New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is backing off threats to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visits the city in September for the U.N. General Assembly meeting.
Legal Authority
In a video posted on social media, Mamdani said his administration considered every legal avenue to make an arrest but determined that he doesn’t have the independent legal authority to put cuffs on the foreign leader.
Mamdani called on the Trump administration to execute the warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu’s arrest on war crimes over his military campaign in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war.
Netanyahu and other world leaders will travel to New York City in two months for the General Assembly meeting, and the Israeli leader is expected to address the annual gathering.
Reaction
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz has called Mamdani’s push to arrest Netanyahu pure political theater and points out that the U.S. hasn’t signed the Rome Statute, which obliges countries to arrest people who have ICC warrants.
President Donald Trump blasted Mamdani’s threats in a social media post, saying Netanyahu won’t be arrested when he visits New York for the U.N. meeting.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
