Mamdani Says He's in 'Active Discussions' to Arrest Netanyahu if He Comes to the UN in September

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he's still trying to figure out how to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he shows up to the UN General Assembly this September.

Mamdani told The New York Times he's in "active discussions" with the city's legal department about whether he has authority to order the NYPD to detain a foreign head of state. By his own admission, it's unclear whether he does, according to Ynetnews's report on the interview.

This isn't a new position for Mamdani. Back in November 2025, then-mayor-elect Mamdani told ABC News he would "exhaust every legal option" to enforce the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant against Netanyahu, according to Channel 8. "If Mr. Netanyahu enters New York and I don't do everything in my power to stop him, I don't consider myself the mayor of New York," Mamdani said at the time.

He added that it wouldn't matter to him whether the warrant targeted "Benjamin Netanyahu or Vladimir Putin," saying what matters is "upholding our values."

The Legal Problem: The U.S. Isn't Even in the ICC

The issue is that the United States is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the International Criminal Court. Legal experts interviewed by ABC News and other outlets called Mamdani's pledge "impossible to enforce," noting flatly that mayors do not have the authority to carry out international arrest warrants.

The ICC issued its warrant for Netanyahu in November 2024 over alleged war crimes in Gaza. That's a real, documented legal action by an international body. But an ICC warrant carries no automatic weight inside U.S. borders. Enforcement depends on member states, and the U.S. government, under any administration, has shown zero interest in detaining a sitting Israeli prime minister on American soil. The State Department controls diplomatic immunity and security arrangements for foreign leaders visiting the UN, not the mayor of New York City.

When Mamdani says he's still workshopping this with city lawyers ten months after first raising it, he still doesn't have an answer to the basic question of whether he's allowed to do the thing he keeps promising to do.

The Argument Behind Mamdani's Position

There's a coherent argument in his rhetoric. He's arguing that international law should mean something, that warrants shouldn't be selectively enforced based on who the accused is, and that a sanctuary city that prides itself on defying federal immigration enforcement should be consistent about which laws it chooses to uphold. That's a values argument, and it's one his supporters clearly find compelling.

Mamdani applied the same standard to Vladimir Putin, not just Netanyahu, which cuts against the charge that this is purely anti-Israel theater. Whether you agree with the ICC's targeting decisions or not, Mamdani is at least being consistent about wanting warrants enforced regardless of the target.

But a values argument isn't a legal argument. Wanting international law to matter more doesn't create authority that doesn't exist. New York City police officers work for the NYPD, not The Hague, and no city charter grants Mamdani power over foreign heads of state under diplomatic protection at the UN.

The Politics Behind It

Mamdani has been consistent in his criticism of Israel's conduct in Gaza, which he has repeatedly called a genocide, according to Novara Media. He skipped New York's annual Israel Day Parade in May, breaking with decades of mayoral tradition.

An AP-NORC poll conducted in June and cited by Novara Media found 44% of American Jews said they support Mamdani, compared to 32% who support Netanyahu and 38% who support President Trump. Novara Media, which leans favorably toward Mamdani's framing, presented this as evidence of "steep decline" in American Jewish support for Israel. The same poll, however, found 73% of American Jews said Israel's initial military response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack was justified, a detail that complicates any simple narrative of Jewish American opinion turning against Israel wholesale. Only 31% of all Americans polled, and 30% of Jewish Americans specifically, agreed Israel's actions in Gaza amount to genocide, with nearly half saying they didn't know.

What Happens Next

Netanyahu has said he intends to attend the UN General Assembly in New York in September, according to Novara Media. That sets up a real test of whether Mamdani's rhetoric turns into any actual action, or whether, as legal experts told ABC News, it remains symbolically loud and practically powerless.

If Mamdani does attempt to direct the NYPD to detain Netanyahu, expect immediate intervention from the State Department, the Secret Service, and likely federal courts, given that security for visiting heads of state at the UN falls under federal and international diplomatic protocols, not municipal police discretion. No such intervention has occurred yet because no arrest attempt has occurred yet. Whether Mamdani's legal department gives him an answer before September, or whether this remains an open question right up until Netanyahu's plane lands, is still unresolved.