{"id":299574,"date":"2026-07-18T17:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T17:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/299574\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T17:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T17:55:09","slug":"mamdani-plotting-to-arrest-netanyahu-at-new-york-un-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/299574\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani plotting to arrest Netanyahu at New York UN summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The socialist mayor of New York is exploring legal options for arresting Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> if the Israeli prime minister sets foot in the city.<\/p>\n

Before coming to power, Zohran Mamdani<\/a> pledged to honour an arrest warrant for Mr Netanyahu issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The Israeli leader is expected in New York in late September to address the General Assembly<\/a> of the United Nations.<\/p>\n

“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mr Mamdani told the New York Times in an interview published on Saturday. “He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court.”<\/p>\n

\"Prime<\/p>\n

Benjamin Netanyahu is expected in New York to address the UN General Assembly in September – Mary Altaffer\/AP<\/p>\n

Mr Mamdani, the first Muslim mayor of the city, has staunchly condemned Israel’s war in Gaza<\/a>, calling its actions a genocide. He has strongly opposed US military and financial support for Israel.<\/p>\n

He said it was unclear if he possessed the legal authority to order the New York Police Department to arrest a foreign leader. He said he was in “an active conversation” with his city’s legal officials on the issue.<\/p>\n

“Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end,” Mr Mamdani added.<\/p>\n

If he tries to act on his threat, it could set him on a direct collision course with Donald Trump, with whom he has maintained unexpectedly amicable relations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Washington does not recognise the ICC and Mr Trump imposed sanctions on the court in February last year, saying it had “engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel”.<\/p>\n

After Mr Mamdani first pledged to arrest the Israeli leader during his mayoral campaign last year, Mr Netanyahu said he would still come to New York, a city which has the largest Jewish population<\/a> outside of Israel.<\/p>\n

Speaking earlier this week to Sid Rosenberg, a New York radio personality and outspoken critic of the Democrat mayor, Mr Netanyahu said: “I think [Mamdani] should look at who he’s condemning, who he’s praising\u2026 He’s condemning Israel, the one democracy that stands shoulder to shoulder with American values.”<\/p>\n

“He’s with the terror actors,” Mr Netanayhu added. “And in fact I think secretly he hates America.”<\/p>\n

Mr Mamdani has not voiced support for Hamas and has condemned the terror group’s Oct 7 2023 attacks on Israel, which provoked Israel’s war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Mr Netanyahu is currently facing his own political woes. He is up for re-election at a time when he is still faces trial on corruption charges<\/a>, voters are increasingly frustrated at his handling of regional conflicts and relations have soured with the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Across America, support has waned for Israel over its war against Hamas in Gaza, breaking decades of bipartisan consensus.<\/p>\n

Nearly half of House Democrats voted this week to end US aid to Israel. The bill did not pass, but underscored the clear divisions in the party’s view of a long-term ally.<\/p>\n

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The socialist mayor of New York is exploring legal options for arresting Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli prime…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3895,153,14158,4096,113818,9,24,55,54,56,113817,82],"class_list":["post-299574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-donald-trump","tag-general-assembly","tag-international-criminal-court","tag-israeli-leader","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-war-criminal","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}