Days after an alleged hate crime against a Jewish person in Manhattan, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani refused to engage with suggestions from various corners that he de-escalate his rhetoric around Israel — or speak to why he continued publicly toying with arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu well after city attorneys told him he couldn’t.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged Raul Morales with multiple hate crimes for stabbing first an Asian American and then a Jewish man on the Upper West Side last Thursday — the latter attack allegedly preceded by Morales shouting “Allahu Akbar” and “justice for Islam” outside an Orthodox synagogue displaying American and Israeli flags.

A number of Jewish leaders linked the attack to the mayor’s recent denunciations of Netanyahu and the Jewish state, and even a fellow Democrat signaled at a press conference on Friday morning that Mamdani should “take the temperature down.”

Netanyahu himself, whom Mamdani excoriated in a widely watched video last week as “the architect of a horrific genocide,” accused the mayor of “fomenting hate” in a Sunday appearance on Fox News.

But the mayor declined to substantively engage with any of these criticisms when pressed by reporters on Monday.

“I’m not interested in getting into a back and forth with Prime Minister Netanyahu,” the mayor said when asked about Netanyahu’s comments at an unrelated press conference, though he immediately pivoted back to attacking the Israeli leader when asked moments afterward about other New York elected officials suggesting his commentary might negatively impact Jewish New Yorkers. “When I make criticisms of Prime Minister Netanyahu, they are criticisms of Prime Minister Netanyahu. And what I shared were not even, frankly, personal assessments. They were objective facts.”

Still, the democratic socialist acknowledged that the majority of the city’s hate crimes fall upon its Jewish minority, and pledged his administration would protect them. He also praised the police for quickly arresting Morales, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

“One of my top priorities is keeping Jewish New Yorkers safe, keeping every single New Yorker safe,” he said. “My responsibility as a New Yorker and as a mayor of this city is a responsibility to take care of each and every person who calls the city their home. And that is not based upon whether or not they agree with me, how they feel about me. My job is to make sure that they are safe, that they are thriving, and they continue to call this city home.”

Asked why he continued to publicly suggest there was a possibility he might honor his campaign promise to arrest Netanyahu well after — according to The New York Times — city attorneys told him he had no power to do so, the mayor refused to explain.

“I’ve said all that I have to say on that topic,” he answered.