New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said his administration is examining whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be arrested if he visits the city for the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Speaking on The New York Times’ The Interview podcast, Mamdani said the city’s legal department is assessing the matter, in line with a campaign pledge he made during the mayoral race.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani said. “He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court. And what you will find is that this is an opinion held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years.”
When asked about the legal authority available to his office, Mamdani said the issue remains under review.
“That’s an active conversation with our legal department. However, what we’ve seen at the national level is a desire, at times, to write your own laws and go beyond the bounds of legality. That’s not something we have an interest in.”
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders in 2024 over alleged war crimes committed during and after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. Both President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden criticised the court’s decision.
The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC and requires member states to execute the court’s arrest warrants. The Trump administration has also intensified its criticism of the ICC, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently pledging to “dismantle” the court and accusing it of “waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles” but with “the force of so-called international law.”
Mamdani has consistently criticised the Israeli government and described Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as a “genocide”, an allegation Israel has repeatedly rejected.
Reacting to the mayor’s remarks, US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz dismissed the comments on Saturday, describing them as “pure political theatre” while stressing that the United States is not a member of the ICC.
Netanyahu also played down Mamdani’s position during an interview earlier in the week with WABC radio host Sid Rosenberg.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said on social media on Saturday that Netanyahu “will come to New York, address the United Nations General Assembly with pride, and stand before the world to state Israel’s truth and its unwavering right to defend its citizens.”
