New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani again launched a scathing attack against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling him a “war criminal.” He, however, backed off from his previous promise to arrest Netanyahu if he flies to the New York City in September for the annual United Nations General Assembly.
said in a new video on Tuesday that he does not have the legal authority to arrest Netanyahu if he were to come to New York City.
“My administration has reviewed every avenue available under applicable law to determine whether New York City could execute the ’s arrest warrant if Benjamin Netanyahu came here,” Mamdani said in a video posted on X.
“It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant. The federal government, however, does, and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant,” Mamdani said.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu on November 21, 2024, accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity for action taken in the Gaza strip during the Israel-Hamas war.
Mamdani’s post came days after he told The New York Times that he was working with his administration’s legal team on how to execute the arrest of Netanyahu for his “alleged war crimes.” He had asserted that Netanyahu was a “war criminal” who “belongs in The Hague.”
In the interview, the New York City Mayor revealed that municipal officials are engaged in an “active conversation” with the city’s Law Department to ascertain the exact scope of local legal authority should the Israeli Prime Minister arrive in the city.
“Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do,” Mamdani stated, clarifying that his office is not attempting to legislate new local statutes to enforce the measure.
Trump reacts to Mamdani’s remarks
said on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will “not be arrested while in the United States of America” after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stated that his administration is examining legal avenues to detain the Israeli leader.
“Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America. He is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors, and has spent the last 47 years killing American Soldiers, and others. The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented SPIRAL OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, something that should have been dealt with years ago, by previous Presidents! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” he wrote.
Netanyahu’s office reacts: ‘Mamdani should focus on…’
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office strongly criticised New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s statement.
The official response, issued on Sunday, dismissed the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu as “bogus” and labelled the international body a “kangaroo court” that possesses no jurisdiction over either Israel or the United States.
The statement alleged that former ICC prosecutor Karim Khan had initiated the warrant as a diversionary tactic to deflect from subsequent allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
In a sharp rebuke published on X, the Prime Minister’s Office asserted that Mamdani was mimicking Khan’s strategy by targeting Israel to obscure domestic governance issues within New York.
“Instead of backing Khan’s criminal behaviour, Mr. Mamdani should focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York,” the official release stated.
It claimed that the mayor was preoccupied with targeting “the leader of the Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East.
“The Israeli administration also mounted a defence of its ongoing operations in Gaza, asserting that the military had implemented “unprecedented wartime measures” aimed at reducing civilian casualties while combating Hamas, which it accused of deploying civilians as human shields.
Israel has consistently denied the charges and challenged the court’s legal standing. Furthermore, the United States remains a non-signatory to the Rome Statute, meaning Washington is under no international legal obligation to detain or extradite individuals sought by the ICC.
(With inputs from ANI)
