City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov has thrown down a provocative challenge to New York’s incoming mayor, formally inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the city on January 1—the same day Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani takes office. The invitation directly confronts Mamdani’s campaign promise to arrest Netanyahu, a pledge that has inflamed tensions between New York’s Jewish community and the city’s new socialist leadership.

In her November 10 letter, Vernikov, who represents southern Brooklyn’s heavily Jewish 48th District, invited Netanyahu to “meet with members of our community and to reaffirm the deep and enduring bond between the State of Israel and the people of New York City, home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.” She condemned what she called the “irresponsible and frankly absurd statements made by mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.”

Vernikov’s letter makes clear where the lines are drawn. “Whether individuals agree or disagree with your policies, you are the duly elected prime minister of the State of Israel, a democratic nation that stands as a beacon of hope, freedom, western values, resilience and strength in a region surrounded by tyranny and terror,” she wrote to Netanyahu.

Mamdani’s track record reveals a hostility toward Israel that extends far beyond policy disagreements. The socialist Muslim immigrant has championed causes that directly target the Jewish state’s right to defend itself. His support for the “globalize the intifada” movement—a call to spread violent Palestinian uprising worldwide—demonstrates a willingness to embrace rhetoric that incites violence against Jews. In the aftermath of October 7, when Hamas terrorists massacred 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped hundreds more, Mamdani’s response aligned him with those who justified or minimized the atrocities.

More than 650 rabbis signed a letter in late October condemning Mamdani’s positions. Following his election victory, major Jewish organizations issued a rare joint statement. The UJA-Federation of New York, JCRC-NY, ADL New York/New Jersey, AJC New York, and the New York Board of Rabbis declared that “the Mayor-elect holds core beliefs fundamentally at odds with our community’s deepest convictions and most cherished values.”

Mamdani has doubled down on his pledge to arrest the Israeli PM. “This is something that I intend to fulfill,” he told the New York Times. “This is a moment when cities and states will have to demonstrate what it actually looks like to stand up for our own values, our own people.” He justified his position by claiming New York must comply with “international criminal law”—specifically the International Criminal Court’s 2024 arrest warrant for Netanyahu alleging war crimes in Gaza.

Neither the United States nor Israel recognizes the ICC, having refused to ratify the 1998 Rome Statute that created the tribunal. The court has no jurisdiction over either nation. Mamdani’s promise amounts to political theater that treats the democratically elected leader of America’s closest Middle Eastern ally as a criminal.

Vernikov didn’t mince words in her response, telling Netanyahu that his visit would challenge the mayor-elect’s socialist policies. “Despite the vile rhetoric of unashamed Marxist radicals like Mayor-elect Mamdani, your visit would serve as a powerful reminder that this city stands with Israel, the Jewish people, and with the principles that unite our two great nations,” she wrote. In a statement to Fox News Digital, she added, “From ‘free’ buses to arresting Bibi Netanyahu, all of Mamdani’s ideas are fantasies from a utopian pipe dream that will never become reality. The spoiled kids who voted for him are going to realize very quickly that Zohran Mamdani is a scam.”

Inna Vernikov (Image via Wikipedia)

Vernikov was born in the Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now southwestern Ukraine), to Jewish parents. At age 12, she immigrated with her family to the United States. Previously a registered Democrat, Vernikov switched parties and became a Republican to run for office after claiming to see a rise in antisemitism and what she sees as socialism in New York City. She is a supporter of Donald Trump. While campaigning, she said “Jews coming from the former Soviet Union are very familiar with communism and socialism, and many of us feel strongly that what today’s Democratic Party is promoting is exactly what we ran from—a place where speech was censored, where we were not allowed to practice religion, where we didn’t have freedom or economic opportunity.

Former Democratic state assemblyman Dov Hikind predicted that when Netanyahu does visit New York, “Bibi will get the biggest positive reception that he’s ever gotten in New York—people who have never come out” will show their support. Hikind told The Post that Mamdani “is going to find out that he’s not the king.”

The Jewish community in New York now faces a mayor who has aligned himself with movements that call for Israel’s destruction, who embraces language that glorifies violence against Jews, and who treats the leader of the Jewish state as a war criminal. Vernikov’s invitation to Netanyahu stands as a declaration that New York’s Jewish community will not bow to intimidation or accept the delegitimization of Israel. The battle lines are drawn, and the question is no longer whether Mamdani will follow through on his threats, but whether the Jewish community will allow its voice to be silenced by those who would turn the city into a stage for anti-Israel extremism.