Mamdani says New York cannot arrest Netanyahu, urges federal action
Mamdani said New York cannot execute the ICC warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu and pushed Washington to do it instead, sharpening a fight over law and symbolism.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said New York City could not execute the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu and urged the federal government to do it instead, putting the city’s top elected official at the center of a legal fight with no clear local enforcement path.
Mamdani said he was in an “active conversation” with New York City legal officials about whether the city had any authority to act if Netanyahu came to New York for the United Nations General Assembly in September 2026. He called Netanyahu “a war criminal” and said he “belongs in The Hague,” a line that framed the dispute as both a legal question and a political signal.
The warrant at issue was tied to Netanyahu’s conduct in the war in Gaza, and the practical problem remained the same: New York City could not carry out an international arrest warrant on its own. Mamdani’s shift from a city-level arrest pledge to a call for federal action marked a careful narrowing of his position without abandoning the public posture that made the issue a national flashpoint.
That posture was not new. In September 2025, before taking office, Mamdani expanded on his vow to order the New York Police Department to arrest Netanyahu if he visited the city, saying the move would show that New York “stands up for international law.” Legal experts at the time said such a move would be impractical and likely illegal.
President Donald Trump pushed back on July 20, saying Netanyahu would not be arrested in the United States. The Times reported that Trump told Netanyahu he would not be arrested “in any way, shape, or form” while in the country. Netanyahu, who has spoken at the General Assembly before and was expected to return in September, responded that he was undaunted by both his legal problems and Mamdani’s threats.
The episode drew backlash and legal questions from former prosecutors and political observers, underscoring how a mayoral promise with no clear enforcement mechanism can still carry political force. For Mamdani, the issue also keeps him aligned with the international left and with critics of Israel’s Gaza war, while forcing Washington to answer a confrontation he says New York cannot settle alone.
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