Feed aggregator

The Vizhnitzer community is mourning the passing of Reb Chaim Litman Walzer z”l, one of the senior and prominent Vizhnitzer chassidim and a leading baal menagen in the chassidus for more than six decades. He was 83.

Reb Chaim had been seriously ill for the past two years. Over the course of his long life, he merited to sing in the presence of three generations of Vizhnitzer Rebbes, beginning with the Imrei Chaim, continuing for decades with the Yeshuos Moshe, and, in more recent years, with the present Vizhnitzer Rebbe.

Reb Chaim was born on the 20th of Kislev 5703 to Reb Dov “Berel” Walzer z”l and Mrs. Rivka Walzer a”h. His father was among the distinguished Vizhnitzer chassidim who survived the Holocaust and played an important role in rebuilding Vizhnitz in Eretz Yisroel in the years that followed.

Raised in a home steeped in simple emunah, devotion to the Vizhnitzer Rebbes and dedication to the chassidus, Reb Chaim remained deeply attached to Vizhnitz throughout his life.

A particularly significant part of his life was his role in preserving and transmitting the rich musical tradition of Vizhnitz. Blessed with a sweet and distinctive voice, Reb Chaim became one of the leading baalei menagnim in the Vizhnitzer court and remained in that role for more than 60 years.

He first sang before the Imrei Chaim and subsequently spent decades singing before the Yeshuos Moshe. In later years, he continued in the presence of the current Vizhnitzer Rebbe.

For Reb Chaim, negina was far more than a matter of possessing a beautiful voice. It was an integral part of his avodas Hashem and his connection to the Vizhnitzer dynasty. His voice accompanied countless gatherings, tefillos and tisches over the decades, becoming familiar to generations of Vizhnitzer chassidim.

He was present for some of the most memorable moments in the recent history of the chassidus. He accompanied the Rebbes during the periods surrounding their respective coronations, escorting the Yeshuos Moshe to the bais medrash and later participating in the coronation Shabbos of the current Vizhnitzer Rebbe.

Reb Chaim also sang at the major gatherings and celebrations of Vizhnitz over the years. Among the remembered occasions was the Lag BaOmer celebration in 2002, when he sang before the Yeshuos Moshe, leading the traditional songs in honor of Rav Shimon bar Yochai.

For many years, Reb Chaim earned his livelihood by operating a silverware store on Admor MiVizhnitz Street in Bnei Brak. He became a familiar and beloved figure to residents of the city, known for conducting his business with integrity and honesty.

Those who knew him recalled his warm countenance, sensitive nature and exceptional middos. Despite his prominent place within Vizhnitz, he conducted himself with modesty, avoided honor and maintained regular times for limud haTorah.

Reb Chaim shared an especially close relationship with the current Vizhnitzer Rebbe. That bond was poignantly demonstrated just days before his passing.

On Erev Rosh Hashanah, the Rebbe visited Reb Chaim at his home while he was ill. During the visit, Reb Chaim presented the Rebbe with an extraordinary gift: an antique gartel that had belonged to the Ahavas Yisroel of Vizhnitz and had been preserved as a family inheritance.

The gift, given during what would prove to be one of their final encounters, carried particular meaning for a man whose life had been defined by his attachment to the Vizhnitzer Rebbes across generations.

Reb Chaim leaves behind a distinguished family. His only son, Reb Yisroel Walzer, is a prominent Vizhnitzer communal activist in London and serves as an administrator of the Vizhnitzer institutions there. He has been extensively involved in establishing and developing the chassidus’s Torah institutions and facilities in London.

Reb Chaim’s sons-in-law are Reb Moshe Korenboim and Reb Chaim Finkelstein.

The levayah was held at the Vizhnitzer bais medrash on Shlomo Hamelech Street in Bnei Brak. Kevurah took place at the Vizhnitzer bais hachaim in the city.

Yehi zichro baruch.

{Matzav.com}

The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to clear the way for immigration authorities to continue rapidly deporting migrants to countries other than their homelands, including nations with which they have no previous connection.

