The mayor of New York acknowledged that he cannot arrest Netanyahu on his own
New York City Mayor Zoharan Mamdani stated that city authorities do not have the specific legal authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he visit the city.
During his election campaign, Mamdani promised to instruct the police to detain the Israeli prime minister if he visited New York. This referred to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in connection with alleged war crimes in Gaza.
In a new video statement, Mamdani said that his team had reviewed all available legal mechanisms and concluded that the city cannot execute this warrant on its own.
“We do not have the independent legal authority to ensure its enforcement,” Mamdani said.
At the same time, he noted that the U.S. federal government does have such authority and called on Washington to act through the International Criminal Court.
“The federal government, however, does have them. And I call on it to join the ICC and execute this warrant,” the mayor of New York said.
Mamdani also emphasized that Netanyahu is “not welcome” in New York. The Israeli prime minister is expected to visit the city in September to attend the UN General Assembly.
It is worth noting that the United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court. Technically, Netanyahu could be detained in a country that recognizes the ICC’s jurisdiction; however, such a mechanism does not automatically apply within the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump previously stated that Netanyahu would not be arrested in the U.S. “in any way, in any form, and under any circumstances.”
“He is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protesters and has been killing American soldiers and others for the past 47 years,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
This was in response to Mamdani’s interview with The New York Times, in which the mayor spoke of “active discussions” with law enforcement officials regarding the possibility of executing the ICC warrant.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in 2024. At the same time, the court also issued an arrest warrant for one of Hamas’s commanders. The ICC hears cases involving genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed on the territory of states that are parties to the Rome Statute.
During his campaign, Mamdani repeatedly called Netanyahu a war criminal and described the war in Gaza as genocide. At the time, he stated that he intended to carry out the ICC warrant if the Israeli prime minister came to New York.
Mamdani’s stance came amid a shift in sentiment among Democratic voters in the U.S. regarding Israel. According to a recent poll, 58% of Democrats believe the U.S. supports Israel too strongly. In 2024, 45% of the party’s voters held this view. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, criticized Mamdani following his interview.
“You were elected to serve New Yorkers, not to promote Hamas propaganda,” Danon said.
Source: BBC.
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