NEW YORK: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has begun consulting legal experts over whether he has the authority to order the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits the city for the United Nations General Assembly in September.
In an interview with The New York Times, Mamdani said Netanyahu should be “in The Hague,” referring to the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over alleged war crimes related to the Gaza conflict.
The mayor said he is reviewing whether New York City police could legally act against a visiting foreign head of government, while emphasizing that any action would have to comply with U.S. law.
“We will do whatever the law allows, but we will not invent new laws to achieve this,” Mamdani said.
During his mayoral election campaign last year, Mamdani had pledged that if elected, he would direct the New York Police Department to enforce the ICC arrest warrant should Netanyahu visit the city.
Netanyahu, however, dismissed the remarks in a recent radio interview, saying he was not concerned by the threat. He accused Mamdani of supporting Hamas and defended Israel as “the only democracy” in the region that stands alongside American values.
Netanyahu is expected to travel to New York in September to attend the annual UN General Assembly session.
