Trump blocks Mamdani push to arrest Netanyahu in US
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- Donald Trump dismissed Mamdani's threat to arrest Netanyahu, pledging in a Monday social media post that Netanyahu "will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form" while in the US, and crediting Israel with helping the US in its war on Iran as his stated justification.
- Zohran Mamdani said in a Saturday-published interview that Netanyahu "belongs in The Hague" and that his administration is still considering whether to arrest Netanyahu if he attends the UN General Assembly in NYC this September.
- The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in 2024 charging him with war crimes during Israel's war on Gaza; neither Israel nor the United States is a member of the court.
- Mamdani acknowledged he is uncertain whether he has the legal authority to direct the NYPD to detain a foreign leader, calling it an "active conversation" with NYC's Law Department.
- Israel dismissed Mamdani's remarks, calling the ICC a "kangaroo court" and the warrant "bogus," while accusing Mamdani of trying to divert attention from his own troubles.
- The Trump administration has launched a broader campaign to disable the ICC, imposing sanctions on judges, prosecutors, and groups that pursue rulings against Israel over human rights allegations.
Why it matters: Trump explicitly credited Israel with helping the US in the war on Iran as part of his justification, linking the diplomatic protection to a specific military partnership. Since neither Israel nor the US is an ICC member and the Trump administration is actively sanctioning ICC officials, Mamdani's arrest threat runs into a legal and federal wall regardless of his personal stance.