In an emergency filing, the administration urged the justices to suspend lower-court rulings requiring the government to give migrants effective notice and a meaningful opportunity to argue that they could face persecution or torture in the proposed destination country.

The filing marks the administration’s latest appeal to the Supreme Court in the closely watched case, D.V.D. v. Department of Homeland Security, which centers on the extent of the protections migrants must receive before being sent to so-called third countries.

“The government has been able to remove thousands of aliens to third countries in recent months, and thousands more are eligible for such removal,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the administration’s filing.

The administration argues that third-country deportations are necessary when the United States cannot quickly return migrants to their countries of origin. According to government attorneys, receiving countries provide diplomatic assurances that those sent there will not be persecuted or tortured.

Officials contend that the procedural requirements imposed by the lower courts would cause lengthy delays, complicate deportation operations and potentially force the United States to renegotiate agreements reached with foreign governments.

The administration said the rulings have already resulted in the cancellation of a deportation flight that was scheduled to carry 70 migrants with criminal convictions to three different countries.

The Supreme Court previously intervened in the dispute in June 2025, temporarily lifting an injunction imposed by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston. That decision allowed third-country deportations to continue while the administration pursued its appeal.

Since then, Judge Murphy issued a final ruling declaring the Department of Homeland Security’s third-country deportation policy unlawful. A three-judge panel of the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals largely upheld that decision last week.

The appeals court did not prohibit the government from deporting migrants to third countries. It ruled, however, that migrants must receive sufficient notice of their intended destination and a meaningful chance to claim that sending them there could expose them to persecution or torture.

The court found that the administration’s policy offered no advance notice when the State Department believed it had received credible diplomatic assurances from the destination country. In other cases, the policy generally contemplated notice of 24 hours or less before deportation.

The case was filed as a class action on behalf of migrants with final removal orders who faced deportation to countries that had not been named during their immigration proceedings.

The plaintiffs do not dispute the government’s authority to remove them from the United States or to deport migrants to third countries under certain circumstances. They argue that the government cannot lawfully send them to a previously undisclosed destination without first allowing them to raise credible fears concerning that country.

The administration has significantly expanded the use of third-country deportations as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown. Thousands of migrants have been sent abroad through agreements with nearly two dozen countries, including South Sudan, Equatorial Guinea and Panama.

Attorneys for migrants have warned that diplomatic assurances do not always protect deportees after they arrive. Lawyers for two men sent to Equatorial Guinea alleged earlier this month that police beat them and held them at gunpoint inside a hotel being used as a detention facility.

The Supreme Court’s eventual decision could determine whether the administration may continue carrying out third-country deportations on an expedited basis or whether migrants must first be afforded a formal opportunity to challenge the country selected for their removal.

{Matzav.com}

Dear Matzav Inbox,

I would like to take this opportunity to wish a heartfelt refuah sheleimah to all those who are once again packing their suitcases and running away for Sukkos. Some are off to Eretz Yisroel, some to Florida, some to hotels, some to rented houses, and some elsewhere. Wherever you are going, I hope you have a wonderful time, because after the difficult few weeks you have just endured at home, you certainly deserve the break.

I realize that many of you are still recovering from the summer. It was only a few weeks ago that you returned from your summer homes, where you spent July and August escaping from the large and beautiful homes that you worked so hard to buy. You packed up clothing, food, linens, toys, bicycles, scooters, cases of drinks, half your kitchen and enough supplies to establish a small settlement in the Catskills, all so that you could spend the summer getting away from it all. Then came the exhausting trip back home, followed by several very difficult weeks of having to live in your own house.

Somehow, you made it.

I can only imagine how challenging it must have been. You had to sleep in your own bed, sit on your own couch and eat in the kitchen you spent a fortune renovating. You had to use your own bathrooms and enjoy the central air conditioning that you complain about paying for all year. You may even have had to spend a Shabbos or two in your own neighborhood. Yet you persevered, and now, baruch Hashem, salvation has arrived. Sukkos is here, which means it is finally time to get out of the house again.

