July 18 (UPI) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mandani on Saturday said his government is reviewing whether it could legally arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over accusations of war crimes.
Netanyahu is expected to visit the city for the United Nations General Assembly in September.
In 2024, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the prime minister’s arrest over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including starvation and attacking a civilian population.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani told The New York Times. “He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court, 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 past many years.”
Mandani said his legal team is reviewing the city’s options.
“We’re not talking about a personal assessment of Benjamin Netanyahu,” the mayor told The Times. “We’re talking about the International Criminal Court and the fact that they have a warrant out for this prime minister’s arrest, and I think it’s important to talk about the weight that that has as a charge and that also, as the mayor of New York City, I’ll be following the laws of New York City.”
Netanyahu has denied the ICC charges and disputes the court’s jurisdiction.
In a previous interview, the prime minister claimed without evidence that Mandani is a Hamas supporter.
“He is with the terror actors,” he told WABC. “I think, secretly, he hates America.”
Michael Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., called Mandani’s comments “pure political theater.”
“The U.S. is not party to the Rome Statute that underlies the ICC,” he wrote on X, adding, “The U.N. Headquarters Agreement grants diplomatic protections to visiting heads of government.”
