David Kaufman: Mamdani’s anti-Netanyahu provocations could plunge New York into chaos

NEW YORK CITY — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu is speaking at the United Nations in New York this week. But he’s unlikely to cross paths with the city’s Israel-obsessed Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has called for the premier’s arrest on numerous occasions.

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Last year, while campaigning to lead New York, Mamdani promised to arrest Netanyahu if he steps foot in the city under his watch. This year — in a fiery video branding Netanyahu a “war criminal” and the “architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people” — the mayor frustratingly admitted he’s powerless to place Bibi in handcuffs.

Perhaps the White House had something to do with Mamdani’s reluctant about-face. In July, U.S. President Donald Trump declared that Netanyahu would not be arrested in the United States, “in any way, shape or form.” The very next day, Mamadani conceded defeat.

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But Mamdani is far from finished. True, the mayor may be unable to jail Netanyahu. Nor, as he announced last week, will he personally demonstrate against Bibi. But like Glenn Close’s infamous character Alex Forrest in “Fatal Attraction,” Mamdani will not be ignored during Netanyahu’s time in New York. Mamdani has repeatedly reminded New Yorkers that they “have the right” to protest while Bibi is in town.

For months, local Jewish groups have bemoaned such provocations, casting blame on Mamdani for contributing to New York’s historic spike in antisemitism. “Sowing chaos” is how Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon described Mamdani’s protest pleas.

Netanyahu released a video on Monday blasting Mamdani “for inciting riots against New York Jews,” before adding, “I’m coming to the UN. I’m going to tell the truth about our heroic soldiers, and I’m going to tell the truth about you.”

But Mamdani’s moves are actually far more calculating than they may appear, and his threats could have implications that go far beyond the city’s Jewish community. Mamdani is not simply laying out a case for legitimizing protests against Netanyahu in New York, he’s openly encouraging them — with consequences that could easily extend to Washington, D.C., and beyond.

Back in the summer of 2020, New York City was an epicentre for the mass protests stoked by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in late May. Then, as now, Trump inhabited the Oval Office, from which he threatened to unleash the army upon America’s cities if the chaos failed to subside.

By early June of that year, some 5,000 National Guard troops were deployed by Trump in Washington, D.C., whose governance falls under White House control. And thousands more troops were dispatched by like-minded governors across the nation. It was the largest National Guard activation since the civil rights movement.

The arrival of the National Guard achieved its goal and within weeks the number of BLM-related protests plunged from nearly 3,500 to 500 nationwide, according to a report by the nonprofit Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) project. But with some 95 per cent of the nation’s protests characterized as non-violent by ACLED, critics suggest the troops were ultimately unnecessary.

Now comes Netanyahu to New York — along with thousands of anti-Israel agitators. And with them, if past melees serve as a guide, protests that are far more violent and chaotic than anything seen during the BLM era.

Barely weeks after the Hamas attack on Israel nearly three years ago, for instance, Jewish students found themselves barricaded inside a Manhattan college campus as pro-Gaza crowds chanted around them. Two weeks later, pro-Israel protester Paul Kessler was dead from a head injury sustained during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Los Angeles.

In June 2025, 82-year-old Karen Diamond was killed by a makeshift Molotov cocktail thrown by an Islamist while attending a demonstration in Colorado in support of Israeli hostages. Make no mistake, nothing is less “peaceful” than anti-Israel demonstrations demanding “peace in the Middle East.”

Although Netanyahu announced over the weekend that he’s shortening his Thursday visit to mere hours, the pro-Gaza crowd is expected to arrive in full force. Indeed, across social media, anti-Israel organizations are rallying supporters worldwide to confront the prime minister.

“Netanyahu Wanted for Genocide” is how People’s Forum NYC announced its planned march in Manhattan on Thursday, eerily echoing the mayor’s words. Many more anti-Israel organizations are expected to join.

With “accountability” and “escalation” the Gaza crowd’s favourite rallying cries, this week’s anti-Netanyahu rallies could be the most violent yet. Their boogeyman is finally in town and the blood-lust is frothier than ever. Add in the spectre of the mass security and gridlock that accompanies every UN General Assembly and New York City could literally be shut down for Gaza.

By the time Netanyahu speaks on Thursday, Trump — who met with Mamdani on Monday — will be safely back in Washington. But ever-eyeing his hometown, the president is unlikely to allow New York to combust unimpeded.

Well before he entered city hall, Mamdani made clear he would resist any attempt by Trump to deploy federal forces in New York. Although such a confrontation has yet to arrive, Mamdani may finally get his federal face-off this week.

Indeed, should mass violence erupt at the UN’s doorsteps — with the global political elite in attendance and the entire world looking on — Trump could easily declare this a national emergency worthy of Oval Office intervention. And federal troops or guardsmen could quickly be deployed.

Mamdani, of course, would likely front as horrified, while secretly feeling giddy within. After all, such a confrontation would provide the mayor with what he’s always wanted most — proof that Trump, like Netanyahu, is heartless and criminal.

Despite the photo-friendly smiles at that last-minute visit between Trump and Mamdani on Monday, the latter has likely always believed the former to be an arch ideological foil. Socialism has no room for Trump’s capitalist greed. And Trump has little patience for Mamdani’s self-indulgent brand of socialism.

Much like Bibi fighting for his political life back in Jerusalem, both Trump and Mamdani would profit greatly at the spectre of guardsmen battling demonstrators across New York City for Gaza. The president would revel in his city-saviour status while Mamdani could rally his fellow socialists around White House overreach just in time for the midterms.

Both men may get their wish on Thursday.

National Post

David Christopher Kaufman is a New York-based journalist and former New York Post editor and columnist. Sign up for his Substack newsletter, Counterintuitive.

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