New York Mayor Reviews Authority to Arrest Netanyahu at UN Assembly

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on July 18 that his administration is reviewing whether it has legal authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he attends the United Nations General Assembly in September. Mamdani said he is in active conversation with the New York City Law Department on the question and added that any action would stay within existing law.

“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,” Mamdani stated.

He also said he believes Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in November 2024. The warrant accuses him of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including starvation as a method of warfare, murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.

The United States is not a party to the ICC and does not recognize its authority. Mamdani made similar statements during his mayoral campaign in September 2025. He has also condemned the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel as a horrific war crime.

Netanyahu stated he is not concerned about the remarks. “He’s with the terror actors,” Netanyahu said in a radio interview. Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon accused Mamdani of failing to confront rising antisemitism in New York. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz called the comments pure political theater.

On July 15, close to half of U.S. House Democrats voted to strip $3.3 billion in military aid to Israel, though the measure did not pass.