Mayor Mamdani, Invite Netanyahu for 25th Anniversary of 9/11

Instead of threatening to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu, why doesn’t Mayor Zohran Mamdani invite the premier to America’s biggest Jewish city? That’s the thought that occurs to us as we approach the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Hizzoner has already admitted that arrest is beyond his remit, though not before calling Mr. Netanyahu a “war criminal.” Actually, the Israeli leader is the most important person for the mayor of America’s largest Jewish city to meet. On what basis, after all, does Mr. Mamdani claim that Mr. Netanyahu is “not welcome in New York City”? When the Israeli addresses the UN, he will be operating not under Mr. Mamdani’s anti-Israel spin on Zeus’s law but instead under the immunities of a treaty, part of the Supreme Law of the Land. As our A.R. Hoffman reports, any attempt to arrest Mr. Netanyahu would put the mayor on the wrong side of the law.Mr. Netanyahu told Fox News on Sunday in respect of the mayor that “I don’t think it’s accidental that after he made this hate speech against Israel and against me, the next day a Jew is stabbed coming out of synagogue” by a man shouting “Allahu Akbar.” Mr. Mamdani on Monday declared that he is “not interested in getting into a back and forth with Prime Minister Netanyahu” despite the mayor having started the whole brouhaha to begin with.Mr. Netanyahu has in turn accused the mayor of “fomenting hate.” The prime minister notes that Mr. Mamdani is “supposed to be the mayor of all New Yorkers — Jews, Christians, Muslims, everyone. But he’s trying to turn one group against the other. I speak to Jewish Americans, and they’re afraid right now.” Mr. Netanyahu is correct to observe that Mr. Mamdani’s attacks on the Jewish state are also assaults on the vast majority of his Jewish constituents. Mr. Netanyahu is expected to address the world body on September 24. The mayor could extend the invitation to Mr. Netanyahu so that he is at New York as near as possible to the 25th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. Mr. Netanyahu’s first book, written 45 years ago, was “International Terrorism: Challenge and Response.” We can think of no one better to underscore the current danger to the West —and to New York City. Mr. Netanyahu followed that book with “Terrorism: How the West Can Win” and “Fighting Terrorism: How Democracies Can Defeat Domestic and International Terrorists.” He was himself a hero of the Israel Defense Forces. Mr. Netanyahu’s brother Yoni lost his life in the daring Entebbe mission that has entered anti-terrorism lore. Mr. Netanyahu told America’s Congress that the Hamas attack of October 7 was the equivalent of “20 9/11s.” That message, it appears, still needs delivering. A candidate Mr. Mamdani supported for state office, Aber Kawas — she describes herself as a “Muslim civil rights advocate” — insists in respect of 9/11 that the “idea we have to apologize for a terror attack that a couple of people did and then there is no apology or reparations for genocides and for slavery, et cetera — is something I find reprehensible.” Some 2,977 people were murdered in the attacks.Those who were in New York City on 9/11 saw a remarkable thing — their fellow citizens of all races, religions, and backgrounds — coming together to begin, on the very day of the attack, working together to rebuild their city. Mr. Mr. Mamdani may have devoted supporters, but his slanders against Israel — and the Jewish New Yorkers who feel the tug of Zion — show a proclivity to demonization that belies any pretense to unity.Israel is now in an election season, and Mr. Netanyahu is campaigning to extend his historic run as the longest serving leader of the Jewish state. Whether he wins a new mandate is up to the Israelis. Americans, though, have plenty to learn from him about how democracies can vanquish enemies, foreign and domestic. Months ago, Israel and America went to war together. That bond was forged long before the mayor came on the scene.On the 15th anniversary of 9/11, Mr. Netanyahu declared that “We stand with our greatest ally, the United States of America and with other partners in the battle against militant Islamic terrorism.” He averred that “Our memories are long, our determination is boundless. Civilized societies must band together to defeat these forces of darkness.” Is Mayor Mamdani not prepared to stand behind this vision of America and New York City, to both of which he is sworn?

Mayor Mamdani, Invite Netanyahu for 25th Anniversary of 9/11

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