NEW York mayor Zohran Mamdani is in talks over whether to try to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli prime minister visits the city for a UN summit.
Mamdani told the New York Times: "I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague.”
"He's a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court."
The New York mayor called Israel an “apartheid regime”, adding: "That is an opinion that is held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years."
While Mamdani admitted he was not sure if he has the power to order the New York Police Department to detain a foreign leader, he is discussing his options with the city’s legal team.
Mamdani told the newspaper he was in “an active conversation” with the city’s Law Department.
"Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that's what we will do," he said.
The United Nations General Assembly, where world leaders will gather, will take place in September at the UN headquarters in New York.
Mamdani has previously vowed to send the NYPD to enforce arrest warrants issued by the ICC, including Netanyahu and Russian president Vladimir Putin.
In 2024, the ICC said it had reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu was responsible for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity relating to Israel’s attacks on Gaza following the October 7 attack by Hamas in 2023.
A UN inquiry in 2015 found that Israel had committed genocide in Palestine.
Danny Danyon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, said in response to Mamdani on Twitter/X: "Instead of focusing on his responsibilities as mayor and confronting the rising wave of antisemitism in his city, he has chosen to incite hostility and generate headlines by attacking the State of Israel.
"It will not change a thing. 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.
"And if anyone should be arrested, it is @NYCMayor Zohran Mamdani."
Netanyahu has accused Mamdani of supporting Hamas on a recent New York radio show.
"I think, secretly, he hates America,” the Israeli prime minister said.
The United States is not party to the ICC and does not recognise its authority, with Donald Trump’s administration recently announcing a campaign to “dismantle it”.
Harold Hongju Koh, a professor of international law at Yale Law School, told the New York Times the situation is “a game of chicken between the mayor on one side and Trump and Netanyahu on the other.”
We told how earlier this year Netanyahu directed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to increase control of Gaza to 70 per cent.
