Andrew Cuomo has joined the new high-powered legal team defending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against alleged war crimes in Gaza after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Jewish leader Thursday.
The disgraced ex-governor discussed his new role to thunderous applause Sunday night while addressing the National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education.
“This is the moment that counts. This is the moment that is going to be in the history books. …This is the moment that true friends stand up, shoulder to shoulder and fight for the State of Israel,” Cuomo said at the Edison Ballroom in Times Square.
“I am proud to be on the legal defense for the prime minister against the arrest warrant at the ICC and I am proud to stand against antisemitism.”
Alan Dershowitz, the former Harvard law professor and defense lawyer, is assembling the legal team to defend the embattled Israeli leader, which he first announced in a Wall Street Journal column.
The tribunal in The Hague accused Netanyahu and fired-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of “crimes against humanity and war crimes” through Israel’s military campaign in the Palestinian enclave after Oct. 7.
Netanyahu is the first leader of a modern Western democracy to be wanted by the world’s top war crimes court.
The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Gallant.
Other elected officials were in attendance Sunday, including Cuomo rival state Attorney General Letitia James, who commissioned the scathing investigative report regarding sexual misconduct claims against the ex-governor that triggered his resignation.
But Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 facing the threat of impeachment over the accusations he denies, is now considering a political comeback positioning himself as a moderate while he mulls a run for New York City mayor.
Cuomo blasted the New York Times in a statement Sunday for the paper’s refusal to call out antisemitism in its headline regarding the murder of Rabbi Zvi Kogan — which said the rabbi “disappeared” and was “found dead” in Dubai.
“Rabbi Kogan was not “found dead”, he was murdered. There is a disturbing pattern whereby some in the media — and particularly the @nytimes — downplay antisemitic acts,” Cuomo wrote.
During his speech Sunday night, Cuomo said, “[Kogan] didn’t go missing and his body wasn’t found. He was taken by terrorists and he was murdered. And that’s antisemitism.”
Earlier Sunday, US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) also condemned the Times for its portrayal of the killing.
“Contrary to the NY Times, Rabbi Zvi Kogan did not just “disappear” in Dubai. He was abducted and murdered because he was a Jew,” Torres said.
“The media should call the kidnapping and killing of Rabbi Kogan exactly what it is: an act of antisemitic terror.”
Torres is toying with a political run of his own against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul. The congressman has unleashed an onslaught of recent attacks against the Hochul’s leadership, calling her the “new Joe Biden.”
Cuomo had no comment about Torres’ political future.