New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday that the city lacks the authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even as he pressed the federal government to enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against him.
Mamdani, a vocal critic of the Israeli government since taking office, had earlier said he was examining whether Netanyahu could be detained during any visit to New York. On Tuesday, he clarified that jurisdiction over such an arrest rests with federal authorities, not city officials, but reiterated his call for Washington to act on the ICC warrant. He accused Netanyahu of committing genocide in Gaza, a charge the Israeli government has categorically denied.
The comments mark an escalation in the mayor’s rhetoric toward Netanyahu, whom he has previously described as a war criminal. Mamdani’s remarks come as New York, and the international community more broadly, continue to grapple with how to treat the ICC’s warrant, issued over Israel’s conduct in Gaza, given that neither Israel nor the United States recognizes the court’s jurisdiction over their nationals.
The exchange highlights a widening rift between local political leadership in a city home to one of the largest Jewish populations outside Israel and the Israeli government’s continued military campaign in Gaza. It also underscores the limits of municipal authority when international law intersects with foreign policy questions that traditionally fall to the federal government and the State Department.
Netanyahu has visited the United States multiple times since the ICC warrant was issued, including for addresses to Congress and meetings at the White House, without facing any attempt at arrest, reflecting Washington’s consistent position that it will not act on the warrant. The Trump administration has been openly critical of the ICC’s authority over Israeli officials and has taken steps in the past to sanction court personnel involved in the case.
Mamdani’s remarks are likely to intensify debate within New York’s political establishment over the mayor’s approach to foreign policy issues that fall well outside his formal jurisdiction, even as they resonate with segments of his political base who have pushed for stronger accountability measures against Israeli leadership over the war in Gaza.
