Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced the arrest threat Zohran Mamdani had made, arriving in New York on 24 September for the United Nations General Assembly, where the NYPD protected him and arrested protesters.
The outcome answered a question that had hung over the city for months. Netanyahu's aircraft, the Wing of Zion, avoided John F. Kennedy International Airport and landed at Stewart International Airport north of the city, and the prime minister stayed hours before flying home.
For New Yorkers, the standoff had turned a war-crimes case into a question about their streets, pitting a mayoral campaign promise against the realities of policing a visiting head of state.
An Invite From a Departing Mayor
The challenge came last November from Eric Adams, then New York's mayor, during a four-day, taxpayer-funded trip to Israel. Meeting Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Adams urged him to attend Mamdani's 1 January inauguration, telling Israel Hayom that the prime minister should 'start with the inauguration ceremony of Mamdani in the presence of the City Council on January 1'. Adams added that Mamdani would be 'mayor, not emperor'.
Mamdani called the comments 'perplexing'. Netanyahu thanked Adams on X for 'standing proudly with the Jewish people', though he never said whether he would take up the offer.
A Threat Built on Shaky Ground
Mamdani campaigned on ordering the New York Police Department to honour the International Criminal Court warrant issued against Netanyahu in November 2024 over alleged war crimes in Gaza. The United States is not a party to the court and does not recognise its jurisdiction.
After taking office, Mamdani ordered a legal review, and by July his administration acknowledged the city lacked authority to carry out such an arrest. Legal experts had long disputed whether any mayor could direct the NYPD to act on an international warrant.
Mamdani, the city's first Muslim mayor, had called Netanyahu a war criminal who 'belongs in The Hague' and framed New York as a 'city of international law'. He won office by about nine points in November 2025, while losing the Jewish vote by a two-to-one margin.
Protesters Cuffed, Not the Prime Minister
When Netanyahu arrived, demonstrators ended up in handcuffs. The NYPD said more than 100 people were taken into custody near the United Nations during an unscheduled demonstration shortly before the prime minister spoke. The department said protesters had blocked an intersection and were arrested after being ordered to disperse. The NYPD had also been assigned to secure the UN and protect visiting dignitaries and motorcades.
A Clash of Words at the Podium
Netanyahu used his address to turn on his host, claiming many Jews no longer feel safe in New York since Mamdani's election and accusing the mayor of stoking hostility.
Mamdani answered in a statement, saying Netanyahu had repeated 'baseless lies meant to sanitise his genocide of Palestinians' and noting that the prime minister remained the subject of an active ICC warrant.
Adams's invitation had been answered, though not as anyone had scripted.
The leader came, the arrest threat had already been withdrawn on legal grounds, and New York's streets filled with protests while police enforced the law governing demonstrations.
