Mamdani bows to reality: He admits he can't arrest Netanyahu and asks Trump's administration to do it for him

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani admitted Tuesday in a video on 'X' that he lacks the legal authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he ultimately visits the city as part of the United Nations General Assembly.

In a strong statement, accompanied by the text "Netanyahu is a war criminal," Mamdani explained that the city's Legal Department reviewed "every available avenue" to determine whether the New York Police Department could execute the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Netanyahu in 2024. The conclusion was negative, contrary to the socialist mayor's earlier campaign promise to arrest the Israeli prime minister.

"It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant. The federal government, however, does, and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant," Mamani acknowledged, calling on the Trump administration to make the arrest on his behalf.

This shift contrasts with the tone Mamdani had used just days earlier, when, in an interview with The New York Times Magazine, he said he was engaged in "active conversation" with the city's lawyers about how to carry out the arrest. In Tuesday's video, however, he did not hold back on his harshest criticism of Prime Minister Netanyahu, whom he labeled not only a "war criminal," but also the "the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people."

"Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at large," said the socialist mayor.

The possibility that Netanyahu will end up in custody on U.S. soil is, in practice, nil. President Trump settled the matter on Monday by assuring on Truth Social that the Israeli leader will not be arrested "under any circumstances," and the United States—which is not a party to the ICC—has no legal obligation to carry out its orders.

From Israel, the response to Mamdani was harsh. The ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said on Tuesday: "Enough with the blood libels. You were elected to serve New Yorkers, not Hamas' propaganda. Do your job!" A day earlier, Netanyahu's office had already accused the mayor of "diverting public attention from his follies" and of attacking "the leader of the Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East."

Netanyahu is scheduled to travel to New York in September to attend the UN General Assembly—the very same forum where Danon, in a speech delivered on Monday, described Mamdani's stance as "political theater" and asserted that there is "no legal basis" for Mamdani to order the arrest of Netanyahu.

Legal experts agree with this assessment. CNN analyst Elie Honig said it is "utterly ridiculous" for a mayor to even suggest having the authority to arrest a visiting foreign head of state, and noted that the United States never ratified the Rome Statute, the treaty that obligates countries to carry out ICC warrants.

The dispute is also part of a broader standoff between Washington and the court in The Hague. The Trump administration has intensified its offensive against the ICC in recent months, with Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, promising to "dismantle" the court, which he accused of waging an institutional war against the United States.

The arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, were issued by the ICC in 2024 for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Israeli offensive in Gaza, where, according to figures from Gaza authorities, more than 70,000 people have died since the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023.