New York City Mayor Zahran Mamdani sparked a widespread wave of criticism, after describing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “war criminal” who deserves to appear before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Mamdani revealed, in an interview with the New York Times, that his legal team is studying the possibility of arresting Netanyahu if he comes to New York to participate in the United Nations General Assembly meeting, scheduled for next September 8.
Mamdani’s statements sparked angry reactions at the local and federal levels, as US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz described his position as “pure political theater,” stressing that the powers of the federal authorities take precedence over the desires of any local mayor.
Waltz relied on four legal reasons that he said prevented any arrest from being carried out, most notably that the United States is not a party to the Rome Statute on which the International Criminal Court is based, and that the United Nations Headquarters Agreement grants diplomatic protection to visiting heads of government, in addition to the immunity of the head of state and the supremacy of the federal authority over any local decision.
The criticism was not limited to federal officials, but extended to Republicans in the House of Representatives, who called on Mamdani to focus on his city’s internal issues instead of interfering in foreign policy.
“Mamdani threatens to arrest the president of one of our closest allies,” the Republicans said in a statement. “He should stop politicizing domestic law enforcement and interfering in American foreign policy, and instead focus on rising rents, housing prices, and anti-Semitism in New York.”
Former New York Mayor Eric Adams joined the critics, describing Mamdani’s statements as “reckless”, and considering that threatening to arrest a democratically elected leader of one of the United States’ closest allies during the week of the United Nations General Assembly is not audacity, but recklessness.
Adams expressed his aspiration to welcome the Israeli Prime Minister to New York in two months.
In turn, Brooklyn City Council member Ina Vernikov expressed her dissatisfaction with Mamdani’s statements, calling on him to pay attention to the issues of New Yorkers, including homelessness, the high cost of living crisis, and floods, instead of illegally interfering in foreign affairs.
In the same context, Democratic Senator John Fetterman called on the Mayor of New York to “sit down” and focus on his city’s problems, pointing out that the United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court, and that Mamdani’s threats are not based on a legal basis.
“If I were him, I would sit down and focus on the other problems New York has,” Fetterman added. “This is none of your business.”
