Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in the New York area on Thursday for an unusually brief visit to the US, during which he is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly and hold a series of meetings with world leaders before returning to Israel.
Netanyahu's plane landed in New Jersey, from where the Prime Minister is traveling directly to the UN Headquarters in New York City. According to a Channel 13 report, senior security officials met with Netanyahu ahead of the trip and recommended that he keep his time in the US to a minimum due to concrete security warnings presented to him.
On his way to the US, Netanyahu's plane was tracked crossing French airspace despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued against him. France, which is a party to the Rome Statute that established the ICC, defended its decision to permit the Israeli government aircraft to pass through its airspace. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux said the authorization was "in full conformity with international law," explaining that France does not consider the Rome Statute to require action against a person named in an ICC warrant merely because the state aircraft carrying that person flies through French airspace.
The Prime Minister's Office said that during the visit, Netanyahu will meet with the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Panama, and Ethiopia, as well as the Vice President of Colombia and the prime ministers of Greece, Slovenia, and Papua New Guinea. According to the Prime Minister's Office, many additional world leaders requested meetings with Netanyahu, but due to his tight schedule and the need to return to Israel before the onset of Sukkot, he was able to accommodate only some of the requests.
Netanyahu's arrival comes amid an ongoing confrontation with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. In a recent CNN interview, Mamdani called Netanyahu a "war criminal" and accused him of being an "architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people," while acknowledging that New York City does not have the legal jurisdiction to enforce the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant against the Prime Minister. Netanyahu responded: "Shame on you for supporting the Hamas terrorist monsters who butchered our people. Shame on you for inciting riots against New York Jews." Referring to his UN appearance, Netanyahu added: "I'm coming to the UN. I'm going to tell the truth about our heroic soldiers, and I'm going to tell the truth about you."