NEW YORK — Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City, has made a provocative promise: if he wins, he will tell the New York Police Department to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he comes to the city. Mamdani told The New York Times, “This is something that I plan to do.”
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an outstanding warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest. The ICC says he committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip. Mamdani said that the US doesn’t accept the ICC’s authority, but he wants New York to be a city that “stands up for international law.”
Experts have quickly criticized the proposal and called it a “political stunt.” The New York Times spoke to Matthew C. Waxman, a professor at Columbia Law School, who said that an arrest like this has never happened in the United States. He talked about a few legal and practical problems:
Law Violation: The mayor’s office would need to break a city or state law to make an arrest. US federal law does not accept the ICC warrant.
As a head of state, Netanyahu would be protected by international and federal law from being arrested for most offenses.
The American Service-Members’ Protection Act of 2002 says that state and municipal governments can’t work with the ICC.
Even though there are legal problems, Mamdani is sticking to his plan. He stated that when the federal government won’t act, Democrats in the states and cities must. He talked about Gavin Newsom, who was the mayor of San Francisco from 2004 to 2005 and gave marriage licenses to same-sex couples even though it was against federal law. Mamdani also wants to do the same thing to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who the ICC issued an arrest warrant for in 2023.
Mamdani’s views on international policy, especially regarding Israel, have been a big element of his campaign. He has refused to condemn the expression “globalize the intifada” and has made it clear that he strongly supports Palestinian rights. His strong stance on the conflict helped him win the Democratic primary, which appealed to a progressive base. New York City has the second-largest Jewish population outside of Israel. If he goes through with his proposal, there will likely be a lot of anger.
In July, Netanyahu spoke from the White House about Mamdani’s threats, calling them “silly” and “not serious.” He also said that he would go to New York with President Trump, who then told Mamdani that he “better behave” or else he would have “big problems.”