Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party has stepped up its attack on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, placing his image alongside Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a campaign billboard in Tel Aviv.The billboard, displayed in central Tel Aviv, carries the message, “They want Netanyahu to lose … Don’t let them win.”The poster features the logo of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, according to The Guardian and the New York Post.Netanyahu shared an image of the billboard on his social media accounts on Sunday, along with a video highlighting Mamdani’s criticism of the Israeli prime minister.
Why Netanyahu is targeting Mamdani
The billboard is the latest escalation in an increasingly bitter public feud between Netanyahu and Mamdani, who has been a vocal critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.Mamdani last month called Netanyahu a “war criminal” who “belonged in The Hague” and urged US authorities to enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against the Israeli leader if he travels to New York for the UN General Assembly in September.Netanyahu responded by accusing Mamdani of “fomenting hate” and turning different religious groups against each other in New York.The Israeli prime minister has also argued that progressive Democrats associated with Mamdani are putting at risk what he described as traditionally bipartisan US political support for Israel.However, recent polling cited by The Guardian has indicated that Mamdani is more popular among American Jews than Netanyahu.
Billboard comes as Netanyahu enters election campaign
The attack comes as Netanyahu seeks another term amid a politically challenging environment in Israel.Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, was dissolved in July, paving the way for elections in October — the first national election since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023.Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition is trailing in some opinion polls, according to The Guardian.The prime minister has increasingly invoked Mamdani’s criticism of him as part of his campaign messaging. The billboard is not the first Likud campaign material to use the New York mayor’s comments against Netanyahu.Mamdani has not publicly responded to the latest billboard.
Feud comes amid tensions over Gaza ceasefire
The exchange comes as US-Israeli efforts to advance a Gaza ceasefire deal remain stalled.US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner held a three-hour meeting with Netanyahu on Monday, but the talks produced no breakthrough.Israel has continued to insist that its forces will not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas agrees to disarm, according to The Guardian.Netanyahu’s latest attack on Mamdani also follows his controversial description of Britain as “the Islamic republic of Britain” in an interview with Israel’s army radio. He also called the UK the “first Islamic republic to get a nuclear weapon”, remarks that drew criticism for echoing a far-right trope about Britain’s Muslim population.For Netanyahu, the Mamdani billboard therefore serves two purposes: attacking one of his most prominent US critics while portraying the New York mayor as part of a broader political camp he says is hostile to Israel.