I have begun to wonder about these houses. I actually feel bad for them. These are beautiful homes, many of them purchased at prices that would have caused our grandparents to faint. Their owners spend years improving them. The kitchen gets redone, the basement gets finished, the dining room gets new furniture, the backyard gets a patio, and the bedrooms are decorated down to the last throw pillow. People spend months choosing countertops and agonizing over light fixtures. They debate whether the island should be eight feet or nine feet and whether the refrigerator should have custom panels. Then, when everything is finally perfect, they reach the conclusion that the best place to enjoy life is anywhere else.

Imagine being one of these houses and watching the suitcases come down the stairs again.

“Where are they going now? They just came back!”

The poor dining room must be terribly confused. Here it is, waiting patiently with a beautiful table that extends halfway to the front door, enough chairs for the entire extended family and a breakfront filled with dishes that are apparently too beautiful to eat on, and suddenly everyone is heading to Florida for Yom Tov. The kitchen must take it personally. Two sinks, two ovens, two dishwashers, a giant refrigerator, another refrigerator in the garage and three freezers downstairs, and the family still decided that making Yom Tov at home was simply too much.

What more could the house possibly have done?

Of course, after Sukkos, everyone will come back completely exhausted and tell us how difficult the trip was. The airport was mobbed, the flight was delayed, the rental car line was ridiculous, the kids didn’t sleep, the food wasn’t what they expected, somebody got sick, the weather wasn’t great, and by the time they finally walked back into their own house they needed a vacation from the vacation. This will be said without the slightest trace of irony.

Fortunately, there will then be a few weeks during which they can recuperate at home. I hope they use that time wisely, because Chanukah will be coming, and you know what that means. People cannot possibly be expected to spend Chanukah in the same place where they spent the three weeks after Sukkos. Florida will once again beckon. Then comes midwinter, because after spending several consecutive weeks in your own ZIP code, any normal human being obviously requires emergency evacuation.

Once midwinter is over, we can begin the serious business of discussing Pesach. This generally starts before the suitcases from Florida have been fully unpacked. Where are you going? Which program? Which hotel? Who is catering? Who is speaking? Who else is going? Is there a kids’ program? Is there a twenty-four-hour tea room? Heaven forbid someone should find himself hungry at 1:30 in the morning after consuming nine meals that day.

Then comes Shavuos, when another opportunity presents itself to flee the premises, and shortly thereafter it is time to begin packing for the bungalow again. Before you know it, another year has passed, during which the mortgage was faithfully paid every month on a house whose owners appear to regard spending time inside it as some sort of punishment.

I understand vacations. I really do. People work hard. Families enjoy going places together. Some people have parents or children in Eretz Yisroel and want to spend Yom Tov with them. There are a hundred legitimate reasons to travel, and everyone is entitled to spend his money and his vacation time however he wishes. What amazes me is how completely normal it has become to spend every possible break trying to get away from home, to the point that staying home for Yom Tov almost sounds like something that requires an explanation.

Tell someone, “We’re staying home for Sukkos,” and watch the reaction.

“Oh. You’re staying home?”

Yes. At home. Where we live. We have beds there and food and running water. There are even chairs. We think we’ll manage.

Sometimes the next question is, “You’re not going anywhere?”

Anywhere? I am going from my kitchen to my sukkah. I may even stop in the living room along the way. It’s going to be quite a trip.

Perhaps I am old-fashioned, but I always thought the whole point of having a home was that you actually enjoyed being there. Apparently, the new American dream is to buy the biggest and nicest house you can afford and then arrange your calendar so that you spend as little time there as possible.

So as Sukkos approaches, I really do wish all the travelers well. Have a safe flight. Have an easy drive. Enjoy Eretz Yisroel. Enjoy Florida. Enjoy the hotel, the rented house, the pool, the buffet and whatever other destination has rescued you from the terrible fate of spending another week in the home you chose, bought, furnished, renovated and continue to pay for.

And when you return after Yom Tov, exhausted and surrounded by suitcases, take a good look around. Say hello to the couch. Visit the dining room. Check whether the kitchen still remembers you. Maybe even spend a little time there.

Don’t worry. It won’t be for long.

Chanukah is coming.

