Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Feb. 16, 2025. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed threats made by New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani to arrest him if he visits the city, calling the pledge “silly” during a Monday appearance on the “Full Send” podcast.

Speaking to host Aaron “Steiny” Steinberg, Netanyahu was asked about Mamdani’s repeated vow to enforce the International Criminal Court’s 2024 arrest warrant against him, related to alleged war crimes during Israel’s military operations against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.

“I’m not concerned,” Netanyahu said. “There’s enough craziness in the world, but I guess it never ends … It’s silly in many ways.”

In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and now-deceased Hamas terrorist leader Ibrahim al-Masri (better known as Mohammed Deif) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza war.

The ICC said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for starvation in Gaza and the persecution of Palestinians — charges vehemently denied by Israel, which has provided significant humanitarian aid into the enclave throughout much of the war.

Israel also says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, despite Hamas’s widely acknowledged military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.

Mamdani, a democratic socialist and state assemblyman from Queens, surged to national attention in June after defeating former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary, becoming the party’s nominee heading into November’s general election. He ran on a platform of aligning city policy with international law, promising that New York City would enforce ICC warrants, even if that meant arresting a visiting foreign leader.

Mamdani defended his vow to arrest Netanyahu if he visits New York during an event at the B’nai Jeshurun synagogue in Manhattan last month, comparing the Israeli premier to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“My answer is the same whether we are speaking about Vladimir Putin or Netanyahu. I think that this should be a city that is in compliance with international law,” Mamdani said. “And we have seen, other countries across the world that are signatories of the ICC that they would honor that same request, being Canada or other countries in Europe, and their honoring of it meant that Netanyahu did not travel there.”

Mamdani acknowledged that the United States is not a party to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, but argued that “there are times where courage is required,” comparing his desire to arrest Netanyahu to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to defy federal law and issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples as mayor of San Francisco.

“What I am trying to showcase is a belief that international law is something that should be honored, should be respected, and something that we should actually bring our city into compliance with,” Mamdani said.

Netanyahu on Monday expressed disappointment in Mamdani’s victory but claimed that residents of the Big Apple will eventually become disillusioned with the progressive firebrand after confronting the “reality” of his far-left agenda.

“A lot of people have been taken in by this nonsense. You want to defund the police? You want to have people go into stores and rob them and be free, you think that creates a good society?” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu reaffirmed on the podcast that he still plans to visit New York City in the future and suggested he might travel with US President Donald Trump. The remarks echoed a statement Netanyahu made earlier this month, when he similarly downplayed Mamdani’s comments to arrest him while meeting with US officials in Washington, DC.

During the White House meeting, Trump dismissed Mamdani’s threats and labeled him a “communist.” Trump also added, “I’ll get him out,” referring to Netanyahu if the two leaders visit New York City together. Trump has also reportedly discussed the possibility of cutting federal funding to cities that attempt to act on ICC warrants without coordination with the US government.

Steinberg referred to Mamdani as an “antisemite” during Monday’s interview.

A little-known politician before this year’s mayoral primary campaign, Mamdani is an outspoken supporter of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward its eventual elimination.

Mamdani has also repeatedly refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, falsely suggesting the country does not offer “equal rights” for all its citizens.

Most recently, Mamdani defended the phrase “globalize the intifada”— which references previous periods of sustained Palestinian terrorism against Jews and Israels and has been widely interpreted as a call to expand political violence — by invoking the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during World War II. He later clarified that he would discourage its use while continuing to back the broader anti-Israel movement it represents.

The post Netanyahu Brushes Off Arrest Threats From Mamdani: ‘There’s Enough Craziness in the World’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Alawite Syrians, who fled the violence in western Syria, walk in Nahr El Kabir River, after the reported mass killings of Alawite minority members, in Akkar, Lebanon March 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

A Syrian fact-finding committee said on Tuesday that 1,426 people had died in March in attacks on security forces and subsequent mass killings of Alawites, but concluded that commanders had not given orders for the revenge attacks.

