It should go without saying, yet must apparently be said again, that Benjamin Netanyahu is not the Jewish community.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivers an address on July 21, 2026.
(Photo by NYC Mayor’s Office/YouTube Screengrab)
Edward Ahmed Mitchell
Jul 28, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
The United States should not roll out the red carpet for a foreign leader who has systematically starved and slaughtered thousands of people, including children.
This simple principle is what led New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to declare that Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in the Big Apple and call on the federal government to honor the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister.
By publishing this speech, which is now the most popular video he has ever posted on social media, Mayor Mamdani did what no mayor before him dared: speak the truth about American complicity in the Israeli government’s human rights abuses.
For decades, New York City’s leaders have gone out of their way to embrace all things Israel. From Eric Adams to Rudy Giuliani and beyond, past mayors have praised Israeli leaders, traveled to Israel, encouraged the purchase of Israeli bonds, and supported policies designed to suppress criticism of the Israeli government, including unconstitutional anti-boycott orders.
Mayor Mamdani has made clear that he will not stay silent when a mass murderer of children plans to visit New York City. Most New Yorkers agree with him.
Rather than engage honestly with the substance of Mayor Mamdani’s change in course, most Israel advocacy organizations responded to his speech by effectively claiming that criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu is somehow equivalent to criticism of Jewish people. The Anti-Defamation League and other prominent pro-Israel groups even tried to blame the mayor, without any evidence whatsoever, for an attack on an Asian man and Jewish man that occurred in the days after the speech.
The argument that criticizing Israel is inherently antisemitic—which has been used to silence college students, elected officials, and other critics of the Gaza genocide—is both dishonest and dangerous.
It should go without saying, yet must apparently be said again, that Benjamin Netanyahu is not the Jewish community.
Conflating Netanyahu with Jews around the world undermines the fight against real antisemitism. It also insults the many Jewish Americans who have vocally criticized Netanyahu’s war crimes in Gaza and called for an end to US support for those crimes.
What the Israeli government’s worst enablers have revealed through their hysterical response to Mayor Mamdani’s speech is that they simply cannot tolerate any criticism whatsoever of the Israeli government, even criticism focused exclusively on Benjamin Netanyahu, and that they are willing to conflate the entire Jewish community with Netanyahu in a bid to protect Israel from legitimate criticism.
As for those who try to justify the antisemitism smear by claiming that Mayor Mamdani gives an inordinate amount of attention to Israel, this claim ignores three important points.
For one thing, Israel is actively committing its crimes with billions in American taxpayer dollars and weapons, which is why it warrants so much attention from the American people.
Second, the Israeli government’s supporters are the ones who insisted that mayors of New York City embrace Israel’s policies, defend Israel from criticism, and make Israel their first foreign visit. Mamdani has given Israel far less attention than Eric Adams, Michael Bloomberg, and Rudy Giuliani.
Third, national and local reporters keep asking Mamdani about Israel, sometimes the exact same questions about whether Israel has a right to exist. Don’t blame Mamdani for answering the questions
Mayor Mamdani has made clear that he will not stay silent when a mass murderer of children plans to visit New York City. Most New Yorkers agree with him. So do many Americans; a recent poll showed 46% of Americans believe Netanyahu should be arrested if he comes to the United States. Another poll showed that Mamdani has a higher favorability rating among Jewish Americans than Netanyahu.
The claim that criticizing Israel’s human rights abuses is antisemitic no longer works on the American public, and it is long past time for Israel’s supporters to stop telling it.
Edward Ahmed Mitchell
Edward Ahmed Mitchell is a civil rights attorney who serves as the national deputy executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States.
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