Trump Says Netanyahu Will Not Be Arrested in US as NYC Mayor Mamdani Doubles Down, Calling Him a War Criminal

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said this week that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested during any future visit to the United States, pushing back after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani suggested his administration was weighing whether to detain the Israeli leader under an outstanding international arrest warrant.

The exchange has reignited a long-simmering dispute over the reach of the International Criminal Court inside the United States, and has put a spotlight on Mamdani, the newly elected Democratic mayor, as he navigates one of the most politically fraught issues in his young administration.

Trump's warning

In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump wrote that Netanyahu "will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America." The president did not name Mamdani directly, but the post came in direct response to the mayor's recent comments and credited Israel with assisting the United States in its conflict with Iran.

Trump went further in the same post, writing that Netanyahu "is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors, and has spent the last 47 years killing American Soldiers, and others." He added that "the only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented SPIRAL OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, something that should have been dealt with years ago, by previous Presidents!"

Mamdani's response

Mamdani, who took office in January, had said in an interview broadcast over the weekend that New York City's legal department was actively reviewing what options the law might allow if Netanyahu travels to the city for the United Nations General Assembly this September, as he traditionally does.

"I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. He's a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court," Mamdani said during the interview, part of a New York Times video podcast called "The Interview."

The mayor doubled down on Tuesday, posting on social media platform X that Netanyahu "is a war criminal" and asserting he was "responsible for the killing of more than 73,000 people," adding, "I agree with the ICC" and that Netanyahu "should be arrested and tried for war crimes."

Mamdani has since clarified the limits of what his office believes it can legally do. In comments to the Times, he 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." During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani had said arresting Netanyahu, should the opportunity arise, was something "I intend to fulfill."

Israel and U.S. officials push back

Netanyahu's government responded sharply. In a post on X, Israeli officials called the ICC a "kangaroo court" and described the arrest warrant against Netanyahu as "bogus," adding that Mamdani "appears interested in diverting public attention from his follies and attacking the leader of the Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East."

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, separately dismissed Mamdani's threat as lacking any legal basis. Danon said the mayor has "no jurisdiction" to act on the ICC warrant, noting that the United States has never joined the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the court. "The U.S. is not part of the ICC so there is no warrant against a prime minister in the U.S., and there is no jurisdiction for the mayor," Danon said, adding that "the only thing the mayor can do is sit in the sidelines and maybe learn something about the rule of law."

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz also weighed in over the weekend, laying out several legal reasons he said made Mamdani's threat unworkable. In a post on X, Waltz wrote that the United States is not party to the Rome Statute, that the United Nations headquarters agreement grants diplomatic protections to visiting heads of government, that head-of-state immunity applies, and that federal authority supersedes the wishes of a local mayor. Waltz went on to call Mamdani's comments "pure political theater."

The ICC warrant

The International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, issued its warrant for Netanyahu in November 2024, alleging he bears responsibility for war crimes including the use of starvation as a method of warfare and for directing attacks against civilians in Gaza during Israel's military campaign there. The warrant followed the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the war.

Israel has rejected the court's jurisdiction entirely and denies that it has committed war crimes in Gaza. Neither Israel nor the United States is a member of the ICC, a body established in 2002 with authority to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Trump administration has separately pursued a broader campaign against the court, imposing sanctions on ICC judges, prosecutors and affiliated organizations that have sought rulings against Israel.

A complicated relationship

Trump and Mamdani have not always been at odds. Shortly after Mamdani's election victory last November, the mayor-elect and the president held what was described as an unexpectedly friendly meeting at the White House, despite having previously exchanged public insults during the campaign.

Netanyahu typically travels to New York each September to address the U.N. General Assembly, a visit that would put this year's dispute to its most direct test. Whether Mamdani's administration takes any action if Netanyahu arrives in the city remains uncertain, and legal experts broadly agree that any attempt to enforce the ICC warrant on U.S. soil would face substantial legal and diplomatic obstacles, given the immunities typically extended to visiting heads of government and the country's position outside the court's jurisdiction.

For now, the dispute stands as a proxy for a broader rift within the Democratic Party over Israel policy, with Mamdani's stance drawing both support and criticism from within his own party as the September gathering approaches.