By Alexander Cornwell and Emily Rose
TEL AVIV, Sept 24 (Reuters) – Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to use his UN address on Thursday to berate New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani for calling him a war criminal, a feud that highlights the Israeli leader’s growing isolation ahead of elections at home that he may lose.
Addressing the mayor directly in a video statement this week, Netanyahu said he was going to New York “to tell the truth about our heroic soldiers” and “to tell the truth about you.” He falsely accused Mamdani of supporting Hamas militants.
Mamdani campaigned for office on a promise to have Netanyahu arrested for alleged war crimes should he visit the largest US city, though he later said he determined he lacked the legal authority to do so. This week, Mamdani described Netanyahu as “the architect of a horrific genocide against Palestinians.”
Netanyahu, who rejects war crimes allegations, will be making his first visit to New York since Mamdani took office in January. Israelis opposed to Netanyahu’s right-wing government are planning to protest in New York.
Opinion polls suggest an Israeli general election five weeks away could end Netanyahu’s long hold on power. The campaign is unfolding amid mounting criticism of Israel’s Gaza war and without a planned meeting with US President Donald Trump.
“He’s not really speaking to the UN, he’s speaking to the Israeli public,” said former Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, who expects Netanyahu’s address to resemble a “campaign speech.”
“Maybe he’s thinking, ‘If I can attack Mamdani and attack the Iranians, somebody who was wavering between voting for me and voting for (Gadi) Eisenkot may decide to vote for me,'” Oren said, referring to former military chief Eisenkot, Netanyahu’s leading rival.
NETANYAHU NOT EXPECTED TO MEET TRUMP
Netanyahu is making an unusually short visit to the US for his UN address. After arriving early on Thursday, he is expected to fly back the same day after delivering his speech in the afternoon.
The Israeli leader is to meet with the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Panama, Ethiopia and the vice president of Colombia, and with the prime ministers of Greece, Slovenia and Papua Guinea, Netanyahu’s office said. His office did not say if meetings were planned with US officials.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, two Israeli officials earlier said Netanyahu’s team was discussing potentially holding meetings with senior US officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, though nothing had been set.
Notably, Netanyahu is not expected to meet Trump. The two men jointly launched a war on Iran on February 28, but they found themselves on a collision course after the US and Iran agreed to an interim ceasefire that Netanyahu opposed.
Many Israelis were angered by that deal, and opinion polls showed they questioned Trump’s commitment to Israeli security, even as his administration proceeds with billions of dollars in arms sales to Israel’s government.
“A lack of any encounter with the president, a month before an Israeli election, will indicate that Trump is keeping a distance from him and will be negative for Netanyahu’s campaign,” said Nimrod Goren, president of Mitvim, an Israeli think tank focused on the country’s foreign policy.
The election is scheduled for October 27.
ISRAEL CONFRONTS INTERNATIONAL CRITICISM
Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, Netanyahu has in the past made a visual spectacle of his UN appearances, using charts, diagrams and props to warn of Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran says is for civilian purposes.
Last year several delegations walked out as Netanyahu approached the lectern while supporters in the gallery cheered.
Goren said Netanyahu’s speech would likely follow a familiar script: defending Israel, confronting its critics and warning about Iran while arguing that Israel’s opposition to Tehran serves the interests of the wider international community.
He will also likely tout what he sees as his own achievements and close ties to Trump and the US, Goren said.
Israel has faced deepening diplomatic isolation since launching its war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attacks on Israel nearly three years ago.
Netanyahu is unable to travel to many countries because of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, issued against him and his defense minister as well as the leader of Hamas in 2024.
Earlier this month, once-steadfast allies Britain, France and Canada announced sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which drew a muted response from Washington.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell and Emily Rose in Tel Aviv; Editing by Rami Ayyub and Howard Goller)
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