Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D-New York Metropolis) refused to rule out making an attempt to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he returns to New York in September for the UN Common Meeting.
“I imagine that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. He is a warfare legal who has been charged by the Worldwide Legal Court docket,” Mamdani mentioned in a New York Instances video podcast known as “The Interview,” which was posted Saturday.
“I’ve additionally mentioned that I’ll comply with the legal guidelines that we’ve right here in New York Metropolis as a result of I imagine that there’s an significance in following the regulation as a frontrunner who presides over our metropolis, and that is one thing that I plan to do.”
When requested by Instances journalist Lulu Garcia-Navarro what the regulation permits Mamdani and the town to do, the mayor replied, “That is an energetic dialog with our authorized division in seeing what the prospects are we’ve right here in our municipality.”
Nonetheless, a number of former prosecutors say if Mayor Mamdani or any New York police official tried to arrest Netanyahu based mostly on an ICC warrant, it will be a violation of U.S. federal regulation and so they themselves might be charged with federal conspiracy crimes.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz condemned Mamdani’s unwillingness to reject the concept of arresting Netanyahu on New York Metropolis soil. “Mayor Mamdani: right here’s why your menace to arrest PM Netanyahu’s in NYC throughout UNGA just isn’t going to occur,” Waltz started a put up on X Saturday. “1. The U.S. just isn’t get together to the Rome Statute that underlies the ICC, 2. The UN Headquarters Settlement grants diplomatic protections to visiting heads of gov’t, 3. head-of-state immunity applies, & 4. federal authority trumps any native mayor’s needs.” Waltz went on to name Mamdani’s feedback “pure political theater.”
As a candidate for mayor, Mamdani promised that if Netanyahu visited New York Metropolis, he would honor the ICC warrant and have Netanyahu arrested for warfare crimes. Israel has denied it engages in genocide or warfare crimes.
