Mamdani Says He Can't Arrest Netanyahu, but Urges Washington to Enforce ICC Warrant
New York's mayor calls Israel's prime minister a war criminal while conceding he lacks legal power to detain him
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday that his office has no authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but he called on the federal government to detain him under an outstanding international warrant should Netanyahu travel to the United States later this year.
The comments highlight the unresolved global fallout from the International Criminal Court's war-crimes case against Netanyahu over the conduct of Israel's war in Gaza, and they test how far American officials are willing to go in enforcing international law against a close U.S. ally.
"Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal, the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people," Mamdani said in a video posted to social media, according to the Guardian. He nonetheless acknowledged the limits of his own power. "It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant," he said, according to the Hill.
Mamdani's remarks, also reported by NPR, CBS News and Al Jazeera, come ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in September, when Netanyahu could travel to New York. The mayor's video walked back an earlier vow to personally see Netanyahu arrested, an admission that drew attention across outlets covering the story.
The episode underscores the diplomatic bind facing U.S. officials: an ICC warrant against the leader of a close ally sits uneasily alongside Washington's long-standing refusal to recognize the court's jurisdiction over Israel, leaving enforcement questions unresolved even as Mamdani presses the federal government to act.
— Compiled from reporting by the Guardian, Al Jazeera, NPR, CBS News and The Hill.