Mamdani encourages New Yorkers to protest Netanyahu, in lieu of his arrest

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What you need to know today

• Mayor Zohran Mamdani encouraged New Yorkers to protest Benjamin Netanyahu after he admitted in a video that, following a legal review, he did not have the power to arrest the Israeli prime minister. “If anyone feels a level of frustration or opposition, protest is something that we will always respect,” Mamdani told reporters during a press conference. Netanyahu is expected to arrive in New York in September for the United Nations General Assembly.
• Before Mamdani’s video, the NYPD was considering releasing a statement rejecting Mamdani’s ambitions to arrest Netanyahu, according to a report in The New York Times. It notes that Mamdani’s rhetoric elicited a clash that has become public between him and Jessica Tisch, the NYPD’s Jewish commissioner who has a pro-Israel record.
• Mamdani’s video achieved hyper-viral reach, with more than 84 million views on X since his official mayoral account published it on Tuesday night.
• An increasing number of Jewish and Israeli groups and leaders in New York and beyond have criticized Mamdani for his video, its contents and his use of his office to advance an anti-Israel perspective. The Nexus Project, a liberal-leaning antisemitism watchdog, is criticizing them. “Suggesting that Mayor Mamdani’s positions on Israel government actions stem from a deep-seated hatred of Jews is unfounded, inflammatory and divisive,” the group wrote in a statement.
• The mayor also wished Jewish New Yorkers a “peaceful Tisha B’Av” last night, noting that those observing it “will pause and reflect on the history and resiliency of the Jewish people.” The holiday commemorates the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem.