Mamdani Says He Is Still Weighing Netanyahu's Arrest if He Visits New York

The mayor says the Israeli PM 'belongs in the Hague' and is in active talks with the city's Law Department over whether he has the authority to act

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on 18 July that he is still weighing the possible arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he visit the city for the UN General Assembly in September.

“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in the Hague,” Mamdani said in an interview with the New York Times programme The Interview. “He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” he added, saying this was a view held by many “purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years.”

An ‘active conversation’ over the law

The mayor said he remained unsure whether he had the legal authority to order the New York Police Department, which he oversees, to arrest a foreign leader such as Netanyahu. He said he was in “an active conversation” with the city’s Law Department on the question.

“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,” he said.

During his mayoral campaign last year, Mamdani told the NYT that he would order Netanyahu’s arrest if he travelled to the city, pledging to uphold the ICC warrant against the Israeli prime minister, who is wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza.

A shift in US opinion

Mamdani’s remarks come amid a significant shift in US public opinion on Israel. In June, congressional primaries in New York underscored the change, as progressive candidates openly critical of Israel’s conduct in Gaza defeated incumbents backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Several pro-Israel incumbents lost to challengers who campaigned directly against their stance on Gaza and their acceptance of AIPAC money, increasingly seen by voters as a liability.

Polling from April showed a majority of US citizens now hold an unfavourable view of Israel, with “very unfavourable” sentiment nearly tripling since 2022. An earlier Gallup poll found that, for the first time in US history, more Americans sympathise with Palestinians than with Israelis — 41 percent backing Palestinians against 36 percent for Israelis.

Reference: The Cradle