Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D-New York City) refused to rule out attempting to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he returns to New York in September for the UN General Assembly.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” Mamdani said in a New York Times video podcast called “The Interview,” which was posted Saturday.
“I’ve also said that I will follow the laws that we have here in New York City because I believe that there is an importance in following the law as a leader who presides over our city, and that’s something that I plan to do.”
When asked by Times journalist Lulu Garcia-Navarro what the law allows Mamdani and the city to do, the mayor replied, “That’s an active conversation with our legal department in seeing what the prospects are we have here in our municipality.”
However, several former prosecutors say if Mayor Mamdani or any New York police official tried to arrest Netanyahu based on an ICC warrant, it would be a violation of U.S. federal law and they themselves could be charged with federal conspiracy crimes.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz condemned Mamdani’s unwillingness to reject the idea of arresting Netanyahu on New York City soil. “Mayor Mamdani: here’s why your threat to arrest PM Netanyahu’s in NYC during UNGA is not going to happen,” Waltz began a post on X Saturday. “1. The U.S. is not party to the Rome Statute that underlies the ICC, 2. The UN Headquarters Agreement grants diplomatic protections to visiting heads of gov’t, 3. head-of-state immunity applies, & 4. federal authority trumps any local mayor’s wishes.” Waltz went on to call Mamdani’s comments “pure political theater.”
As a candidate for mayor, Mamdani promised that if Netanyahu visited New York City, he would honor the ICC warrant and have Netanyahu arrested for war crimes. Israel has denied it engages in genocide or war crimes.