Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he’s desperately seeking a legal loophole to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes when he visits in NYC in September.
The Pro-Palestine, Israel-hating, socialist pol said in an interview published Saturday that it’s unclear whether he has the authority to order the NYPD to arrest Netanyahu during the prime minister’s expected trip to the Big Apple for the U.N. General Assembly – but is in an “active conversation” with the city’s Law Department about the matter.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani bluntly told The New York Times, referring to the United Nation’s International Court of Justice.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani told the New York Times that “Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in the Hague.” Andrew Schwartz / SplashNews.com
“He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court. And what you will find is that it is an opinion that is held by many purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years.”
Mamdani – who has made accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza a focal point of a far-left ideology that his helped propel him into the national spotlight – vowed during last year’s campaign that, if elected mayoral, he’d have Netanyahu arrested if he ever set foot in NYC.
He cited the International Criminal Court’s 2024 arrest warrant for Netanyahu — which the U.S. doesn’t recognize.
However, Mamdani insisted during The Times interview that the city “won’t be writing our own laws” to lock up the prime minister, who is seeking re-election.
“Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do,” he said.
During the interview, Mamdani also complained about media coverage of his wife Rama Duwaji, who has come under fire for her long history of bashing the United States and Israel.
This includes since-deleted social media posts praising Palestinian terror groups and others attacking US service members for assisting the Jewish State.
The Syrian-American artist also once liked a social media post claiming Hamas’ rapes of Israelis during the Oct. 7, 2003 terror attack were a “mass hoax.”
“She is her own person,” Mamdani said. “She is an incredible artist, and yet so much of how she engages with the world is framed through her being my wife.
When it comes to taking action against Netanyahu, Mamdani said, ““whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end.”. Debbie Hill/UPI/Shutterstock
Netanyahu, however, remains unfazed by Mamdani’s threats.
In a recent radio appearance, he accused Mamdani of supporting Hamas.
“I think he should look at who he’s condemning, who he’s praising. He’s condemning Israel, the one democracy that stands shoulder to shoulder with American values,” the prime minister said during an interview this week with Sid Rosenberg on 77 WABC.
“Who does he champion? Hamas, that calls openly to massacre every Jew on earth, that conducted that horrible massacre [on Oct. 7, 2023], the worst massacre on Jews since the Holocaust.”
He also said Mamdani “doesn’t care” that “those who hate the Jews and Israel ultimately hate America.”
“And in fact, I think secretly, he hates America,” the prime minister said.
Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations. fired back at the mayor on Saturday, slamming Mamdani for “failing to govern New York” by ignoring his mayoral responsibilities and instead “incit[ing] hostility and generat[ing] headlines by attacking the State of Israel.”
“And if anyone should be arrested, it is @NYCMayor Zohran Mamdani,” he said in a post on X.
Netanyahu is also expected to visit DC later this month to meet with President Trump.
He was initially scheduled to arrive this weekend but postponed the visit after Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral was pushed back to accommodate the flood of national and international dignitaries seeking to attend.
It would mark Netanyahu’s first trip to Washington since the Iran war began in February.
