SerpApi.Org
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has admitted what anyone with a basic grasp of the Constitution already knew: He does not have the independent legal authority to order the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York City.
But rather than back down, Mamdani doubled down — and now, he’s turning on his own constituents.
In a video released Tuesday, the mayor declared that Netanyahu is “not welcome in New York City,” insisted the prime minister belongs before the International Criminal Court, and brazenly called on the federal government to execute the ICC’s warrant.
But Netanyahu is just a smokescreen.
Mamdani’s real agenda is to remake American law entirely, superseding it with a “globalized law” that takes its place.
He said as much Tuesday, when he chillingly stated that “anyone” charged by the ICC should “be arrested and tried for [their] crimes.”
This means any American citizen or military member targeted by an ICC warrant — New Yorkers, too.
Yet the United States never joined the Rome Statute that created the ICC, and every administration since its ratification has rejected its authority over Americans.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton refused to submit the treaty to the Senate, citing concerns that enemy countries would use the court to unfairly target US military personnel.
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President George W. Bush agreed, and high-level officials consistently highlighted the court’s inherent unfairness.
Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the ICC as a “grossly ineffective and corrupt” institution, while Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche recently called its actions “lawless and illegitimate.”
For 25 years, US administrations on both sides of the political aisle shared the concern that corrupt nations would use the court to bypass the fairest justice system in the world and subject Americans to politically motivated prosecutions.
As a result, the court holds no power or legal authority over our nation.
After all, we have the US Constitution.
Article II gives the president primary control over foreign affairs, and the Supremacy Clause means that federal law overrides state or city actions in that arena.
The Founders vested this power in the federal government alone, specifically to prevent rogue local officials like Zohran Mamdani from dragging the nation into diplomatic disasters.
Moreover, the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act of 2002 blocks state or local agencies from cooperating with the ICC.
Congress passed the ASPA precisely because lawmakers feared ICC harassment of American troops and officials for political reasons.
Mamdani knew all this — and that, under New York State law, he’d have been exposed to possible criminal prosecution for unlawful imprisonment or official misconduct if he actually ordered Netanyahu’s arrest.
So on Tuesday, he had no choice but to roll back this particular Trojan horse he’s been using to conceal his real agenda.
For him, this episode was just the first skirmish of a much longer war.
He was testing globalization’s dangerous waters by using an easy scapegoat, Israel’s Netanyahu, for cover.
And now everyday Americans will be the guinea pigs for his project.
This is a long play: If Mamdani’s advocacy succeeds and American mayors and governors start acting on ICC papers, it hands legitimacy to a corrupt foreign court — and to adversaries that could target our service members with warrants at home and abroad.
Mamdani was willing to demand the arrest of a foreign head of state under ICC law, and on Tuesday he indicated he would advocate the same for his constituents who are subject to ICC warrants.
The recent incident at Park East Synagogue was instructive.
When members held an event about Israel inside its doors, Mamdani allies attacked it — and Mamdani himself used ICC propaganda to blame the victims for being harassed.
The mayor’s willingness to weaponize ICC decrees against New Yorkers engaging in First Amendment protected activities was shocking and dangerous.
On Tuesday, he made his mission and agenda clear: He wants foreign governance supplanting US sovereignty.
He’s advocating a globalized rule of law influenced by adversarial nations to “impart justice” on Americans.
Our service members, leaders and everyday citizens will be left vulnerable to the weaponized warrants of nations that despise us if he gets his way.
A mayor playing diplomat to appease a radical base is dangerous enough.
But a mayor actively working to erode the sovereignty that protects his constituents is a threat to the republic itself.
Jeffrey Lax is a CUNY professor of law and co-founder of Students and Faculty for Equality at CUNY.
