Mamdani's call for Netanyahu arrest underscores split among Democrats

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s call for America to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes has been met with split reactions from local Democrats — underscoring how Israel remains a point of contention in the party.

Long Island’s two House Democrats — Laura Gillen of Rockville Centre and Tom Suozzi of Glen Cove — each distanced themselves from Mamdani, while local leaders from the party’s left-of-center-flank lauded the mayor’s push to enforce an international warrant for Netanyahu.

Mamdani, who campaigned on a pledge of ordering the NYPD to arrest Netanyahu should he visit the city, reignited debate on America's relationship with Israel by issuing a video Tuesday night declaring that while the city lacks the authority to enforce the International Criminal Court’s 2024 war crimes warrant against Netanyahu, the federal government should, citing the ICC’s allegations of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Suozzi, who in May 2024 signed a letter urging the Biden administration to sanction ICC officials over the warrant, told Newsday in a phone interview Thursday that he disagrees with Mamdani.

"It’s disappointing that the mayor would continue to throw gas on this fire," Suozzi said. "We all need to focus on driving down costs for New Yorkers. Threatening the arrest of the leader of one of our closest allies is reckless and irresponsible."

Gillen, who last year voted for a bipartisan bill opposing the ICC’s warrant, told Newsday in a Thursday email: "It’s time to turn down the temperature and focus on making New York safer and more affordable rather than engaging in dangerous political theater that threatens to stoke rising antisemitism and hate."

Suozzi and Gillen are both seeking reelection in November, in races that national Republicans have vowed to flip. Despite Suozzi's and Gillen’s repeated support for Israel, including voting against legislation to block funding to Israel earlier this month, Republicans have sought to tie them to the intraparty division.

The controversy with Mamdani and Netanyahu highlights a deepening fissure in the Democratic Party — and among Republicans too — over Israel policy, said Sarah Anker, a Democrat from Mount Sinai and former Suffolk County legislator.

"There's absolutely a political divide, not just with the Democrats, not just Republicans. We're seeing it throughout the country and throughout the world," she said, adding: "You're seeing the Jewish folks on both sides."

Christopher Malone, a retired political science professor and former associate provost at Farmingdale State College, said the debate over Mamdani’s video underscores "the fissure" among Democrats over Israel. But he noted that on Long Island, a place that is more purple than blue, the criticisms of Israel appear to be contained to leftists who have long held that position.

"Because (Mamdani) has become such a high-profile national figure," Malone said, "being a New York mayor, it could potentially amplify a fissure that already exists."

Meanwhile, a growing number of Democrats, including those tied to the Democratic Socialists of America, to which Mamdani belongs, applauded the mayor for drawing attention to the ICC’s allegations against Netanyahu, which include using starvation as a means of warfare, purposefully targeting civilians and depriving the civilian population of food, medicine and electricity. 

The world's biggest professional organization of scholars who study genocide — the International Association of Genocide Scholars, a group of 500 members globally, including several Holocaust experts — has said that Israel is committing genocide, which is defined as the destruction of a people in whole or in part.

Mike Adams of Kings Park, co-chair of the Long Island DSA communications committee, lamented that Mamdani did not follow through on his vow to arrest Netanyahu — or at least try to.

"I think Long Island DSA, I think the majority of the entire world and the people who understand the horrors of what’s being committed in Palestine, want to see Netanyahu and that entire regime over there brought to justice," Adams said in a phone interview.

Joe Sackman of Hicksville, a Democrat and executive director for the Long Island Progressive Coalition, said Mamdani "did the right thing in verifying" whether he had grounds to launch an arrest.

"This is a genocide, ethnic cleansing, his intention on what they were doing with Gaza, the long history of violence against the Palestinian people, the civilians. I'm not talking about Hamas, I'm talking about civilians," Sackman said.

Israel and Netanyahu have repeatedly denied the claims they have committed crimes against humanity after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks led by the Hamas.

The American Jewish Council in a statement said Mamdani’s remarks "deepen divisions," and  "leave many Jewish New Yorkers feeling increasingly isolated in their own city."