Tel Aviv Vice Mayor Guy Avner challenged New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani this week to settle their clash over Israel and Jewish issues inside a boxing ring for charity. In an Instagram video posted Monday, Avner accused the progressive mayor of creating hatred toward Jews and invited him to face him directly, with all proceeds going to a charity of Mamdani’s choice.
The dare lands amid months of friction after Mamdani’s comments on enforcing an International Criminal Court warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Avner frames the bout as a way to replace social-media punches with rules and respect. Yet the theatrical delivery and pointed jab about arrest risk turning a policy dispute into personal spectacle.
The Video That Put Gloves on Diplomacy
Avner looked straight into the camera and addressed Mamdani by name. “Mayor Mamdani, you’ve been saying a lot of horrible stuff, creating a lot of hatred towards the Jewish people,” he said. “As the Vice Mayor of Tel Aviv, I’m going to stand strong. I love America, I love New York City, but you, Mamdani, you’re bad news.”
I’m coming for you. There’s nowhere to run. There’s nowhere to hide. It’s time. You and me, face to face. Let’s go.
He posted the clip on Instagram and urged followers to share it until Mamdani accepted. The caption offered to host the exhibition in Tel Aviv with a direct swipe: “We can have it in Tel Aviv, don’t worry, you won’t get arrested.” That line referenced Mamdani’s July remarks about possible local enforcement of the ICC warrant against Netanyahu during a UN General Assembly visit.
Avner later told The Jerusalem Post that boxing forces opponents to face each other under clear rules. “Mayor Mamdani has repeatedly thrown punches at Israel, the IDF, and many Jews around the world with his rhetoric,” he said. “Instead of fighting through headlines and social media, I invited him to step into the ring, where there are rules, respect, and accountability.”
- All ticket and broadcast proceeds to a charity chosen by Mamdani
- Exhibition bout, not a professional ranking fight
- Proposed host city: Tel Aviv
- Stated goal: lower the temperature around rising antisemitism and hostile rhetoric
No public response from Mamdani’s office appeared in coverage through early August.
July Comments That Raised the Temperature
The challenge did not emerge from nowhere. Tensions built through the summer as Mamdani, elected on a progressive platform, took sharp positions on Israel.
- July 21-22, 2026: Mamdani released a video calling Netanyahu a war criminal, stating the Israeli leader was not welcome in New York, and urging the federal government to enforce the ICC warrant. He acknowledged the city itself lacked authority to arrest.
- Late July: Netanyahu responded on Fox News, accusing Mamdani of “fomenting hate” and insisting he would still speak at the UN in September. He called the ICC charges “bogus.”
- August 3: Avner posts the boxing video and follows with the Jerusalem Post statement linking the dare to words that have consequences amid global antisemitism spikes since October 7, 2023.
Mamdani has consistently rejected antisemitism charges. He draws a line between criticizing Israeli government policy and prejudice against Jews. Israeli diplomats and cabinet ministers have issued repeated rebukes of his stances since he took office.
Avner argued public leaders should cool rhetoric, not inflame it, especially while Israel faces existential threats and antisemitic incidents rise. The boxing format, he said, creates accountability missing from open-ended online attacks.
Avner’s Day Job Beyond the Ring
Guy Avner is not a career foreign-policy figure. He was recently appointed vice mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo with the social services and immigrant absorption portfolios. That role covers roughly 25,000 new immigrants living in the city.
In late June he described plans for a new beit oleh, an immigrant house meant as a hub for olim chadashim and lone soldiers. The space would offer work areas, Shabbat dinners, holiday celebrations, lectures, and integration with local Israelis, complete with cafeteria and perhaps a small pool. He spoke at a Nefesh B’Nefesh immigrant market event and stressed employment networking as the foundation for keeping newcomers in the city.
His background includes entrepreneurship and brand work. The immigrant focus gives the boxing challenge a local texture: a municipal official whose portfolio centers on absorbing Jews into Israeli life is now calling out an American mayor over rhetoric he says harms Jews worldwide.
What the Poll Numbers Show
Avner’s claim that Mamdani creates hatred sits beside a more complicated picture of Jewish opinion. An AP-NORC survey of more than 1,000 Jewish adults conducted June 11-17, 2026, found 44 percent held a favorable view of Mamdani and 39 percent an unfavorable one. Netanyahu scored only 32 percent favorable and 59 percent unfavorable among the same group.
| Figure | Favorable | Unfavorable |
|---|---|---|
| Zohran Mamdani (US Jews) | 44% | 39% |
| Benjamin Netanyahu (US Jews) | 32% | 59% |
| Mamdani Jewish vote share (2025 election) | About 26% | |
The same research family showed deep partisan splits among American Jews on Gaza, US support levels, and whether Israel’s actions constitute genocide (30 percent of Jewish adults overall said yes). Mamdani remains net-positive nationally among Jews even after skipping traditional events and endorsing candidates critical of Israel. Local New York Jewish voters have polled more negatively in other surveys.
These figures undercut any simple narrative that Mamdani is uniformly rejected by Jews. They also explain why an Israeli municipal leader might still feel compelled to draw a bright line: favorability coexists with sharp disagreement over rhetoric many experience as hostile.
- 44% of American Jews viewed Mamdani favorably in the June AP-NORC poll
- 59% viewed Netanyahu unfavorably
- 26% estimated Jewish vote for Mamdani in the prior election
- Partisan gaps among Jews remain wide on Israel policy
Politicians Have Stepped Into Rings Before
Charity and exhibition boxing by elected officials is not new. Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney once raised $1 million in a charity boxing match against Evander Holyfield. Theodore Roosevelt famously boxed in the White House until a detached retina forced him to stop.
Those bouts usually stayed lighter or purely fundraising. Avner’s invitation carries heavier cargo: an explicit charge of fomenting hatred, a geographic dare tied to arrest comments, and an ongoing diplomatic freeze between Israeli leaders and New York’s city hall. Earlier friction included Mamdani’s earlier boycott of the Israel Day Parade, which other New York Democrats still attended.
On X, reactions split along familiar lines. Some users praised the directness after months of long-distance criticism. Others called the challenge thuggery or theater that distracts from substantive policy, noting Avner had not dared tougher rhetorical critics. The crowd layer reveals the core irony: a move sold as restoring personal accountability immediately becomes another round of polarized content.
Where the Dare Leaves NYC and Tel Aviv
If Mamdani ignores the invitation, Avner still scores a viral statement that resonates with pro-Israel audiences tired of online sparring. If the mayor engages or counters, the optics of two mayors trading gloves could dominate headlines for weeks and either humanize the dispute or trivialize it.
The deeper stake sits with Jewish communities in both cities and the practical relationship between New York and Israeli municipalities. Rising antisemitism reports, UN calendars, and municipal foreign-policy statements keep colliding. Avner’s immigrant-absorption work and Mamdani’s progressive coalition represent opposite instincts about how diaspora politics should sound.
Similar flashpoints keep surfacing. One recent example sits among broader 2026 antisemitism flashpoints in US politics. Avner’s wager is that a controlled ring with charity attached can force respect where headlines failed. The counter-risk is that the same wager turns a governance disagreement into pure combat metaphor, making cooler conversation harder rather than easier.
For now the gloves stay figurative. The video is out, the terms are public, and both men hold office while their cities watch what happens next.
