New York City Mayor Reviews Legal Basis for Arresting Benjamin Netanyahu
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has publicly stated that his administration is seriously examining the legal authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, should the leader set foot in New York to attend the UN General Assembly in September.
Mamdani made the firm statement while appearing on The New York Times podcast, The Interview, with journalist Lulu Garcia-Navarro on Saturday (18 July). On that occasion, Mamdani openly voiced his support for global legal measures concerning the Middle East crisis.
“I believe that Israeli head of government Benjamin Netanyahu deserves to be in The Hague,” Mamdani said bluntly to the host. He continued his argument by adding that Netanyahu is a war criminal who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court.
To realise the plan, Mamdani revealed that he is currently in active discussions with the New York City Law Department to examine in detail the constitutional regulations and the jurisdiction of the territory.
The review is focused on determining whether a mayor has the constitutional authority to order the New York Police Department (NYPD) to detain a foreign head of state with diplomatic status.
Nevertheless, he emphasised that the legal corridor remains paramount, stating: “Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City is what we will do, but we will not make our own laws for that purpose.”
The law enforcement plan is not entirely surprising, given that since his mayoral campaign, Mamdani has been committed to making every effort to enforce the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Netanyahu, should the prime minister visit his jurisdiction.
A sharp response came immediately from the Israeli side. In a separate radio interview with broadcaster Sid Rosenberg recently, Benjamin Netanyahu flatly dismissed the possibility of arrest, while counter-accusing Mamdani of sympathising with Hamas.
According to Netanyahu, the mayor should look at whom he criticises and whom he praises, adding that Mamdani criticises Israel, the only democratic state standing shoulder to shoulder with American values.
In response to the accusation, Mamdani’s camp affirmed his balanced yet firm political stance on humanitarian issues. Throughout the global conflict, Mamdani has repeatedly issued strong condemnation of Israel’s intensive military campaign in the Gaza Strip, while simultaneously condemning the attack launched by Hamas on 7 October 2023 against Israeli citizens.
At the end of the interview, Mamdani did not hesitate to launch sharp criticism of his own country’s foreign policy direction regarding the humanitarian crisis in Palestine, stating that it is very difficult to find a policy approach worse than what the country has done to Gaza and Palestine.