A Reader Who Somehow Survives Staying Home

To submit a letter to appear on Matzav.com, email MatzavInbox@gmail.com

DON’T MISS OUT! Join the Matzav Status by CLICKING HERE. Join the Matzav WhatsApp Groups by CLICKING HERE.

The opinions expressed in letters on Matzav.com do not necessarily reflect the stance of the Matzav Media Network.

An unusual public dispute erupted Thursday between the IDF and Israel Police over what security forces discovered beneath Qalqilya, with the military directly rejecting the police’s announcement a day earlier that a tunnel under excavation had been uncovered in the Palestinian city.

The controversy began after police announced Wednesday that forces operating in Qalqilya had discovered “a tunnel whose excavation had not yet been completed” that had already reached a depth of at least 25 meters. Police also reported finding what they described as the beginning of another tunnel excavation.

The announcement prompted widespread reports that security forces had uncovered underground tunnel infrastructure in Qalqilya.

On Thursday, however, the IDF issued a sharply different account, saying that an examination of the site determined that no tunnel route existed.

According to the IDF, troops operating overnight together with Border Police forces from the Yehuda and Shomron district, under the command of the Ephraim Brigade, discovered two shafts approximately 12 meters deep.

“Contrary to the official and irresponsible statements issued on the matter, following an examination of the shafts, the existence of a tunnel route in the shafts was ruled out, and the proximity of the shaft to the seam-line area was also ruled out,” the IDF said.

The wording represented an unusually open rebuke between two Israeli security bodies that had participated in the same operation. Although the IDF did not explicitly identify Israel Police as the target of its criticism, its statement came directly after the police’s official announcement regarding the alleged tunnel.

Police had stated Wednesday that “a tunnel and weapons were located beneath the ground in Qalqilya.”

The police announcement further said that “a tunnel whose excavation had not yet been completed was located, and already at this stage its depth is at least 25 meters,” adding that forces had also uncovered “the beginning of the excavation of an additional tunnel.”

The IDF now says the findings were substantially different. According to the military, the two underground shafts were approximately 12 meters deep, and an investigation of the shafts ruled out the possibility that they formed part of a tunnel system. The military also emphasized that the shafts were not close to the seam-line area separating Yehuda and Shomron from pre-1967 Israel.

Despite the dispute over the underground structures, weapons were indeed discovered during the operation.

Security forces found an M16 rifle, a hunting rifle, a handgun and ammunition near the shafts. The weapons were confiscated.

Four suspects accused of involvement in terrorist activity were also arrested during the operation and transferred to security forces for questioning.

Israel’s High Court of Justice on Thursday cleared the way for NIS 286 million in previously frozen Education Ministry funding to be released, ending a weeks-long legal battle over budget transfers approved by the Knesset Finance Committee. The funds include money for chareidi education, including increased salaries for kindergarten teachers, student transportation, after-school programs and teacher training.

The decision came after the petitioners withdrew their challenge following a recommendation from the High Court, allowing the interim order that had blocked the transfers to be lifted.

The funding is significant for a broad range of chareidi educational institutions and programs. Among the allocations are additional funding for chareidi kindergarten teachers, transportation for students in the Chinuch Atzmai and Bnei Yosef school systems, subsidies for afternoon programs at exempt and recognized-but-unofficial schools, and funding for teacher training in seminaries.

Additional money included in the transfers is earmarked for Jewish cultural programming and initiatives serving struggling and at-risk youth.

The latest development follows months of legal disputes over government funding for chareidi education and the procedures used by the Knesset Finance Committee and Finance Ministry to approve and transfer the money.

Earlier this year, the High Court sharply criticized a separate transfer of hundreds of millions of shekels after it emerged that substantial sums had already been transferred before the Finance Committee formally approved them. In March, the court ordered the Finance Committee to reconsider that earlier decision.

That episode also sparked a dispute between Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik and the Finance Ministry over the practice of transferring government funds before receiving the committee’s formal authorization. Afik described the practice as serious and sought information from the Finance Ministry regarding similar cases in previous years.

The money involved in the latest case was approved by the Finance Committee on August 4 in two separate transfers to the Education Ministry. The larger transfer totaled NIS 270 million, while a second transfer totaled NIS 16 million, bringing the combined amount to NIS 286 million.

