(CNN) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said his office is still looking into arresting Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister visits the city for the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Speaking on The New York Times’ “The Interview” podcast, Mamdani said his administration’s legal department is actively discussing the potential arrest of Netanyahu, something he vowed on the campaign trail to pursue.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani said. “He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court. 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.”
Asked what he believed the law allowed him to do, Mamdani responded: “That’s an active conversation with our legal department. However, what we’ve seen at the national level is a desire sometimes to write your own laws, to go outside of the bounds of legality. That’s not something we have an interest in.”
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders in 2024, accusing them of war crimes during and after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden have denounced the ICC warrant.
The US has not ratified the Rome Statute, which obliges countries to arrest people who have ICC warrants against them. The Trump administration has escalated its long-running battle against the ICC, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently promising to “dismantle” the court and accusing it of “waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles” but with “the force of so-called international law.”
Mamdani is a fierce critic of the Israeli government and has repeatedly criticized Israel’s war in Gaza as a “genocide.” Israel denies those claims.
Netanyahu’s office said on social media Sunday that “Mamdani appears interested in diverting public attention from his follies and attacking the leader” of Israel.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz on Saturday called the mayor’s comments “pure political theater” and noted the US is not a member of the ICC.
Speaking to WABC radio host Sid Rosenberg earlier in the week, Netanyahu dismissed concerns about Mamdani’s calls for his arrest.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said on social media Saturday that Netanyahu “will come to New York, address the United Nations General Assembly with pride, and stand before the world to state Israel’s truth and its unwavering right to defend its citizens.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
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