New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he is in “active conversation” with city legal officials about whether he has the authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should the Israeli leader travel to New York for the United Nations General Assembly later this year.
During an interview with The New York Times’ Lulu Garcia-Navarro on The Interview podcast, Mamdani said he believes Netanyahu should face imprisonment over allegations of war crimes and discussed the possibility of taking action if the prime minister visits New York City in September.
“He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” Mamdani said during the interview. “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.”
Mamdani acknowledged, however, that the legal authority to carry out such an arrest remains uncertain. He said his administration is currently consulting with the New York City Law Department to determine what actions, if any, are legally available.
“I’m in active conversation” with city attorneys about the issue, Mamdani said, adding that he does not yet know whether New York City has the authority to arrest a visiting foreign leader under those circumstances.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in 2024 over alleged war crimes connected to Israel’s military actions in Gaza. Mamdani had previously discussed the possibility of arresting Netanyahu during his mayoral campaign, and he reiterated that any decision would be governed by existing law rather than political preference.
“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.
The remarks drew a response from Netanyahu, who sharply criticized the Democratic mayor this week. The Israeli prime minister accused Mamdani of harboring hostility toward the United States and rejected the mayor’s previous comments about a potential arrest.
Netanyahu told radio host Sid Rosenberg that Mamdani “hates” America and argued that the mayor was unfairly targeting Israel.
“He’s condemning Israel, the one democracy that stands shoulder to shoulder with American values,” Netanyahu said during the interview.
The prime minister had previously dismissed Mamdani’s suggestion that he could be arrested in New York as “silly.”
Netanyahu also accused Mamdani of supporting Hamas, the terrorist group that launched its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, an assault that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.
“Who does he champion?” Netanyahu asked. “Hamas, that calls openly to massacre every Jew on earth, that conducted that horrible massacre, the worst massacre on Jews since the Holocaust.”
The exchange marks the latest escalation in the public dispute between the two leaders over the war in Gaza and the International Criminal Court’s case against Netanyahu.
While Mamdani said his administration is actively examining the legal questions surrounding the issue, he emphasized that any action taken by New York City would remain within the limits of existing law. For now, he said, those discussions with the city’s legal department are ongoing as officials assess what authority, if any, exists should Netanyahu travel to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