The incidents in the coastal region were the worst violence to hit Syria since the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad last year. The fact-finding committee‘s work is seen as an important test of the new leadership, made up mainly of former anti-Assad rebel fighters, who are facing new unrest this month involving other minority groups in the southwest.

The committee concluded that Syrian commanders did not give orders to commit violations and in fact gave orders to halt them.

It came up with a list of 298 suspects involved in violations against Alawites and 265 involved in the initial attack on security forces, committee head Jumaa Al-Anzi said.

The names are not being released publicly for now and have been referred to courts for further investigations, spokesperson Yasser Farhan said. He added that 31 people who committed violations against civilians had been arrested, as well as six people he referred to as “remnants” of the former regime.

A Reuters investigation last month identified 1,479 Syrian Alawites killed and dozens who were missing from 40 distinct sites of revenge killings, and found a chain of command leading from the attackers directly to men who serve alongside Syria’s new leaders in Damascus.

Syria’s new leadership, which has roots in the insurgency led by Sunni Muslim Islamist groups against Assad, a member of the Alawite minority sect, has long sought to reassure minorities that they will be safe.

Safety of minorities has become a major issue again this month with hundreds of people killed in clashes between government security forces, Sunni Bedouin fighters and militants from the Druze sect in the southern province of Sweida. The authorities have set up a new fact-finding committee in response.

‘WIDESPREAD BUT NOT ORGANIZED’

The violence in March began on March 6 with attacks on Syrian security forces stationed in the region. It put hospitals and other state institutions out of operation and caused wide areas to fall out of government control, Farhan said.

The committee found that 238 members of the security forces were killed in these attacks, perpetrated by forces aligned with the former Assad government, Farhan said.

In response, around 200,000 armed men mobilized from across Syria, pouring into the coastal region, he said.

This led to violations including killings, theft, and sectarian incitement that the committee found were “widespread but not organized,” Farhan said.

Farhan said the committee members had full cooperation from government forces as they undertook their months of work, and it was now up to President Ahmed al-Sharaa whether to release their report in full.

Diana Semaan, Syria researcher at Amnesty International, called for the full findings to be released and for perpetrators to face prosecution.

“In terms of the fact-finding committee, acknowledging that atrocities against Alawite civilians happened is an important step towards justice,” she told Reuters.

“[But] without the proper prosecution of perpetrators, then we have impunity. It won’t be the justice and accountability that the victims deserve.”

The post Syrian Committee Reports 1,426 Killed in March Violence, Says Commanders Did Not Order It first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, May 27, 2025. Photo: Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via REUTERS

Turkey will directly intervene to stop any attempt to fragment Syria and will prevent any attempts by militants to obtain autonomy after clashes in southern Syria, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Tuesday.

His warning against fragmentation, in comments to reporters in Ankara, appeared aimed at Israel as Turkey considers this to be Israel’s ultimate aim in Syria.

Turkey has condemned Israeli strikes on Damascus last week as an attempt to sabotage Syria‘s efforts to establish peace and security, and sees clashes between Druze fighters and Syrian Bedouin tribes in the southern province of Sweida as part of an Israeli policy of regional destabilization.

NATO member Turkey supports Syria‘s new government and has called for a ceasefire between the Bedouin and Druze fighters.

Fidan said Israel wanted a divided Syria to make the country unstable, weaker, and a liability to the region, and added that Kurdish YPG militants were looking to take advantage of the chaos.

“God willing, we will prevent this policy from being realized,” he said.

In an apparent reference to the YPG, he said groups in Syria should not see such chaos as a tactical opportunity to achieve autonomy or independence within Syria and that they faced “a big strategic catastrophe.”

“This leads nowhere,” he said.

Ankara sees the YPG, which spearheads the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, as a terrorist organization, and has carried out several cross-border operations against them.

“We are warning you: no group should engage in acts towards division,” Fidan said.

He said many issues could be discussed via diplomacy “but if you go beyond this and seek fragmentation and destabilizing we will consider this a direct threat to our security and intervene.”

Fidan said Turkey would support efforts to secure peace and stability in Syria, and talks on this, but would not let itself be exposed to threats.

Israel did not immediately comment on Fidan’s remarks. It said it struck targets in Syria last week to defend the Druze.

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