The Shift: Pro-Israel crowd melts down over Mamdani’s Netanyahu comments

On Tuesday night, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released a social media video conceding that the city does not have the authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes.

“My administration has reviewed every avenue available under applicable law to determine whether New York City could execute the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant if Benjamin Netanyahu came here,” explained Mamdani. “It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant.”

“I want to be equally clear, Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at large,” he added.

Mamdani’s argument has been criticized by some prominent Palestine activists, including Nerdeen Kiswani.

“Mamdani just spent several minutes detailing Netanyahu’s alleged war crimes before saying he has no authority to arrest him and leaves the matter to the federal government,” she wrote. “Fine. Then use every power the mayor does have. Don’t roll out the red carpet for a wanted war criminal. Don’t use the NYPD to insulate him from public outrage. Don’t suppress the New Yorkers who take to the streets demanding accountability. If Netanyahu is truly not welcome in New York City, that principle should be reflected in how the city treats his visit, not just in rhetoric.”

In the video, Mamdani runs through the ICC charges against Netanyahu, which include the targeting of civilians and intentional starvation.

The Mamdani video has predictably led to a full-scale meltdown among the pro-Israel crowd.

“Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America,” posted President Trump on Truth Social. “He is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors, and has spent the last 47 years killing American Soldiers, and others. The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented SPIRAL OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, something that should have been dealt with years ago, by previous Presidents!”

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) called him a “clown” who needs to “sit down.”

“It’s completely detached from reality and it goes against everything really what the United Nations really stands for: bringing people together,” claimed Israel’s former international spokesperson at the United Nations Jonathan Harounoff. “Ultimately, I think the mayor should stay in his lane. There are plenty of problems, domestic issues that the mayor of New York City should be focused on.”

Danny Danon, the Israeli Ambassador to the U.N., called on Mamdani to be arrested for allegedly promoting antisemitism and supporting terrorism.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) says he should be sent to Gitmo.

A reporter asked Mamdani if he would have sought arrests for leaders of Hamas, who are dead and did not visit NYC.

Centrist pundit Jill Filipovic said that arresting a war criminal like Benjamin Netanyahu could lead to something bad because Trump disbanded lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who once called for Arafat to be arrested when he was the mayor.

Back on the planet earth, the Mamdani video has been viewed almost 90 million times and liked by multiple celebrities, including NBA stars Victor Wembanyama and Kyrie Irving. The reality is that most of the country now rightly views Netanyahu as a monster.

Just look at the polling. A Pew survey from earlier this year found that 59% of U.S. adults have little or no confidence in Netanyahu to do the right thing on the world stage, and that’s up from 52% last year. Across both political parties, a majority of adults under the age of 50 now rate Israel and Netanyahu negatively.

In other words, despite the freak out, Mamdani isn’t saying anything controversial. If anything, pro-Israel groups are spiraling because they know they have already lost the narrative war and, amid the Iran War, things will likely only get worse for them.

“Mamdani made an excellent statement, unprecedented in US politics,” wrote Electronic Intifada Director Ali Abunimah on Twitter. “It sets a standard for other politicians worldwide. Yes it’s worth celebrating and at the same time we must always keep pushing him and others for more.”

Troy Jackson and Israel

Troy Jackson, a logger and former Maine Senate president, is set to become the Democratic nominee in the race challenging longtime GOP incumbent Senator Susan Collins.

Jackson is looking to harness the momentum of Graham Platner, who ended his campaign after being accused of sexual assault.

“Fact: Jackson can’t match Platner’s charisma. Reality: That may be a good thing. Charisma can mask competence,” writes American Prospect senior editor Gabrielle Gurley, Voters have a fatal attraction to tapping outsized personalities to tackle subpar health care, abysmal schools, inadequate middle-income housing, and other complexities. Talking a good game about eradicating long-standing social and economic inequities doesn’t necessarily translate into an FDR-level skill set.

“Jackson is a known political quantity, 20 years in the making,” she continues. “And in this tortured political environment, the last thing a deeply betrayed Maine needs is Platner 2.0. It’s still an open question, however, if all this energy powers Jackson past Susan Collins.”

Jackson will be trying to ride a nationwide wave of progressive electoral victories. In nearly all of those recent races, Palestine emerged as a major issue and we shouldn’t expect Maine to be much different.

A Common Dreams post notes that Jackson hadn’t posted about Gaza at all when he announced his campaign, but that has changed.

On July 9, Jackson shared a report about Israel killing a Palestinian aid worker who was organizing World Cup watch parties in Gaza.

“This is unconscionable,” he wrote. “Anybody with eyes and a heart knows the Israeli government is committing genocide in Gaza. It has to end, and we as Americans have the power to end it. When I’m in the US Senate,” he continued, “I’ll never vote in favor of US taxpayer-funded military aid to Israel.”

The reality is that a candidate like Jackson would have simply run on his economic populist positions a few years ago, and largely avoided foreign policy issues beyond a vague declaration about Forever Wars.

However, now Gaza is the litmus test, and progressives know they can’t win turn out their base without voicing opposition to Israel’s policies.

“Troy Jackson doesn’t do word salad,” the group Our Revolution, which is backing the Jackson campaign, said in a statement. “He calls a genocide a genocide and says he’ll never vote for taxpayer-funded military aid to fund it. That’s what Maine voters delivered a historic win for on June 9.”