Huckabee to Newsmax: Mamdani can't arrest Netanyahu

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Wednesday dismissed New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani's renewed calls for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as legally baseless, telling Newsmax the mayor's apparent retreat from an earlier campaign pledge underscored that he "has no authority whatsoever" to carry it out.

On "Finnerty," Huckabee criticized Mamdani after the mayor acknowledged that New York City lacks the legal authority to execute the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for Netanyahu, while urging the federal government to join the ICC and enforce it instead.

"It's not just the arrogance, but it's the ignorance," Huckabee said. "This is a guy who has no authority whatsoever to arrest a foreign leader."

While campaigning for mayor last year, Mamdani pledged that "New York City would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu" if the Israeli leader visited the Big Apple, arguing that the city should align its actions with international law.

In a more recent video, however, Mamdani said his administration had reviewed its legal options and concluded the city lacks authority to enforce the ICC warrant, instead calling on the Trump administration to do so.

Huckabee said neither scenario is realistic.

"Federal laws would trump New York laws," he said. "Secondly, the U.S. is not a party to the ICC."

He added that President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio "have been crystal clear in defying the ICC," dismissing it as "a complete waste of people's money."

"So, there's no way," Huckabee said. "And if the prime minister should come to New York, he's got diplomatic immunity to go to the U.N. The whole thing is a farce."

Netanyahu is expected to travel to New York in September for the U.N. General Assembly.

Huckabee also mocked Mamdani's handling of the issue, joking that New York could become the "City That Never Thinks."

"This guy is absolutely playing to the crowd," Huckabee said. "But he's doing it with about 10 out of 52 cards in the deck."

The ambassador also faulted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for not publicly condemning Mamdani's rhetoric.

"He's a coward," Huckabee said. "If he doesn't, then I hope that nobody ever calls him a Jewish leader again."

Addressing polling showing declining support for Netanyahu among some Americans, Huckabee argued that many people have been misled about Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

"When you say ... that Benjamin Netanyahu is guilty of genocide, that Israel committed genocide, on its face, that is a stupid thing to say," Huckabee said. "When you commit genocide, you try to erase an entire people."

He added, "If Israel is trying to commit genocide, they're really bad at it."

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