NYC Mayor Admits He Can't Arrest Netanyahu but Demands the Federal Government Do It

A Campaign Promise Hits a Legal Wall

It was one of the boldest pledges of New York City's recent mayoral race: if elected, Zohran Mamdani would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the moment he set foot in the city. On Tuesday, July 22, that promise collided head-on with legal reality. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday that his administration did not have the legal authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he had planned, and called on U.S. federal authorities to do so instead.

"My administration has reviewed every avenue available under applicable law to determine whether New York City could execute the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant if Benjamin Netanyahu came here," Mamdani said. "It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant." The announcement, delivered in a video posted on X, marked a significant concession from a mayor who had made the arrest pledge a centerpiece of his campaign.

The ICC Warrant and What It Alleges

The ICC, based in The Hague, issued the arrest warrant for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including "starvation as a method of warfare." The warrant also includes allegations of intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population, as well as allegations of murder, persecution, and other inhuman acts in connection with Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. Netanyahu and his government have rejected the allegations.

It's unclear exactly when Netanyahu plans to visit New York next, but the next session of the United Nations General Assembly is scheduled to take place in September. During his campaign for mayor, Mamdani had said he would honor the ICC warrant if elected, and arrest Netanyahu as soon as he set foot in New York. That now-abandoned plan was always on shaky legal ground. Some legal experts had pointed to the federal American Servicemembers Protection Act of 2002, which bars local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with the ICC process. U.S. federal law also makes it illegal for local governments to cooperate with the court, and a separate federal statute prohibits the imprisonment or obstruction of foreign officials, including heads of state.

Mamdani Passes the Baton — to a Government That Won't Take It

Mamdani added that the U.S. federal government does have such authority, and declared: "I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant." He made clear, however, that his feelings about Netanyahu haven't changed. In the video, Mamdani described the Israeli prime minister as a "war criminal" and said he is not welcome in New York City. In the clip, Mamdani calls Netanyahu the architect of a "horrific genocide against the Palestinian people" and says everyone should understand he belongs "before a court of law."

Mamdani announced that conclusion in a video posted on X, a day after President Donald Trump vowed that Israel's leader would not be arrested in the United States. Trump, in a Truth Social post on Monday, said, "Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America." That outcome is unlikely to change given Trump's statement and his support for Netanyahu against critics of Israel's war against the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

Sharp Backlash From All Sides

Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the U.N., responded by telling the mayor "enough." "You were elected to serve New Yorkers, not Hamas' propaganda," he said in a statement on social media. "Do your job!" Netanyahu's office, while attacking the ICC's credibility, said that Mamdani should instead "focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York." The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations also accused Mamdani of engaging in "political theater."

With the Trump administration firmly opposed, the federal government joining the ICC — a court the U.S. has never ratified — is a near-impossibility in the current political climate. The ICC, established in 2002 to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, has jurisdiction which Israel rejects; neither Israel nor the U.S. is a member of the court. Mamdani's move may not produce an arrest, but it has succeeded in putting international accountability for the Gaza war squarely at the center of New York City's political stage — and that pressure is unlikely to ease as Netanyahu's September visit to the UN approaches.