New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration is actively debating whether the city has the legal power to detain Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he arrives for the U.N. General Assembly in September.
The potential arrest remains under discussion despite questions over municipal authority, as reported by The New York Times. Mamdani, who said that was something he would consider on the campaign trail for mayor last year, revealed that he was currently consulting with the city’s Law Department to determine his 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,” Mamdani said during an interview on the NYT show The Interview.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani told interviewer Lulu Garcia-Navarro, referencing the Netherlands city that hosts the International Court of Justice.
“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.”
The stance marks a slight shift from Mamdani’s mayoral campaign last year, when he said he would directly order the New York Police Department to detain the Israeli leader. Mamdani stated at the time that the action would honor an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court over Netanyahu’s execution of the war in Gaza, a conflict Mamdani and a United Nations commission have labeled a genocide.
Netanyahu dismissed the threats during a recent appearance with local radio host Sid Rosenberg, a frequent critic of the mayor. The prime minister rejected the remarks and countered by accusing Mamdani of harboring sympathy for Hamas, the militant group that launched the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks against Israel.
“I think he should look at who he's condemning, who he’s praising," Netanyahu told Rosenberg. “He’s condemning Israel, the one democracy that stands shoulder to shoulder with American values. Who does he champion? Hamas, that calls openly to massacre every Jew on earth, that conducted that horrible massacre, the worst massacre on Jews since the Holocaust.”
He added that Mamdani “doesn’t care” that “those who hate the Jews and Israel ultimately hate America.”
“I think, secretly, he hates America,” Netanyahu said of the mayor.
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, also criticized the mayor on Saturday, issuing a statement that accused Mamdani of ignoring local antisemitism.
“Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will come to New York, address the United Nations General Assembly with pride, and stand before the world to state Israel’s truth and its unwavering right to defend its citizens,” Danon said.
Mamdani, who has previously condemned the Oct. 7 attacks, as reported by CBS News, has integrated Palestinian liberation deeply into his political platform. His positions reflect broader shifts within the Democratic Party.
Earlier this week, nearly half of the House Democrats voted to halt U.S. aid to Israel. Though the measure ultimately failed, Mamdani pointed to recent local primary victories by his endorsed candidates as evidence that voters were highly motivated by the crisis.
“It is hard to find a more bankrupt policy approach than what our country has done to Gaza and to Palestine,” Mamdani said.
