U.S. UN ambassador says city lacks arrest authority
The International Criminal Court issued a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest in 2024 over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including starvation and attacking a civilian population. Netanyahu is expected to visit New York City in September for the United Nations General Assembly.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mandani told The New York Times. “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 past many years.”
Mandani said his legal team is reviewing the city’s options. “We’re not talking about a personal assessment of Benjamin Netanyahu,” the mayor told The Times. “We’re talking about the International Criminal Court and the fact that they have a warrant out for this prime minister’s arrest, and I think it’s important to talk about the weight that that has as a charge and that also, as the mayor of New York City, I’ll be following the laws of New York City.”
Netanyahu has denied the ICC charges and disputes the court’s jurisdiction. The prime minister previously claimed without evidence that Mandani is a Hamas supporter, saying in an interview with WABC that “He is with the terror actors” and “I think, secretly, he hates America.”
Michael Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., called Mandani’s comments “pure political theater.” Waltz wrote on X that “the U.S. is not party to the Rome Statute that underlies the ICC” and that “the U.N. Headquarters Agreement grants diplomatic protections to visiting heads of government.”