New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was in “an active conversation” with the city’s Law Department over his legal obligations, authority, and responsibilities for honoring the November 21, 2024 arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Netanyahu is reportedly considering attending the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.
In a New York Times interview with Lulu Garcia-Navarro and released on July 18, the mayor said, “I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in the Hague,” the home of the ICC. Mamdani continued, “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 election campaign last fall Mamdani vowed that if he were elected, he would order the New York Police Department to arrest Netanyahu if he came to the UN. Mamdani recognizes that many world leaders are given a degree of diplomatic immunity while attending functions at the UN headquarters and that he would follow the law. Netanyahu may be spurned at the UN, but there may be a place for him at Rikers Island.
