New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday reiterated a promise to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, signaling he will not heed growing pressure to rescind the pledge.
Mamdani has cited the International Criminal Court’s active arrest warrant for Netanyahu as the basis for apprehending the Israeli leader in the event he sets foot in the city if the mayoral candidate wins the election.
Despite intense opposition, Mamdani refused to back away from his position this week, saying, “It is important that New York City is in compliance with international criminal law,” during an interview with the New York Times.
Mamdani’s stance has attracted bipartisan scrutiny from critics who have said the arrest threats lack federal standing in the United States since Washington, D.C., does not recognize the authority of the ICC.
Even Mamdani’s allies have called the arrest threats “simply unrealistic.” Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), who is Jewish and endorsed Mamdani, said this week, “The city of New York has no jurisdiction to do such a thing.”
Last month, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) introduced legislation aimed at blocking Mamdani from carrying out his plan. Her bill would preempt state and local law enforcement from executing, honoring, or enforcing any warrant issued by the ICC “unless expressly authorized by federal law.”
Stefanik called Mamdani an antisemite and a communist in a statement announcing the measure, saying she introduced the Sovereign Enforcement Integrity Act “to protect American sovereignty and prohibit radicals like Mamdani from illegally arresting the leader of our democratic ally Israel.”
Over the course of his campaign, Mamdani, a socialist, has faced concerns from both sides of the aisle regarding his stance on Israel. Critics have argued that his refusal to fully condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” and his support for the pro-Palestinian “Boycott, Divest, Sanctions” movement, which seeks to politically and economically isolate Israel, constitute antisemitism.
Mamdani has rejected such characterizations, arguing he supports the Jewish people, but not Netanyahu, the state of Israel, or Zionists, which most Jewish people identify with.
The mayoral candidate has repeatedly pledged to arrest Netanyahu if he wins the election. Mamdani told the New York Times in September that if he is elected, he would order Netanyahu to be arrested by the New York Police Department if he enters the city. Last December, Mamdani made a similar promise, saying New York City would arrest the Israeli leader because “this is a city where our values are in line with international law.”
“It’s time that our actions are also,” Mamdani said during the 2024 interview with former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan.
Mamdani’s rivals have jumped on the matter, using it as an opportunity to paint him as an antisemitic candidate out of line with federal guidelines.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has argued that Mamdani seeking to carry out his threat would represent the “absurd” politicization of the justice system.
“The ICC has no legal jurisdiction in New York,” Cuomo said earlier this month. “It’s not even legal. It’s political theater.”
Adams, who campaigned against Mamdani before ending his reelection bid last month, has also knocked the socialist on the matter, saying his “obsession with Israel is beginning to border on the fanatical.”
In a Sept. 16 post to X, Adams expressed concern that Mamdani is a “threat to Jewish safety, framing him as a ‘man who’s described Israel as a ‘racist endeavor’ and supports the odious BDS movement.”
Mamdani has publicly attacked Adams and Cuomo for maintaining friendly relations with Israel, as he believes the state has perpetuated the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
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For his part, Netanyahu has dismissed Mamdani’s aspirations to arrest him, calling the threats “folly” and “silly in many ways” in July, and saying he still plans to travel to New York City.
President Donald Trump promised in September to “intervene” in any scenario that saw Netanyahu detained in the city.