The approvals came during the Knesset election recess and were challenged in a petition filed by MK Naama Lazimi and the Hiddush organization. The petitioners argued that the Finance Committee had been improperly convened and that the resulting transfers should therefore be invalidated.

The High Court subsequently issued an interim order freezing NIS 409 million in transfers approved during the disputed Finance Committee session. Of that amount, NIS 286 million was designated for the Education Ministry and NIS 123 million for the National Missions Ministry.

The court had already begun easing portions of the freeze before Thursday’s decision. In August, it released NIS 78 million earmarked for the Religious Services Ministry while leaving the other disputed transfers blocked.

Among the most closely watched portions of the Education Ministry funding is money connected to salaries for chareidi kindergarten teachers, following an extended dispute over salary increases and implementation of the Ofek Chadash wage framework in chareidi kindergartens.

With Thursday’s decision, the legal barrier preventing the Education Ministry transfers from moving forward has now been removed, allowing the government to proceed with funding the affected institutions and programs.

Degel HaTorah chairman MK Moshe Gafni welcomed the development and thanked Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik and Finance Committee Legal Adviser Shlomit Erlich for the legal positions they presented during the dispute.

“We acted in accordance with the Knesset regulations and through a completely proper process. This petition was vexatious and unnecessary, and it was clear to us from the outset that this would be its fate,” Gafni said.

Gafni said the money represents essential funding for the chareidi education system and can now finally reach its intended recipients.

Mr. Moishe Indig, a Satmar political activist who broke with other Orthodox Jewish leaders to embrace jihadist socialist Zohran Mamdani during last year’s mayoral race, lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu on Thursday after the Israeli leader used his United Nations address to deliver a blistering attack on the New York City mayor.

In a social-media post following Netanyahu’s speech, Indig rejected Netanyahu’s assertion that many New York Jews have grown fearful under Mamdani and defended the mayor as an ally of his community.

“Mr. Netanyahu, you do not speak for New York’s Jewish community,” Indig wrote.

“Your government arrests hundreds of innocent yeshiva students each week, while we in New York practice our faith and live freely and safely.

“Mayor Zohran Mamdani is a friend and ally to our community.

“You are not.”

The post marked the latest chapter in Indig’s controversial relationship with the Muslim Mamdani, an outspoken critic of Israel who has accused the Jewish state of genocide in Gaza and previously pledged during his mayoral campaign to seek Netanyahu’s arrest if the prime minister came to New York.

Indig emerged as one of the terror supporter’s most prominent chassidishe supporters during the 2025 campaign, despite significant opposition to Mamdani within the Orthodox community and even within Indig’s own Satmar faction.

During Sukkos last year, Mamdani received a warm welcome at Indig’s sukkah in Williamsburg. At the gathering, another Satmar figure, speaking about Indig’s view of the candidate, said Indig had called Mamdani “a friend of the Jewish people” and believed he would make “the best mayor of New York City.”

The relationship continued into the final days of the campaign. On Nov. 2, Indig formally endorsed Mamdani, a decision that exposed a split within Satmar’s Ahronim faction. Other leaders of the same faction endorsed Andrew Cuomo and warned that the progressive political movement posed a threat to the ability of Orthodox Jews to maintain their way of life.

After Mamdani won the election, Indig attended his victory celebration and told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he felt “great” about the result, citing issues including affordable housing and the needs of large families.

Mamdani was subsequently welcomed at a major Satmar event marking Kuf Alef Kislev. Indig described the community as “honored” to host the mayor-elect, while a speaker at the event recalled that Mamdani had promised Indig before the election that he would be a friend of the community.

Indig has continued publicly praising Mamdani since he took office. Earlier this year, he applauded the mayor after Mamdani was filmed helping residents shovel out a vehicle following a snowstorm in Williamsburg, writing, “Not a photo op — a shovel.”

The alliance has drawn criticism in parts of the Orthodox community because of Mamdani’s positions on Israel and Zionism. In a post-election interview with Mishpacha, Indig defended his willingness to cultivate relationships with politicians whose views he strongly opposes, arguing that his role as an askan requires him to work with elected officials in the interests of his community.

