Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon called for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's arrest on charges of incitement and collaborating with U.S. enemies, a sharp escalation days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned address to the UN General Assembly.
Danon, 55, made the demand at a Thursday press conference, turning Mamdani's own rhetoric back on the mayor. For months, Mamdani has pursued what he calls a legal loophole to arrest Netanyahu during the Israeli leader's visit to New York, accusing him of war crimes. Danon said the mayor has it backward.
Danon told reporters that Mamdani's arrest talk amounts to a publicity stunt built on a hollow legal claim, and that the mayor's own conduct is the real problem.
"If someone should be arrested, it's Mayor Mamdani for inciting, for actually collaborating with the enemy of the United States."
The ambassador pointed to a specific episode: in July, Mamdani's international affairs commissioner attempted to set up a meeting with the Iranian ambassador at the United Nations. Danon framed that outreach as evidence that the mayor's office is engaging with a hostile foreign government rather than focusing on city governance.
"He sends these officials to meet with the Iranian ambassador here at the UN."
Whether that meeting actually took place remains unclear. The name of Mamdani's commissioner was not disclosed.
The confrontation did not materialize overnight. Mamdani made arresting Netanyahu a centerpiece of his mayoral campaign in late 2025, pledging to find a way to detain the Israeli prime minister on war crimes allegations if he set foot in New York. After taking office, he repeated the promise in July, telling reporters he was actively searching for a legal mechanism to make it happen.
He has doubled down on social media in the months since. The pledge has drawn national attention and put City Hall on a collision course with both the Israeli government and the diplomatic protocols surrounding the annual UN General Assembly, which draws thousands of foreign officials and dignitaries to Manhattan each fall.
Mamdani's track record of provocative personnel and policy choices has already made his administration a flashpoint. His hiring decisions, communications strategy, and criminal-justice positions have drawn scrutiny well beyond the city's borders.
Danon dismissed the arrest talk as absurd on its face.
"[He made] this ridiculous claim that he can or he [should arrest the Prime Minister]."
Danon said Netanyahu plans to speak before the General Assembly next Wednesday and will not be deterred by Mamdani's rhetoric or the anti-Israel protests planned around the visit. President Trump is also expected to attend the assembly session.
"[Prime Minister Netanyahu] will proudly address the General Assembly. He will do so despite threats, incitement and antisemitic rhetoric we have heard from the mayor of the city of New York."
The ambassador went further, arguing that Mamdani is actively undermining the city's responsibility to manage a massive international event smoothly. Thousands of officials and staff from around the world descend on New York each year for the assembly, and the city's job is logistical coordination and public safety, not political grandstanding against visiting heads of state.
"The mayor is supposed to make sure we have a quiet week with less traffic and issues, but he's doing the exact opposite. He's inciting, calling for people to demonstrate against our prime minister but none of that will stop us."
Danon also addressed Israel's broader security posture, referencing the ongoing conflict with Hamas and threats from Syria, Hezbollah, and ISIS. His remarks placed the Mamdani dispute inside a wider frame: an Israeli government fighting on multiple fronts while a U.S. city mayor publicly calls for its leader's detention.
At a separate security briefing on Thursday, Mamdani took a markedly different tone from his usual combative posture on the Netanyahu question. Asked about preparations for the General Assembly, he stuck to bureaucratic reassurances.
"The conversations that I've had with the police department have been purely on standard preparations for this event, as well as standard preparations for keeping New Yorkers safe. And I'm fully confident in our police department's ability to do so, and I'm fully confident in their ability to do so each and every day, even outside of the General Assembly."
He said he is setting up meetings with foreign dignitaries during the assembly week but declined to name them, promising details later. He also declined to confirm whether he would meet with President Trump, offering only vague language about an ongoing dialogue.
"When it comes to the president, we continue to have a conversation about how best to deliver for this city, and that is a conversation that has been done in person, has been done over the phone, and it will continue so long as either of us have the ability to deliver for the city."
The gap between Mamdani's fiery public pledges and his careful Thursday briefing is notable. A mayor who has spent months promising to arrest a visiting head of state suddenly sounded like a man reading from a prepared script about traffic management. His earlier reversal on the arrest pledge, when he admitted the city lacks the legal authority to detain Netanyahu, makes the continued rhetorical posturing harder to take at face value.
Danon's call for Mamdani's arrest carries no formal legal weight. No arrest warrant has been filed, and no law-enforcement referral was announced. It was a rhetorical counterpunch, designed to highlight what the ambassador sees as the mayor's recklessness.
But the underlying facts Danon cited are not rhetorical. Mamdani's office did attempt to arrange a meeting with the Iranian ambassador. Mamdani did pledge repeatedly, on the campaign trail, in office, and on social media, to arrest the leader of a close U.S. ally. And he did call on New Yorkers to protest Netanyahu's visit rather than focus on the city's role as host to the world's largest diplomatic gathering.
Mamdani's administration has drawn similar scrutiny on other fronts. His use of a 200-person influencer network on encrypted messaging raised questions about transparency and city records laws. His criminal-justice decisions, including a controversial visit to Rikers Island to mourn an accused killer, provoked outrage from a victim's family.
Danon himself is no stranger to internal Israeli politics. The UK Guardian has described him as a "right-wing thorn in Netanyahu's side," meaning his defense of the prime minister on this issue is not reflexive loyalty but a pointed choice, one that underscores how far outside the mainstream Mamdani's conduct registers even among Netanyahu's own critics.
New York's mayor has a job: keep the city running, keep residents safe, and manage the logistical reality of hosting the world. When the job description turns into a platform for arresting allied heads of state and courting meetings with hostile foreign governments, the question is no longer whether the rhetoric is reckless, it is who, exactly, is supposed to be held accountable for it.
