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(The Hill) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) on Tuesday backed off of his previous promise to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he flies to the Big Apple in September for the annual United Nations General Assembly.
“It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant. The federal government, however, does,” Mamdani said in a video posed to the social platform X Tuesday night.
He continued, “And I call on them to join the ICC [International Criminal Court] and execute this warrant.”
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.
Israel and the U.S. are not subject to the rulings of the ICC, as both countries have never ratified the Rome Statute—the treaty that created the ICC—and therefore does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction over its citizens, servicemembers or government officials.
However, the ICC asserts jurisdiction over Palestinian territories including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem and recognizes the state of Palestine as a party subject to the Rome Statute.
The Israel-Hamas war officially ended on October 10, 2025, following the enactment of a U.S.-backed peace plan and over 73,000 Palestinians were pronounced dead as a result of the conflict, according to Brown University.
Palestinians also experienced “widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease” driving hunger-related deaths, according to the United Nations News.
Mamdani incorporated advocacy for Palestine into his mayor campaign last year, much to the consternation of many lawmakers nationally, including fellow Democrats.
“As human beings, we have spent generations building a shared understanding that there are crimes so grave they offend all of humanity. Anyone, with their eyes, with their heart, with their conscience, should recognize the devastation he has wrought and understand that he belongs before a court of law,” Mamdani said in the Tuesday clip.
“As I’ve said, I agree with the ICC that Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested and tried for his crimes, as I do for anyone else charged by the ICC,” he added, noting his administration reviewed every legal “avenue” for arrest.
President Trump on Monday railed against the mayor’s push to arrest the Israeli prime minister, writing that Netanyahu will not be arrested, “in any way, shape, or form,” while in the U.S.
“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,” Trump’s Truth Social Post read.
“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!”
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