SerpApi.Org
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s ambitions to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are unlikely to materialize, despite his claims.
Mamdani is known as a harsh critic of Israel and has alleged that the Middle Eastern democracy is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, where Netanyahu is leading a war against Hamas terrorists embedded in the area.
Over the weekend, Mamdani suggested New York police would arrest Netanyahu when he comes into the city for the United Nations' annual meeting in September. However, while the mayor cited the International Criminal Court’s warrant as the basis for Netanyahu’s arrest, laws and regulations stipulate that he holds little authority to target the Israeli leader.
Any government official coming to the U.N. is protected by absolute head-of-state diplomatic immunity, according to the organization.
Federal law dictates foreign policy and diplomatic relations, protecting heads of state from being arrested by local officials such as Mamdani. In addition, the ICC holds no jurisdiction in the United States.
"The federal government gets to determine the foreign policy of the United States and certainly not cities," Kean University Provost David Birdsell told CBS News. "It's very clear the mayor does not have the authority to arrest."
Israel’s Consul-General in New York, Ofir Akunis, said Saturday that Mamdani has “no authority” to call for the arrest of Netanyahu. Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the U.N. in New York, said the same during a Monday interview with NewsNation. He said Mamdani holds no jurisdiction, in part because the U.S. is not a member of the ICC, and noted foreign leaders have long been permitted to travel to New York to address the General Assembly. Netanyahu traveled to the U.N. General Assembly in 2024 and 2025, and the administration appeared to put no pressure on the Israeli leader to cancel his trip.
“He wants to distract the conversation from his failures in running the city and putting the blame on Israel,” Danon said. “The only thing the mayor can do is sit on the sidelines and maybe learn something about the rule of law.”
The U.S. holds a dim view of the ICC, which issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in 2024, alleging he is “responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population” in Gaza, as well as “crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged last week to begin to dismantle the ICC “brick by brick, if necessary,” and warned that it undermines the U.S.’s interests.
“As we speak, the ICC and its friends are waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles, but with statutes, compacts, and the force of so-called international law,” Rubio said. “It’s a global tribunal staffed by unelected globalist bureaucrats who claim their power is almost unlimited.
“If we stand idle, all of them would be at the mercy of foreign judges thousands of miles away, facing the constant risk of prosecution and even imprisonment for the so-called crime of defending their own country,” he added. “Today, it threatens every aspect of our political and legal system. Border patrol agents removing violent criminals from our country, American Marines risking their lives to defend our homeland, prosecutors working to dismantle terrorist plots to attack and kill Americans.”
President Donald Trump has pushed back on Mamdani’s efforts to target Netanyahu, while Israeli officials have blasted the idea that he could be arrested in the U.S. The prime minister’s office has questioned the ICC for claiming the moral high ground, pointing to the former chief prosecutor who stepped down last year after being accused of repeatedly raping a staffer.
“The ICC is a kangaroo court that has no jurisdiction over Americans or Israelis,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement to X. “Its bogus arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu was issued by a disgraced former ICC Prosecutor, Karim Khan, a few days before allegations of sexual misconduct against him became public.”
“Instead of backing Khan’s criminal behaviour, Mr. Mamdani should focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York,” it continued. “Like Karim Khan, Mamdani appears interested in diverting public attention from his follies and attacking the leader of the Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East.”
RUBIO REVEALS CHILD RAPIST CONTROVERSIALLY PARDONED BY WALZ DEPORTED FROM US
Mamdani’s hopes of arresting Netanyahu come as anti-Israel sentiment is spreading in Congress. Last week, over half of House Democrats voted to block long-standing U.S. aid to Israel, favoring an amendment sponsored by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to cut off all military assistance to the country. Though he backed the amendment, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) questioned Mamdani’s latest push against Netanyahu during a Fox News interview.
“He can come to the U.N. Assembly. The ICC and ICJ have a legal process. That case will go forward,” Khanna said. “My bigger concern is how do we get out of this war? ... And how do we actually get peace and justice there and get America out of these wars? But, you know, I'm not for creating a spectacle. The U.N. is a place that people can come to.”
