New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdadi discussed the legal possibility of arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations General Assembly in September, a possibility that drew sharp backlash from Israel’s UN ambassador.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s place is in The Hague. He is a war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court,” Mamdadi said in an interview with the New York Times published today. He added, however, that he did not know whether he had the authority to arrest a foreign leader such as Benjamin Netanyahu, but was discussing the matter with New York authorities.
“We will do what the law allows me to do in New York,” he added.
The UN General Assembly, the large, annual meeting of leaders from around the world, is hosted every September at the Organization’s headquarters in New York.
The mayor has previously promised to send the city’s police to execute arrest warrants against wanted leaders who have warrants issued by the ICC, such as Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, immediately hit back at the New York mayor, arguing that Mamdani is choosing to “fuel hostility and seek headlines by attacking the state of Israel.”
“This won’t change anything. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will go to New York, speak proudly before the United Nations General Assembly and declare before the whole world the truth about Israel and its inalienable right to defend its citizens,” he added in a post on Platform X.
Speaking on a New York radio station, Netanyahu accused Zohran Mamdani of supporting Hamas, saying: “I think deep down he hates the United States.”
Mamdani, who comes from the left wing of the Democratic party, has previously called Israel an “apartheid regime”, denouncing the attack on the Gaza Strip as “genocide”. He has also repeatedly spoken out against anti-Semitism.
The International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, has issued arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, in the context of the Israeli offensive carried out in retaliation for the attack by Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023.
Source: RES-MPE