NYC Mayor Wants Netanyahu Arrested: ‘He’s a War Criminal’

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he’s still weighing whether to order the NYPD to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visits Manhattan for the UN General Assembly in September.

The Big Apple’s first mayor sworn in on the Quran told The New York Times podcast “The Interview” on Saturday that Netanyahu belongs in the Hague — headquarters of the International Criminal Court.

“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.”

During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani pledged to have the NYPD arrest Netanyahu under the ICC’s warrant. In an October interview with Fox News host Martha MacCallum, he was reminded the U.S. never signed the ICC treaty and doesn’t recognize its warrants.

That hasn’t changed Mamdani’s position.

Asked by interviewer Lulu Garcia-Navarro what he’s legally allowed to do, Mamdani said his legal team is actively working through the options.

“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,” he said.

When pressed on specifics, he responded: “That’s an active conversation with our legal department in seeing what the prospects are [that] we have here in our municipality.”

Garcia-Navarro pointed out that world leaders attending UN General Assembly sessions are typically granted diplomatic immunity. Mamdani didn’t commit either way.

“I think we are looking at all of our legal obligations and one of them is with regards to the United Nations, but the other part of this is we’re not talking about a personal assessment of Benjamin Netanyahu. We’re talking about the International Criminal Court and the fact that they have a warrant out for this prime minister’s arrest. And I think it’s important to talk about the weight that that has as a charge,” Mamdani said.

“As the mayor of New York City, I’ll be following the laws of New York City.”

Netanyahu — who plans to speak at the UN event in September — addressed Mamdani’s comments this week on Sid Rosenberg’s radio show.

“I think he should look at who he’s condemning, who he’s praising,” Netanyahu said. “He’s condemning Israel, the one democracy that stands shoulder to shoulder with American values.”

Asked if he was nervous about being arrested, Netanyahu said flatly: “No, I’m not.”

Netanyahu went further in the radio appearance, accusing Mamdani of championing Hamas and making excuses for Iran.

“He is with the terror actors,” Netanyahu said. “I think, secretly, he hates America.”