New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said his office is still looking into arresting Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister visits the city for the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Speaking on The New York Times’ “The Interview” podcast, Mamdani said his administration’s legal department is actively discussing the potential arrest of Netanyahu, something he vowed on the campaign trail to pursue.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani said. “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.”
Asked what he believed the law allowed him to do, Mamdani responded: “That’s an active conversation with our legal department. However, 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.”
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. President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden have denounced the ICC warrant.
