Socialist New York City Mayor said he is reviewing his options to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his expected visit to New York for the UN General Assembly in September.
“Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani said, referencing Prison Scheveningen in The Hague, Netherlands, home of the United Nations Detention Unit (UNDU) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) Detention Center.
In a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times, Lulu Garcia-Navarro asked Mamdani whether he would follow through on his campaign promise to “arrest Benjamin Netanyahu.”
The ICC issued an arrest warrant in November 2024 against Netanyahu, alleging he is responsible “for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.”
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court, and what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years,” Mamdani responded.
“I’ve also said that I will follow the laws that we have here in New York City, because I believe that there is an importance in following the law as a leader who presides over our city, and that’s something that I plan to do.”
He explained, “Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end.”
When asked what the law allows, Mamdani said he’s engaged in an “active conversation” with his legal department to find out “what the prospects are.” He then used the moment to attack President Trump, saying, “What we’ve seen at the national level is a desire sometimes to write your own laws, to go outside of the bounds of legality. That’s not something we have an interest in.”
Mamdani further said that Netanyahu will not be immune because of his participation in the General Assembly.
“We’re talking about the International Criminal Court and the fact that they have a warrant out for this Prime Minister’s arrest, and I think it’s important to talk about the weight that that has as a charge, and also that as the mayor of New York City, I’ll be following the laws of New York City,” he said when asked whether he’ll honor amnesty for officials at the UN.
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Ofir Akunis, Israel’s Consul-General in New York, responded to the threat, saying Mamdani has “no authority” to do such a thing, according to the Jerusalem Post.
“Instead of dealing with matters over which he has no authority, it would be better for him to start running New York City and only New York City,” he said.
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