Updated
Updated · The Independent · Aug 17
Likud Ad Casts Mamdani With 3 Regional Foes Ahead of October Vote
Updated
Updated · The Independent · Aug 17

Likud Ad Casts Mamdani With 3 Regional Foes Ahead of October Vote

3 articles · Updated · The Independent · Aug 17

Summary

  • Likud placed New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani in an election advert alongside Iran’s Mojtaba Khamenei, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hezbollah’s Naim Qassem, with the slogan: “They want Netanyahu to lose.”
  • The ad follows Mamdani’s call for the US federal government to enforce the ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu, after he said the Israeli leader “belongs in The Hague” over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
  • Trump publicly backed Netanyahu, saying he would not be arrested in the United States, while Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon accused Mamdani of antisemitism and support for Hamas.
  • The clash lands before Israel’s October election—the first since the 7 October war delayed voting—as Netanyahu campaigns under the shadow of a November 2024 ICC warrant he rejects as antisemitic.

Insights

Will Netanyahu's provocative billboard campaign against a foreign mayor successfully save his struggling coalition in the October elections?
Can Jared Kushner break the Gaza ceasefire deadlock before the UN General Assembly forces a showdown over ICC warrants?