In a boastful and defiant speech to the United Nations on Thursday, Benjamin Netanyahu called out a list of villains he insisted are intent on destroying Israel and promoting an anti-Jewish conspiracy by accusing Israel of committing a genocide in Gaza. He singled out the leaders of Hamas, Iran, Qatar and Turkey, among others. But Netanyahu spent considerable time on the global stage attacking an unusual target: Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City.

Netanyahu accused Mamdani of promoting antisemitism, falsely claimed that he supports Hamas, and argued that since the mayor took office in January, “many Jews no longer feel safe in New York.” The Israeli leader also criticized Mamdani’s wife for liking social media posts that supported the Palestinian cause soon after the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023. Overall, Netanyahu seems to have devoted more time in his nearly 40-minute speech to singling out Mamdani than any other political leader, including Israel’s traditional enemies.

On the surface, it might seem that Netanyahu’s attacks were mainly motivated by personal animosity toward Mamdani, who pledged during last year’s mayoral campaign to execute an arrest warrant against the Israeli premier for war crimes and crimes against humanity issued by the international criminal court (ICC) in 2024. “Mr. Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here, you tried to silence me,” Netanyahu said from the UN podium, referring to the mayor’s promise to enforce the ICC warrant the next time the Israeli leader visited New York. “You can’t silence me. You can’t silence the truth.”

But Netanyahu is not only driven by his personal dislike of........

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