Thursday’s clash came after Netanyahu singled out Mamdani during his UN General Assembly speech and accused him of contributing to a climate in which Jews in New York increasingly feel unsafe.

“Mr. Mamdani, since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York,” Netanyahu said. “They talk to me. They tell me: ‘This isn’t the city we remember. It changed so quickly.’”

Netanyahu then accused Mamdani of maintaining relationships with radical anti-Israel figures and repeatedly making what Netanyahu called false allegations of genocide against Israel.

“You praise criminals convicted of supporting Hamas. You count as friends people like Hasan Piker, who said America deserved 9/11. Some friends you have,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu also accused Mamdani of trying to prevent him from coming to New York.

“Mr Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me; you can’t silence the truth.”

The prime minister later warned that rhetoric demonizing Israel has consequences for Jews outside Israel as well.

“The lies you and other antisemites spread about the Jews and the Jewish State have real consequences,” Netanyahu told Mamdani. “In New York, Jews are threatened on the way to synagogue. Jews have been stabbed in the streets. Jews are demonized, targeted simply for being Jews.”

It was that portrayal of Jewish life in New York that Indig directly challenged in his response.

His reference to the arrests of yeshiva students appeared to invoke the long-running confrontation in Israel over the military draft and the arrests of chareidi men accused of failing to comply with IDF conscription requirements. Indig’s Satmar community is fiercely anti-Zionist on theological grounds and rejects participation in the Israeli military.

Indig’s assertion that Mamdani is an ally of “our community” reflects his own relationship with the mayor and that of some Satmar leaders, rather than a consensus among New York Jews or even within Satmar. His endorsement of Mamdani itself divided the Ahronim leadership, and the heavily Satmar district associated with Indig ultimately voted for Cuomo rather than Mamdani in the 2025 election.

That divide has persisted into Mamdani’s administration. Indig attended the mayor’s interfaith breakfast earlier this year, while other Orthodox leaders have remained sharply critical of Mamdani’s anti-Zionism and positions on Israel.

Indig, however, made clear Thursday that the bitter confrontation between Netanyahu and Mamdani has not altered where he stands.

{Matzav.com}

[Video below.] Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu used the world stage at the United Nations on Thursday to deliver a blistering attack on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, accusing the mayor of spreading falsehoods about Israel, contributing to an atmosphere in which Jews feel increasingly unsafe in New York, and attempting to silence the Israeli leader during his visit to the city.

The extraordinary confrontation came during Netanyahu’s address to the UN General Assembly, where the Israeli prime minister devoted a significant portion of his speech to Mamdani, who has repeatedly accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, called Netanyahu a war criminal and previously campaigned on a pledge to have him arrested if he came to New York. Mamdani subsequently acknowledged that New York City does not have the legal authority to carry out such an arrest.

Netanyahu began the section while rejecting accusations that Israel committed genocide during its war against Hamas.

“To all those that are spreading these lies about my country and about our brave soldiers, whether they sit in this hall or in the office of the antisemitic mayor of New York, I say this: Shame on you. Shame on you for distorting the facts. Shame on you for inverting victim and aggressor. Shame on you for spitting in the face of truth.”

Netanyahu then addressed Mamdani directly by name.

“Mr. Mamdani, since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York. They talk to me. They tell me: ‘This isn’t the city we remember. It changed so quickly.’”

Netanyahu’s charge that Mamdani has made Jewish New Yorkers less safe was an accusation by the prime minister, not an independently established finding. Local coverage of the speech similarly reported that Netanyahu blamed Mamdani for worsening the climate confronting Jews in the city.

Netanyahu then laid out a series of allegations against Mamdani and people with whom the mayor has associated.

“It’s no wonder. You praise criminals convicted of supporting Hamas. You count as friends people like Hasan Piker, who said America deserved 9/11. Some friends you have.”

Netanyahu continued:

“You invite into your home a Palestinian journalist who filmed Hamas terrorists beating and torturing Israeli hostages and later admitted that he refused to publish the videos in order to protect – you guessed it – the terrorists. Your wife liked a post praising the October 7th massacre. She liked another post saying Tel Aviv shouldn’t exist. You refused to condemn any of that. You falsely and repeatedly accuse Israel of genocide.”

