NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has unexpectedly found himself at the center of Israel’s election season. A new campaign billboard for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party has the American mayor alongside regional adversaries, framing him as part of a coalition that wants the Israeli leader to lose power.
Zohran Mamdani appears beside foreign leaders on a Likud billboard
The billboard, displayed in central Tel Aviv, shows NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani next to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem. The poster’s message reads: “They want Netanyahu to lose … Don’t let them win.”
After all, Israel’s current PM Netanyahu has shifted into campaign mode after the Knesset dissolved in July, triggering elections in October, the first since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023. His right-wing coalition currently trails in opinion polls, and the billboard appears designed to rally his base against external critics.
Mamdani has been a vocal opponent of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since his mayoral bid began. His rhetoric heightened last month when he called Netanyahu a “war criminal” who “belonged in The Hague.”
The mayor also urged U.S. authorities to enforce an International Criminal Court arrest warrant if Netanyahu attends the UN General Assembly in New York this September. The NYC Mayor has not yet publicly responded to the billboard.
Netanyahu responded by accusing Mamdani of “fomenting hate” and dividing religious groups in New York City. The Israeli PM also voiced concern that progressive Democrats aligned with Mamdani threaten bipartisan U.S. support for Israel. However, recent American polling indicates Mamdani enjoys higher favorability among U.S. Jews than Netanyahu does.
Despite it all, Netanyahu posted a photo of the billboard on social media, to which many critics responded with backlash. Additionally, this clash is happening as U.S.-Israeli negotiations over a Gaza ceasefire stall.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.
