion of it to the Gulf nation — which he called a part of an “eighth front” in Israel’s war — accusing it of spreading lies about Israel and funding US universities in order to “brainwash young minds to hate Israel, hate America, and hate the West.”
“This is the same Qatar that hosts the Hamas butchers of October 7,” Netanyahu claimed, referring to the group’s political leadership, most of whom are based out of Doha.
A senior Qatari diplomat retaliated after Netanyahu’s speech that “speaking to a half-empty room during his UN remarks says plenty about the support for this message.”
Dozens of envoys from across the world walked out, some jeering and booing, as Netanyahu delivered his speech.
“Blaming Qatar for a political failures does not change the facts,” the Qatari deputy ambassador to the US, Hamas al-Muftah, wrote on X.
“Qatar’s reported funding of American universities has overwhelmingly supported the operation of US university campuses in Education City (in Doha), bringing American higher education to the Middle East. Those universities maintain academic responsibility for their programmes; Qatar does not dictate what happens on their US campuses,” he said.
Addressing Hamas’s presence in Qatar, the diplomat said Netanyahu knows “exactly why Hamas representatives have been based in Doha.”
“Qatar has served as a communications channel and mediator in negotiations involving Israel, Hamas, the United States and Egypt. US officials have repeatedly described Qatar’s mediation role as critical or indispensable.”
“At a moment of profound regional and domestic political turmoil, attacking one of the countries doing the difficult work of mediation does nothing to solve the problem,” al-Muftah added.
The Qatari deputy envoy attached to his tweet a photo of Netanyahu sitting in the Oval Office alongside US President Donald Trump, reading out an apology written out for him to the prime minister of Qatar over a failed Israeli strike last year targeting Hamas’s leaders in Doha.
Turkey likewise rejected Netanyahu’s “baseless accusations” after he called the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “tyrant,” and accused Ankara of harbouring Hamas leaders.
The Anadolu quoted the Turkish presidency’s communications director Burhanettin Duran, as slamming Netanyahu’s allegation as “incompatible” with UN values.
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s use of the UN General Assembly podium to level ‘baseless accusations’ against Turkiye and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was incompatible with the ‘ideals of peace, law and dialogue’ represented by the UN,” Duran said.
