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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a new video Tuesday that he does not have the legal authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 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 International Criminal Court’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.”
The post comes just days after Mamdani 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.”
President Donald Trump weighed in on the debate on Truth Social Monday, saying Netanyahu “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form.”
The Israeli prime minister could visit New York later this year to attend the United Nations’ general assembly. His office previously accused Mamdani of “diverting public attention from his follies and attacking the leader of the Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East.”
Responding to Mamdani’s video Tuesday, Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said on X: “You were elected to serve New Yorkers, not Hamas’ propaganda. Do your job!”
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders in 2024, accusing them of war crimes during and after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel – allegations that Israel has denied.
Mamdani, a fierce critic of the Israeli government who has repeatedly condemned Israel’s military operations in Gaza as a “genocide,” discussed the possibility of arresting Netanyahu while on the campaign trail last year.
CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig on Monday criticized the idea that Mamdani would be able to execute the arrest, arguing that he has no law enforcement authority.
“It is utterly ridiculous for the mayor of New York City to even suggest that he might have the authority to order the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu or any visiting foreign head of state,” Honig said on CNN’s “The Source.”
The US has not ratified the Rome Statute, which obliges countries to arrest people who have ICC warrants against them, he further noted, adding that “the conduct of foreign diplomacy, foreign affairs, is entirely up to the federal government.”
Both Trump and former President Joe Biden denounced the ICC warrant against Netanyahu.
During Trump’s second term, his administration has escalated its long-running battle against the ICC, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently promising 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.”
This story has been updated with additional details.
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