(VIDEO) NYC Mayor Mamdani Says Netanyahu Arrest Warrant Should Be Enforced, Contradicting Trumps Vow of Safety

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Monday that the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be honored, directly contradicting an assurance from President Donald Trump earlier the same day that Netanyahu would face no arrest while in the United States.

Speaking at a press conference, Mamdani reiterated his position on the warrant in direct terms. "If someone is charged with a warrant by the International Criminal Court for these kinds of crimes, that's something I believe should be honored. And I've also said that we will follow our local laws," Mamdani said.

Trump's assurance to Netanyahu

Mamdani's comments came hours after Trump posted on Truth Social that Netanyahu "will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America." Trump's post did not name Mamdani directly, though it came amid the mayor's continued public statements about the ICC warrant, and credited Israel with assisting the United States in its ongoing military conflict with Iran.

Trump later told reporters that he had no tension with Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, despite having ordered a halt to trade with Madrid and criticizing Spain as a partner within NATO, remarks made during the same public appearance in which he addressed the Netanyahu situation.

Mamdani's escalating rhetoric

Mamdani went further in describing the basis for his position, characterizing Netanyahu in stark terms tied to the war in Gaza. "We're speaking about someone who's the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant. And he's the subject of this arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity, for war crimes, and he's the architect of the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza as Israel's prime minister," Mamdani said.

The mayor's comments Monday represented a continuation of positions he first articulated during his mayoral campaign, when he said he would direct police to arrest Netanyahu if the Israeli leader set foot in New York City, framing the move as straightforward enforcement of the existing ICC warrant. Since taking office, Mamdani has confirmed that his administration's legal department is actively reviewing whether the city has legal authority to act on the warrant, particularly given that Netanyahu typically travels to New York each September to address the United Nations General Assembly.

In an earlier interview published Saturday, Mamdani had used even more direct language regarding where he believes Netanyahu should ultimately face justice. "I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague," Mamdani said at the time.

A position rooted in international law, Mamdani says

In prior public comments, including a Fox News interview with anchor Martha MacCallum, Mamdani has framed his position as grounded in a broader commitment to international law rather than a personal grievance against Netanyahu specifically. "I've said that this is a city that believes international law, and this is a city that wants to uplift and uphold those beliefs," Mamdani told MacCallum, who noted in response that the United States itself does not recognize the ICC's jurisdiction. Mamdani acknowledged that the U.S. has not signed the treaty establishing the court, but maintained that New York should nonetheless honor the warrant, comparing it to a separate ICC warrant issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mamdani has said he does not intend to create new local laws to facilitate any arrest, but rather to exhaust existing legal options available to the city.

The ICC warrant's origins

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for both Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024, citing allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity connected to Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The ICC, established in 2002 to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, operates under jurisdiction that Israel rejects, and neither Israel nor the United States is a member of the court.

Israel's response

Israel has firmly rejected both the ICC's authority and Mamdani's remarks. In a statement reposted by Netanyahu himself over the weekend, his office described the ICC as "a kangaroo court that has no jurisdiction over Americans or Israelis." The statement went on to characterize the warrant against Netanyahu as "bogus," attributing it to what it described as a discredited former ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, who the statement said issued the warrant shortly before allegations of sexual misconduct against him became public, characterizing the move as an attempt by Khan to divert attention from scrutiny of his own conduct.

Netanyahu's office also accused Mamdani directly of using the arrest threat to distract from what it characterized as his own failed policies as mayor. The Trump administration has separately imposed sanctions on Khan and roughly a dozen other ICC staff members, in what officials have described as retaliation for the warrants issued against senior Israeli officials over the Gaza war, as well as separate ICC investigations involving U.S. personnel in Afghanistan.

A clash with national implications

Monday's exchange underscores a broader and increasingly public divide between Mamdani's administration and the Trump administration over how the United States should engage with the International Criminal Court and its rulings involving allied foreign leaders. With Netanyahu expected to travel to New York in September for the UN General Assembly, as he has in previous years, the dispute over whether the city could or would attempt to act on the ICC warrant is likely to remain a closely watched flashpoint in the coming months.

With Trump having now publicly guaranteed Netanyahu's safety from arrest while in the United States, and Mamdani continuing to insist that the ICC warrant should be honored under international law, the two leaders' starkly opposing positions appear likely to remain unresolved heading into the fall, when Netanyahu's anticipated UN visit could bring the dispute to a more concrete test. For now, both sides have shown no indication of backing away from their respective positions, leaving the question of how, or whether, any attempt to enforce the warrant in New York City might actually unfold as one of the more unusual open legal and political questions facing the incoming mayoral administration.