New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said his office is still examining the possibility of arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he travels to the city for the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Speaking on The New York Times podcast The Interview, Mamdani disclosed that his administration’s legal department is actively discussing the matter, noting it was a pledge he made during his mayoral campaign.
“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 is an opinion held by many purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years.”
Pressed on what the law allows him to do, Mamdani responded, “That’s an active conversation with our legal department. However, what we’ve seen at the national level is a desire sometimes to write your own laws, to go outside of the bounds of legality. That’s not something we have an interest in.”
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in 2024 for Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, accusing them of war crimes during and after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. Both US President Donald Trump and former president Joe Biden denounced the warrants.
The United States has not ratified the Rome Statute, which obliges member states to enforce ICC warrants. The Trump administration has escalated its confrontation with the court, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently vowing to “dismantle” the ICC 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, a vocal critic of the Israeli government, has repeatedly described Israel’s war in Gaza as “genocide,” a claim Israel rejects.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz on Saturday dismissed Mamdani’s remarks as “pure political theater,” stressing that the US is not a member of the ICC.
Netanyahu himself brushed off concerns earlier in the week during an interview with WABC radio host Sid Rosenberg.
Israel’s UN envoy Danny Danon later wrote on social media 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.”
