Zohran Mamdani says he would arrest Netanyahu if he is elected as NYC mayor, calls Israeli PM ‘war criminal’

New York City mayor hopeful Zohran Mamdani said if he wins his election this fall, he would order New York’s police department to arrest Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he comes to the city. The democratic nominee for the November 4 NYC Mayoral election told The New York Times that Netanyahu was a war criminal who was committing genocide in Gaza.

He maintained that if he became the mayor of the city, he would honour the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued in November 2024 for Netanyahu’s arrest over alleged Gaza war crimes by having the Israeli premier taken into custody. “This is something that I intend to fulfil,” Mamdani remarked, reiterating a pledge he had made earlier in the mayoral race.

“It is my desire to ensure that this be a city that stands up for international law,” he added. It is pertinent to note that in New York, the city’s police commissioner reports to the mayor. However, the NYT cited multiple legal experts who judged that having Netanyahu arrested “would be a practical impossibility” for Mamdani.

Can he do it?

The US does not recognise ICC’s authority and is not a party to the body. Hence, it is not obligated to abide by its ruling. In February this year, US President Donald Trump even went ahead to order sanctions against the ICC, with the president maintaining that the court lacked jurisdiction over the US or Israel.

Meanwhile, at a meeting in July with Trump, Netanyahu said that he was “not concerned” about Mamdani’s wishes to have him arrested. He suggested he would travel with Trump and then “we’ll see” if he was arrested. Trump at that time maintained that Mamdani “better behave – otherwise, he’s going to have big problems”.

While polls suggest that the majority of New Yorkers support the Palestinian cause, Mamdani’s remarks still might provoke strong reactions in the city, which is the world’s second-largest home to Jews behind only the Israeli capital, Tel Aviv.

Meanwhile, Mamdani’s erstwhile Democratic rival, Andrew Cuomo, is now running as an independent after losing June’s Democratic primary to the son of Indian filmmaker Meera Nair. Behind the two candidates, Emerson College Polling, PIX11 and The Hill put Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and incumbent mayor Eric Adams, who is also running as an independent.