Benjamin Netanyahu is packing his bags for New York.
In a short letter to Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, the Israeli prime minister thanked her for the “kind invitation” to visit the city and pledged to land “soon,” though not on January 1 when Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani takes the oath.
Vernikov had publicly dared the PM to arrive on inauguration day to test Mamdani’s campaign promise to arrest Netanyahu the moment he steps on city concrete, a vow that electrified pro-Palestinian voters but enraged many Jewish New Yorkers.
Netanyahu’s reply keeps the drama alive: he will come, he will meet Vernikov, and he will do it on his own timetable—setting up a high-stakes game of chicken with an incoming mayor who has never backed away from a televised showdown.
Mamdani’s threat rests on the 2024 International Criminal Court arrest warrant that accuses Netanyahu of war crimes in Gaza, a warrant the United States does not recognize and that federal officials say carries zero legal weight in New York.
Legal scholars call the mayor’s pledge “pure theater,” since city police cannot detain a sitting foreign leader traveling on a diplomatic passport without State Department approval that will never come.
Still, the mayor-elect doubled down last week, telling supporters, “If the ICC says arrest, I say arrest—no one is above the law,” a line that plays well with his base and terribly with pro-Israel Democrats who fear the spectacle will stoke fresh antisemitic incidents.
Vernikov, a Ukrainian-born Jewish conservative, says she can’t wait to watch Mamdani “lose his mind” when Netanyahu’s motorcade rolls down Fifth Avenue.
“He either lied for votes or he’s too incompetent to run a Google search,” she told The Post, promising that local Jewish groups will roll out a red carpet for Netanyahu while the mayor fumes.
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, fresh off abandoning her own gubernatorial bid, has already introduced a bill to block any city attempt to “kidnap” the Israeli leader, accusing Governor Kathy Hochul of “bending the knee to anti-American antisemites” by staying silent on Mamdani’s vow.
The governor’s office says Hochul will greet any foreign leader the State Department clears for travel and that she “condemns antisemitism in all forms,” but she has not directly addressed the arrest promise.
NYPD brass, caught in the middle, have begun quiet contingency talks with the State Department and Secret Service about security for a possible Netanyahu visit, standard protocol for any sitting prime minister.
Privately, senior cops say they will follow federal guidance and have no intention of handcuffing a head of state, whatever the mayor tweets.
That leaves Mamdani with the political problem: if Netanyahu arrives and leaves untouched, the new mayor risks looking powerless on his first international stage; if he tries to force the issue, he could face a federal court order and a media circus he can ill afford while juggling a budget crisis.
Netanyahu seems to relish the dilemma.
In a recent interview he said he is “not afraid” of traveling to New York and hinted he might time the trip to coincide with the UN General Assembly reopening in late January, when diplomatic immunity is strongest and cameras are everywhere.
For now, the city waits: will the prime minister land, will the mayor make good on his threat, and will the streets outside fill with protesters waving Israeli flags, Palestinian banners, or both?
One thing is certain—when the plane touches down, the first showdown of the Mamdani era will be less about policy and more about whether a rookie mayor can turn campaign rhetoric into real-world diplomacy without getting burned by the spotlight he once welcomed.
