NEW DELHI: The United Nations wasn’t the only New York attraction for visiting world leaders in September last week – Mayor Zohran Mamdani emerged as a popular draw for like-minded politicians and a target for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The 34-year-old former state lawmaker, who took office on January 1 in New York City, rode the subway with Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin, exchanged soccer jerseys with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and talked to students with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store about artificial intelligence.
Mamdani discussed “Building an Economy for the Many” over breakfast with Spain’s President Pedro Sánchez, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley and European Council President António Costa, and met LGBTQ+ youth with Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten.
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen and British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband also had meetings with Mamdani. Even US President Donald Trump praised Mamdani. “I want him to be a great mayor, and he’s certainly got potential, got great potential,” Trump said at a joint press conference with Mamdani.
In contrast, the Israeli Prime Minister said, “You tried to stop me from coming here. You tried. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me. You can’t silence the truth,” Netanyahu said of Mamdani. Netanyahu told the General Assembly: “Israel didn’t commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide.”
