New York City Mayor, Democrat Zohran Mamdani, stated on Tuesday night, in a video released on his social media, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is not welcome” in the city, and demanded that the Donald Trump administration, as soon as the Israeli leader sets foot on American soil, execute the arrest warrant issued in 2024 by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
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Netanyahu, whom Mamdani called a “war criminal” and “architect of an atrocious genocide” in the video for the systematic destruction of Gaza and the West Bank, is expected to visit New York next September to attend the UN General Assembly. The city’s mayor had announced days earlier that he was studying with his lawyers whether the state police itself could execute the arrest warrant, but this Tuesday he acknowledged that he has no legal authority to do so. Therefore, he has urged Trump to assume his obligation and arrest Netanyahu.
“Benjamin Netanyahu must be arrested and tried for his crimes,” Mamdani asserts in a very harsh message. “He is a war criminal, the architect of an atrocious genocide against the Palestinian people, responsible for the death of more than 73,000 people, for the mutilation of tens of thousands of children, for attacking hospitals and neonatal centers, denying newborns even the possibility of living. He is responsible for the countless people he left to starve by preventing their access to food and humanitarian aid. He is responsible for the shooting deaths of hundreds of humanitarian workers and journalists. Israeli troops continue to murder Palestinian children eight months after the so-called ceasefire.”
Next, the mayor assumes that it is “evident” that he does not have the independent legal authority to enforce the arrest warrant issued by the ICC. However, he adds, “the federal government does.” “I ask you to join the ICC and execute this order,” continues Mamdani, 34, and New York’s first Muslim mayor.
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The International Criminal Court, of which the United States is not a member and whose jurisdiction to investigate crimes it does not recognize, is investigating Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity for the indiscriminate bombings against Palestinian enclaves and the ongoing destruction of the Gaza Strip. In November 2024, it issued an international arrest warrant for the leader.
The publication of Mamdani’s video comes just days after he himself told The New York Times that he was working with his administration’s legal team on the possibility of New York City executing the arrest warrant. Trump responded to that insinuation on Monday by stating that the Israeli prime minister “will not be arrested, under any circumstances,” while in the United States.