Hillel Neuer appeared on Newsmax with Emma Rechenberg and Jon Glasgow to discuss New York City Mayor Mamdani’s empty threat to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and to lend insight into the future of the United Nations and its next leader.
Transcript:
Emma Rechenberg, Newsmax: Hillel, Mayor Mamdani must realize he cannot arrest Netanyahu as mayor of New York. Is this all a distraction?
Hillel Neuer: Mamdani’s politics are clear. He has radical politics. He’s someone who, when he mentions 9/11, he tries to equalize victims of America with what happened in New York, kind of a justification for some of the radical ideology. You know, he was elected to provide security and safety for the people of New York. Two hundred foreign dignitaries are about to descend upon Manhattan. He has a very serious responsibility.
Instead, for the past several months, he’s been grandstanding. He threatened initially to arrest Netanyahu. Then he said he wouldn’t, but he would understand if there are major protests. Look, New York has professionals in the police and other agencies. They’re going to do everything to lower the temperature. The problem is that the mayor is doing the opposite with his inflammatory rhetoric.
It’s the opposite of what New Yorkers need. He’s trying to pretend that he has a foreign policy. He’s the mayor. He wants to meet with radical left politicians like Lula da Silva of Brazil and Pedro Sanchez of Spain. It’s time for him to focus on what New Yorkers need, which is safety, security, and competence.
Emma Rechenberg, Newsmax: The United Nations, although it’s a major event with all these world leaders coming together in one spot, the president has expressed frustration with this General Assembly in the past. We’ve really questioned what they’re actually able to achieve. The Secretary-General will be leaving his position at the end of the year, after nearly a decade. Is there any expectation as to who would take on that role next? And really, what does the future of the UN look like?
Hillel Neuer: The United Nations is facing a very serious test. There’s a race now to succeed the Secretary-General, but I’d say that there’s a race to be relevant. Let’s keep in mind that we have crises around the world. In Sudan, there are some 14 million people displaced. Hundreds of thousands have been killed, wounded. The UN is doing nothing to solve that problem.
When we look at the wars in the Middle East, whether it’s the war launched by Hamas on October 7th or Iran bombing its neighbors from Israel to the Gulf, the United Nations is completely irrelevant. If there’s any movement, whether it’s you know Russia and Ukraine, it’s countries like the U.S. and a few others who get involved, but the UN is really not relevant.
So there’s major tests facing the UN Secretary-General. There’s no clear indication of who will lead. The few people who, on the initial straw polls, who’ve been leading are not substantial personalities who are well known. And keep in mind, to win the spot, you have to be approved not only by the U.S. but by Russia and China. So to imagine that you’ll have someone with a spine is a very hard expectation, given the regimes they have to appease.
Jon Glasgow, Newsmax: The Trump administration has said the UN has lost its teeth. It’s a gathering of world leaders, but really, nothing happens.
Hillel Neuer: It’s a catwalk for dictators.
