- Mamdani is calling on federal officials to step in and carry out the warrant.
- He considers Netanyahu the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinians.
- He states that New York does not have the legal authority to enforce the ICC mandate.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday that his office does not have the authority to execute the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and called on U.S. federal officials to intervene.
“Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal, the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people,” Mamdani said in a brief video message posted on social media.
“My administration has considered all avenues available under applicable law to determine whether New York City could execute the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant if Benjamin Netanyahu came here,” he noted.
“It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this mandate. The federal government, on the other hand, does, and I call on it to join the ICC and carry out this mandate.”
The International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, said in 2024 that it had reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu was responsible for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the Israeli offensive in Gaza following the brutal Hamas cross-border attack on October 7, 2023.
US President Donald Trump vowed on Monday that the Israeli prime minister would not be arrested if he attended the UN General Assembly summit in September in New York.
In the video, Mamdani said that “anyone – with their eyes, their heart, their conscience – should recognize the devastation he has caused and understand that they have a place in court, as I said.
“I agree with the ICC that Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested and tried for his crimes, as I do for anyone else charged by the ICC,” he added.
Netanyahu’s office rejected Mamdani’s position and said the ICC was a puppet court.
