'If You Come to Our Jurisdiction': Khanna Says Washington Should Arrest Netanyahu
The congressman — himself briefly detained by settlers in the West Bank — backs the New York mayor and says the president should order marshals to act on the ICC warrant
Congressman Ro Khanna has backed New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s call for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as the Israeli leader prepares to travel to the United States next week.
“The American president should arrest Netanyahu or [Russian President Vladimir] Putin in accordance with international law,” Khanna told MeidasTouch reporter Pablo Manriquez in a hallway interview on Capitol Hill. “Full stop. America needs to cooperate with the ICC,” the California Democrat said. “It’s a matter of human rights, and it’s a matter of a rules-based international order, and he should order the marshals to arrest someone if they come to our jurisdiction.”
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in 2024, accusing the prime minister and his then security minister of war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the war on Gaza.
Detained in the West Bank
Khanna’s remarks come weeks after he said he was briefly detained by Israeli settlers and occupation forces while visiting a small Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank.
The congressman, who has openly weighed a presidential run in 2028, told the New York Times the experience would shape any such bid. “Free advice to the Israelis: It’s not a good idea to detain long-shot presidential candidates,” he said. “Not how you’re going to build good will with the next American president, whoever that is.”
A visit to Washington
Netanyahu is due in Washington next week for his first face-to-face meeting with President Donald Trump since the two countries launched their joint offensive against Iran in late February. He is also expected to attend the funeral of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, a longstanding supporter of Israel and a Netanyahu ally.
Mamdani said last week that he had been in discussions with New York law enforcement over whether he could arrest Netanyahu during an expected visit to the city for the UN General Assembly in the autumn. He later acknowledged the city lacks the legal authority to detain him, but said federal authorities do. “As I’ve 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,” the mayor said in a video posted earlier this week, adding that his administration had reviewed every available legal avenue.
Trump moved to shut the question down on Monday, writing on Truth Social that Netanyahu “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America.” He went on to claim the Israeli premier was “fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors, and has spent the last 47 years killing American Soldiers, and others.”
‘This is about accountability’
Asked whether the president might change course, Khanna thought it unlikely. “He’s not a law-and-order president, and he doesn’t really care about human rights or international law,” he said. “It’s embarrassing to the United States and to the world community… It’s simple international law.”
Enforcing the warrant, Khanna argued, could also strengthen Trump’s own position, given Israel’s continued operations in Lebanon despite a ceasefire agreement.
“This is about accountability,” he said. “You can’t just kill women and children, have an ICC arrest warrant, and then walk into the United States of America and think nothing is gonna happen to you. If you come to our jurisdiction, America is a country that’s gonna enforce international law.”
Reference: Al-Mayadeen