Why Netanyahu Needs Zohran Mamdani

Gen Z Doesn't Fear China, but Additionally Doesn't Know China.

Key points

• Although politically powerless in the Middle East, the poster bets on Mamdani's usefulness through proxy.
• Mamdani afterwards acknowledged that New York City lacked the legal authority to execute the ICC warrant, but called on the U.S.
• Netanyahu additionally dismissed the ICC's allegations as "bogus" and linked the dispute to broader worries regarding antisemitism and weakening bipartisan American backing for Israel.
• Likud wants poster viewers to recognize a common association: these individuals want the worst for Israel and they additionally want Netanyahu to lose.
• The Hebrew slogan roughly translates to: They want Netanyahu to lose.

New Yorkers driving along Tel Aviv's Ayalon Highway in search of some distance from the chaos of American politics might be startled to find one of their own staring back at them: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, now recruited into Benjamin Netanyahu's Israeli reelection campaign, despite having no power or say in Israel. In a distinctly 2026 piece of political theater, one ideal for social media-fueled speculation, Netanyahu's Likud party has put Mamdani on a campaign billboard for the elections on October 27, alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem. The Hebrew slogan roughly translates to: "They want Netanyahu to lose. Don't let them win." Leave it to Bibi to unofficially enlist foreign characters in his bid to win yet another election. Although politically powerless in the Middle East, the poster bets on Mamdani's usefulness through proxy. Likud's billboard makes a broader bet than asking Israelis to rally around Netanyahu himself or even to reject whichever domestic rival eventually emerges as his main challenger. The poster instead asks voters to think of a larger cast of antagonists that are easier to vote against. An Israeli may be undecided regarding Netanyahu or not too enthused concerning his domestic opponents, but they probable dislike Mamdani, Hezbollah and Erdoğan, a much easier political coalition to assemble. In practice, a public feud between Mamdani and Netanyahu has centered largely on the war in Gaza and the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister. During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani repeatedly remarked in interviews that Netanyahu should be arrested if he came to New York, and in July 2026, he reiterated that position, calling Netanyahu a "war criminal" and saying he belonged in The Hague. Mamdani afterwards acknowledged that New York City lacked the legal authority to execute the ICC warrant, but called on the U.S. Federal administration to enforce it if Netanyahu visits for the U.N. General Assembly in September. In a Fox News interview, Netanyahu responded by accusing Mamdani of "fomenting hate" and of turning New Yorkers against one another, arguing that the mayor was supposed to represent Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. Netanyahu additionally dismissed the ICC's allegations as "bogus" and linked the dispute to broader worries regarding antisemitism and weakening bipartisan American backing for Israel. The confrontation has since become a political weapon for Netanyahu's Likud party. It May Be Easier To Vote Against Mamdani Than for Netanyahu The idea is that the individuals on the billboard carry political baggage that is unattractive to much of the Israeli electorate: Iran and Hezbollah want to destroy the country, Erdoğan has become one of Israel's fiercest critics and Mamdani has produced his opposition to Israeli policy basically part and parcel of his public profile. Likud wants poster viewers to recognize a common association: these individuals want the worst for Israel and they additionally want Netanyahu to lose. If the individuals you distrust want Netanyahu to lose, then helping Netanyahu lose can be framed as giving them what they want. That logic allows the party to ignore the fact that a vast portion of Israelis might not be crazy regarding another Bibi term, unofficially turning the election from a choice between Netanyahu and an Israeli alternative into a referendum on whether Israelis want to side with residents hostile to the country. Netanyahu, then, no longer needs to be the most appealing option, just the option that denies Israel's enemies a victory. Let's put it simply: importing antagonists into this domestic campaign may be particularly advantageous as the coalition of voters who want Netanyahu to win may be narrower than the coalition of those who do not want Khamenei, Hezbollah, Erdoğan or Mamdani to obtain the outcome they prefer. Netanyahu is Not Israel, Though The Likud strategy depends on one logical leap: that voters will associate Netanyahu's political fortunes with Israel's. But the truth is that the person and the country are two different propositions. A voter can hate Hezbollah and Erdoğan and additionally reject Mamdani's politics while still deciding that Netanyahu should go. Likud's hope, at least according to this analysis of the billboard, is that, in the voting booth, enough Israelis will blur that distinction. All in all, though, Mamdani has clearly become useful to Bibi: the prime minister doesn't need the country to love him, he just needs voters to believe that defeating him would offer someone they dislike something to celebrate.

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In a distinctly 2026 piece of political theater, one ideal for social media-fueled speculation, Netanyahu's Likud party has put Mamdani on a campaign billboard for the elections on October 27, alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem. The Hebrew slogan roughly translates to: "They want Netanyahu to lose. Don't let them win." Leave it to Bibi to unofficially enlist foreign characters in his bid to win yet another election.

Although politically powerless in the Middle East, the poster bets on Mamdani's usefulness through proxy. Likud's billboard makes a broader bet than asking Israelis to rally around Netanyahu himself or even to reject whichever domestic rival eventually emerges as his main challenger.

Notably, the poster instead asks voters to think of a larger cast of antagonists that are easier to vote against. An Israeli may be undecided regarding Netanyahu or not too enthused concerning his domestic opponents, but they probable dislike Mamdani, Hezbollah and Erdoğan, a much easier political coalition to assemble.

In practice, a public feud between Mamdani and Netanyahu has centered largely on the war in Gaza and the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister.

During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani repeatedly remarked in interviews that Netanyahu should be arrested if he came to New York, and in July 2026, he reiterated that position, calling Netanyahu a "war criminal" and saying he belonged in The Hague. Mamdani afterwards acknowledged that New York City lacked the legal authority to execute the ICC warrant, but called on the U.S. Federal administration to enforce it if Netanyahu visits for the U.N. General Assembly in September.

In a Fox News interview, Netanyahu responded by accusing Mamdani of "fomenting hate" and of turning New Yorkers against one another, arguing that the mayor was supposed to represent Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. Netanyahu additionally dismissed the ICC's allegations as "bogus" and linked the dispute to broader worries regarding antisemitism and weakening bipartisan American backing for Israel. The confrontation has since become a political weapon for Netanyahu's Likud party. It May Be Easier To Vote Against Mamdani Than for Netanyahu.

Notably, the idea is that the individuals on the billboard carry political baggage that is unattractive to much of the Israeli electorate: Iran and Hezbollah want to destroy the country, Erdoğan has become one of Israel's fiercest critics and Mamdani has produced his opposition to Israeli policy basically part and parcel of his public profile. Likud wants poster viewers to recognize a common association: these individuals want the worst for Israel and they additionally want Netanyahu to lose.

If the individuals you distrust want Netanyahu to lose, then helping Netanyahu lose can be framed as giving them what they want. That logic allows the party to ignore the fact that a vast portion of Israelis might not be crazy regarding another Bibi term, unofficially turning the election from a choice between Netanyahu and an Israeli alternative into a referendum on whether Israelis want to side with residents hostile to the country. Netanyahu, then, no longer needs to be the most appealing option, just the option that denies Israel's enemies a victory.

Taken together, the developments around why Netanyahu Needs Zohran Mamdani point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.