New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani acknowledged on Wednesday that the city has no independent legal authority to enforce the International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a video statement released overnight, Mamdani said his incoming administration had examined the legal options available to the city and concluded that municipal authorities could not carry out the arrest.
He instead called on the federal government to join the court and enforce the warrant, while declaring that Netanyahu was not welcome in New York City.
Mamdani used the video to level harsh accusations against the Israeli prime minister, calling him a war criminal and blaming Israel for the deaths of more than 73,000 Palestinians.
He also accused Israel of attacking hospitals, depriving infants of the opportunity to live, starving civilians, and killing aid workers and journalists.
The clarification came only days after Mamdani caused an uproar by telling The New York Times that he would seek to have Netanyahu arrested if the prime minister traveled to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
President Donald Trump publicly rejected the threat, stating that Netanyahu would not be arrested under any circumstances while visiting the United States.
Trump defended Israel and argued that the Iranian regime, rather than Netanyahu, was responsible for spreading death and destruction across the region.
Israeli officials also dismissed Mamdani’s original threat.
The Prime Minister’s Office urged him to focus on repairing the damage caused by his policies in New York instead of attacking the leader of what it described as the only democracy in the Middle East.
Israeli officials further argued that the International Criminal Court has no jurisdiction over Israeli or American citizens and described the arrest warrant as illegitimate.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, and its consul general in New York, Ofir Akunis, also rejected Mamdani’s claims, accusing him of fueling antisemitism instead of governing the city.