Those were allegations made by Netanyahu in the course of his political attack on Mamdani; they should not be read as independently adjudicated findings about the mayor or his associates. Reuters, while reporting Netanyahu’s broad attack, specifically characterized his allegation that Mamdani supports Hamas as false.

Netanyahu then turned to Mamdani’s efforts to oppose his presence in New York.

“Mr Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me; you can’t silence the truth.”

The remarks capped several days of increasingly bitter exchanges between the two men.

Before Netanyahu arrived in New York, Mamdani again described the Israeli prime minister as a “war criminal” and “the architect of a horrific genocide against Palestinians.” Netanyahu rejects both the genocide accusation and the war-crimes allegations against him.

Netanyahu had responded even before leaving for the United States, releasing a video promising to confront Mamdani from the UN podium.

“Shame on you for inciting riots against New York Jews. I’m coming to the U.N. I’m going to tell the truth about our heroic soldiers, and I’m going to tell the truth about you,” Netanyahu said in that video.

Mamdani fired back at the time, saying Netanyahu’s accusations were untrue and repeating his own allegations against the Israeli leader.

“Well, we all know that what the prime minister said in that video is not true,” Mamdani said. “What we do know to actually be the truth when it comes to the prime minister is that he is the subject of an International Criminal Court warrant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. And as the prime minister, he is the architect of the horrific genocide against Palestinians.”

The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024, alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity connected to the Gaza war. Israel rejects the allegations and disputes the ICC’s jurisdiction.

At the UN on Thursday, Netanyahu directly linked the dispute with Mamdani to his broader argument that Israel has been falsely portrayed as the aggressor since the October 7 Hamas massacre.

“Here’s a simple truth. Israel didn’t commit genocide; Israel prevented genocide,” Netanyahu declared.

He then took his attack on Mamdani considerably further.

“That’s exactly what Mr. Mamdani’s Hamas buddies would have done to us had we not stopped them. They would have killed every last one of us.”

Netanyahu argued that the rhetoric surrounding Israel is not confined to diplomatic or political debate, but contributes to antisemitism and physical threats against Jews.

He warned Mamdani that “the lies you and other antisemites spread about the Jews and the Jewish State have real consequences.”

“In New York, Jews are threatened on the way to synagogue. Jews have been stabbed in the streets. Jews are demonized, targeted simply for being Jews.”

Netanyahu then broadened the argument beyond New York, citing antisemitic attacks against Jews in a number of cities around the world.

“Jews have been murdered in Sydney, Manchester, Montreal, Boulder, Colorado. They’ve been attacked in Los Angeles, London, Paris, Berlin, Washington DC.”

“The antisemites of the world want to terrify our people,” Netanyahu continued. “I have news for them. The days when Jews were defenseless victims, marched to the slaughter – those days are over.”

The attack on Mamdani was particularly striking because Netanyahu delivered it from UN headquarters in Mamdani’s own city, during the prime minister’s first New York visit since Mamdani became mayor in January. Reuters described the dispute as one of the major themes of Netanyahu’s appearance and reported that the prime minister used his speech to directly confront Mamdani over the mayor’s rhetoric about Israel and Netanyahu.

Mamdani had campaigned on a promise to seek Netanyahu’s arrest if the Israeli prime minister entered New York, citing the ICC warrant. He later acknowledged that he had determined that a New York mayor lacks the legal authority to execute such a warrant, though he has continued urging federal authorities to act against Netanyahu.

The mayor has also continued to describe Israel’s conduct in Gaza as genocide, a characterization Netanyahu forcefully rejected throughout Thursday’s speech.

Netanyahu’s message to Mamdani ultimately became part of his larger argument that Israel will no longer accept what he views as the demonization of the Jewish state without responding publicly and forcefully.

This time, standing just miles from City Hall, Netanyahu made the confrontation personal.

“Mr Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here. You tried to silence me,” Netanyahu said.

“Well, you can’t silence me; you can’t silence the truth.”

WATCH:

{Matzav.com}