New York City (NYC) Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said he was in an “active conversation” with the city’s Law Department over whether he had the legal authority to order Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest if he visits the city.
Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes – including starvation as a method of warfare – in Israel’s onslaught on Gaza.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in the Hague,” Mamdani said this week on The New York Times’ ‘The Interview’, referring to the United Nations’ International Court of Justice (ICJ).
In his interview, which was published on Saturday, the NYC mayor highlighted that Netanyahu was a “war criminal” who has been charged by the ICC.
“And what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years.”
However, Mamdani said he was unclear on whether he has the legal authority to order the New York Police Department (NYPD), which he oversees, to detain a foreign leader like Netanyahu.
Therefore, his administration was still mulling whether to arrest Netanyahu if he comes to NYC in September, as expected for the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.
“Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end,” Mamdani added.
During his mayoral campaign in September 2025, Democratic Mamdani had said he would order the NYPD to arrest Netanyahu if he arrives in the city.
“This is something that I intend to fulfil,” he had told NYT, describing the Israeli premier as a “war criminal who was committing genocide in Gaza”.
According to NYT’s Saturday report, Netanyahu also commented on Mamdani’s threat to arrest him, saying he was not concerned. He went as far as even accusing the mayor of supporting Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.
“I think he should look at who he’s condemning, who he’s praising,” the Israeli premier said during an interview this week with Sid Rosenberg, whom the NYT described as a “frequent critic” of Mamdani.
Mamdani had condemned pro-Hamas chants in January, describing the Palestinian group as a “terrorist organisation” when criticised by some circles.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, is staring down an election – scheduled for October 27 – that many believe could be the defining contest of his political life. He currently faces a long-running corruption trial and has led Israel on multi-front offensives that have been met with international criticism.
In April, Hungary’s then-incoming prime minister Peter Magyar said the country will execute ICC warrants against anyone, after he invited Netanyahu to Budapest later this year. ‘Billions of dollars to kill civilians halfway across the world’
In his wide-ranging conversation with the NYT, Mamdani again called Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide and highlighted the United States’ military support for it.
“There is no respite from a genocide, no matter even in a moment of joy for the entire world,” he said, recalling that an Israeli air strike in Gaza City killed aid worker Mohammed al-Wahidi who had been helping organise public screenings of FIFA World Cup matches.
“It’s hard to explain to a New Yorker why their needs are not even being discussed. And yet we have billions of dollars to kill civilians halfway across the world,” Mamdani said.
Replying to another question, he remarked, “It is hard to find a more bankrupt policy approach than what our country has done to Gaza and to Palestine, and how it hasn’t been specific to any one party.”