Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party has placed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani alongside the leaders of Iran, Hezbollah and Turkey on an election billboard, escalating an increasingly personal political dispute between the two men.
Provocative campaign message
The billboard, displayed beside Tel Aviv’s busy Ayalon Highway, features Mamdani with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem.
“They want Netanyahu to lose. Don’t let them win,” the Hebrew-language advertisement declares beneath the four portraits. The Likud logo is prominently displayed, and Netanyahu later shared an image of the billboard through his social media accounts.
The campaign does not present evidence of any political coordination between Mamdani and the three Middle Eastern figures. Instead, it uses their separate criticism of Netanyahu to suggest that his domestic opponents would deliver a victory to Israel’s international adversaries.
Dispute crosses the Atlantic
Mamdani has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and has accused Netanyahu of committing war crimes. The New York mayor said in July that the Israeli leader belonged before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
He has also argued that American authorities should enforce the ICC’s arrest warrant if Netanyahu travels to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
The court issued warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024 over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Netanyahu strongly denies the allegations, while Israel rejects the court’s jurisdiction.
The United States is not a member of the ICC, and significant legal questions remain over whether New York authorities would have any power to act against a visiting foreign leader.
Netanyahu attacks Mamdani’s position
Netanyahu has accused Mamdani of undermining longstanding bipartisan American support for Israel and encouraging religious and political division.
Mamdani, New York’s first Muslim mayor, has rejected previous accusations of antisemitism and maintained that criticism of the Israeli government must be distinguished from hostility towards Jewish people. His administration has promised increased funding to combat antisemitic and other hate crimes in the city.
Mamdani had not publicly responded to the Likud billboard when it was first displayed.
Likud enters election mode
The advertisement appeared as Israel prepared for a parliamentary election scheduled for 27 October. The Knesset was dissolved in July after Netanyahu’s governing coalition lost the support required to remain in office.
The election will be Israel’s first since the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza. Netanyahu is facing criticism over security failures preceding the attack, the treatment of Israeli hostages and the economic and diplomatic consequences of the conflict.
Likud has increasingly presented the election as a choice between Netanyahu’s national security leadership and political opponents allegedly supported by hostile foreign governments.
Campaign risks deeper polarisation
Placing Mamdani beside Iran’s supreme leader and the head of Hezbollah is likely to intensify accusations that Likud is using inflammatory imagery to discredit critics rather than address their arguments.
Supporters of Netanyahu will view the billboard as a warning that his removal would be welcomed by governments and organisations hostile to Israel. Critics will see it as an attempt to portray political disagreement as collaboration with the country’s enemies.
The campaign also demonstrates how the Gaza war has transformed relations between Israel and parts of the American political left. A dispute that began over international law and the conduct of the war has now become an election message on the streets of Tel Aviv.
Newshub Editorial in Asia – 19 August 2026
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