Connecting the Dots: Mamdani’s Stance on Netanyahu, Umar Khalid and Mohan Bhagwat

Recent comment of the New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on an event featuring the ‘Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’ (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on August 25 at a press conference in not surprising fact for one who has been observing Mamdani’s earlier remarks on international issues. In this press conference Mamdani said that he doesn’t support the event due to the exclusionary vision of RSS,a nationalist organization of Hindu civilization in India, he added “…but I don’t know if the city has any jurisdiction on cancelling a private event.”

The chief of RSS, Mohan Bhagwat was to address the “Universal Oneness Celebration”, a part of RSS’s centenary year global outreach programme, at the ‘Madison Square Garden’ (MSG) on August 29. The event was organized by the “American Hindus for Engagement and Dialogue” (AHEAD)- a non-profit organization dedicated to cooperation among communities in the United States.

Though the event has occurred successfully on the predetermined date, Mohan Bhagwat addressed around 5000 people at the MSG. He talked about religious harmony, particularly on Hindu-Muslim coexistence in India, social services and humanity.

Hence, it has been cleared that to stop the event was beyond the jurisdiction of Mamdani; nevertheless, he expressed his opposition to the event. His opposition to that event was not an isolated stance but part of a broader pattern of opposition.

To understand the rest of the pattern, we have to go one month back when Mamdani was planning and had a conversation with the New York City’s legal department on July 18, to arrest the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if Netanyahu will go to the city to attend the United Nations General Assembly in the month of September. It is pertinent to mention that the International Criminal Court(ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Netanyahu in November, 2024.

Though, it’s interesting to know that this was not the first time Zohran Mamdani harped on to execute the arrest warrant of the ICC. Throughout his election campaign of the mayor of New York City in 2025, he promised and said that he will arrest Netanyahu. However, despite his willingness to do so after becoming the mayor of the city he can not do that because neither US nor Israel is a signatory of the ‘Rome Statute’ of 1988 under which provision the ICC has been created and established and the court came into effect in 2002. Moreover, in 2002 the US federal government passed a law titled “American Service-Member’s Protection Act” to protect its military personnel and other government service members from the prosecution of ICC and bars agencies which would conduct the proceedings instructed by ICC.

After trying everything possible he (Mamdani) conceded on July 21 that to arrest Netanyahu is not in his purview and in a video he urged the US federal government to execute the arrest warrant of ICC. He did not stop here and went ahead and said that Netanyahu is a ‘War Criminal’ and he is not welcome in New York City.

Just after five days of Mamdani’s comment, Prime Minister Netanyahu gave him a sharp retort on July 26 that the mayor of New York City is ‘fomenting hate’ by saying that the Israeli PM is a war criminal. Next day on 27 July, Netanyahu left for Washington DC to attend the funeral of ‘Lindsey Graham’,the republican senator, and to meet with US President Donald Trump.

Mamdani’s association with Palestinian issues is not new. He had already shown his solidarity with Palestinians and boycotted Israel from his college days in Bowdoin college where he was doing his graduation degree. In the Bowdoin college, Zohran Mamdani co-founded the college’s chapter of ‘Students for Justice in Palestine’ (SJP). The SJP was a part of an umbrella movement- “ Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” (BDS). This Palestinian led movement, launched in 2005, urges the international community to boycott Israel and Israeli products, request to divest from companies which fund Israeli settlers in Gaza and West Bank and sanction Israel to stop supporting settlers in the palestinian areas. Basically, this movement is based on a strategy which had been adopted against South Africa’s policy of ‘Apartheid’

However, Mamdani’s SJP campaign left no impression and ‘failed’ as the Bowdoin’s president rejected this type of activity in the college which suppresses the freedom of expression of other students in the college campus.

Mamdani continuously raised the Palestinian matters in his domestic politics. Years after college life, Mamdani in May, 2023 introduced a bill titled “Not on Our dime!: Ending New York funding of Israeli Settler Violence Act” when he was a member of New York State Assembly. This bill sought to end the tax-exempt status of all those non-profit organizations which were funding the Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Gaza. Though, this bill could not come to vote as his colleagues did not support Mamdani’s this step.

The two episodes mentioned above can not be over without mentioning Umar Khalid’s case. Umar Khalid is a former research scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU), New Delhi and he was arrested in September, 2020 by Delhi police for his alleged complicity in a larger conspiracy of Delhi riot of February, 2020 in which around 53 people were killed.Umar Khalid has been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and is currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail. In January 2026, the Supreme Court of India rejected Khalid’s bail citing the gravity of the allegation and his crucial role in the conspiracy.

Since it’s a core law and order issue, Mamdani has been raking up this issue unnecessarily on different platforms. In June, 2023 during the “Howdy Democracy?” event in New York, Mamdani read some excerpts from the prison writings of Umar Khalid to show solidarity with him. In December 2025, Mamdani wrote a note to express his support for Khalid and handed over it to Khalid’s parents when they were in the United States. In that note Mamdani has written “ We are all thinking of you”.

Again on July 15, 2026 from the Nelson Mandela Global Leadership Forum, hosted by the ‘Nelson Mandela Foundation,’ Mamdani compared the jailed Umar Khalid with Madiba (Nelson Mandela) where he said that Khalid is a political prisoner and he has been charged in the same way the Madiba was charged. Here Mamdani talked about human and minority rights but he maintained his silence on the violation of the rights of the religious minority in India’s neighboring country ‘Bangladesh’, where a Bangladeshi hindu worker ‘Dipu Das’ was not only lynched brutally and hanged on tree but set on fire too by a muslim fanatic mob in December, 2026. This is the same month when Mamdani had met with Khalid’s parents on his civil rights.

After observing Zohran Mamdani’s track record of the opposition for Israel, one can be assured that he is well aware of the outcomes of his all initiatives against Israel. Despite knowing the fact that he could not succeed in his efforts,even then he does so. In the late October, 2025 he told the Jewish Telegraph Agency that he saw the legislation (Not on Our dime) as unlikely to prevail- but crucial to raising awareness about important issues. He added- “I am under no illusion about the long lourney that this legislation has to travel on. I do believe it’s a critical first step to even inform New Yorkers”.

Hence, it proves that he knows of his failure on the issues he is raising on but he is satisfied that at least he has informed the people. This is Mamdani’s clever trick to use the public platforms to propagate these ideas. It’s worth noting that Mamdani does not only oppose the Israel but its friends too. For instance he is also a vocal critic of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ruling party in India- BJP and the RSS whereas he is a staunch supporter of Israel’s and India’s adversaries- Umar khalid and Pakistan as he has attended the Pakistan’s Independence day celebration in Brooklyn on August 14, 2026.

To draw the selective international issues in the local politics of New York, the separation and gap among different communities living in the city will widen that may be on the religious basis or on the personal preferences for different countries and interests.

In conclusion, it could be said that no one will be surprised when Mamdani will keep criticizing Israeli and Indian Prime Ministers and organizations like RSS. Now, it remains to be seen what action Mamdani will take when Netanyahu visits New York City to attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September.