Netanyahu’s party puts Mamdani on a billboard with Iran, Hezbollah leaders
Netanyahu's party casts New York mayor as enemy of Israel ahead of its October election, amplifying a dispute that has spilled across borders
NEW YORK (MNTV) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party has placed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on an election billboard alongside the leaders of Iran, Türkiye, and Hezbollah, casting the American mayor as an enemy of Israel ahead of the country’s Oct. 27 election.
The billboard, displayed along Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway, shows Mamdani beside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, and Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, with the slogan: “They want Netanyahu to lose. Don’t let them win,” according to Israeli outlets including Haaretz and The Times of Israel.
Netanyahu amplified it on his own social media accounts, adding: “Don’t let them win.” Some rival Israeli politicians responded with parody versions turning the imagery back on him.
The billboard marks an escalation because it does not merely attack Mamdani’s positions but frames a progressive U.S. politician as part of a wider threat to Israel.
Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, has become one of Netanyahu’s most outspoken American critics over the war in Gaza, calling the Israeli leader a war criminal, saying he belongs before the International Criminal Court (ICC) — which has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza — and urging U.S. authorities to enforce it if he travels to New York for the UN General Assembly.
The billboard comes amid sharpening Netanyahu rhetoric toward Western critics; this week he described Britain as an “Islamic republic,” language experts called Islamophobic.
Netanyahu has accused Mamdani of promoting hatred and warned that progressives aligned with him could weaken U.S. bipartisan support for Israel. Mamdani, on vacation, had not responded.
The Jerusalem Post noted the contrast with 2019, when Netanyahu campaigned on billboards showing him beside Trump, Putin, and Modi — running then on the prestige of allies, now on the fear of adversaries.
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