No chance Netanyahu will be arrested in New York, Trump says, as mayor Mamdani explores options

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in November 2024, accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Photo by RONEN ZVULUN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

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President Donald Trump said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will not be arrested” in the U.S., rebuffing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s suggestion that such an apprehension could happen.

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Mamdani has said his administration is in “active conversation” about whether city authorities could arrest Netanyahu when he comes to New York in September for the United Nations General Assembly. The Israeli leader has been charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

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“Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America,” Trump posted Monday on social media. “The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented SPIRAL OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.”

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The back-and-forth marks the latest spat between Trump and Mamdani. The two men enjoyed a brief detente after Mamdani was elected last fall, but most recently, the president has labeled as “communists” candidates the mayor backed in Democratic primary elections.

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Mamdani said in a New York Times interview published Saturday that Netanyahu “belongs in the Hague” and reiterated that his office is speaking with the city’s legal department about what steps it could take if the Israeli prime minister appears in New York.

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Speaking at a Monday press conference, Mamdani accused Netanyahu of being “the architect of the genocide” of Palestinians in Gaza but has also made clear that “my administration will follow all applicable local laws.”

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Israel has rejected accusations it has committed genocide against Palestinians, saying that its war in Gaza was a legitimate defence of its people and a justified response to the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, which is considered a terrorist group by the U.S. and European Union. Militants stormed into Israel and killed around 1,200 people and took roughly 250 hostage.

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Israeli military operations have, in turn, levelled much of Gaza and left more than 73,000 people dead, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

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Heads of state traditionally enjoy diplomatic immunity while in the U.S. on official business. What’s more the U.S. is not a party to the ICC and isn’t legally bound to enforce its warrants. The Trump administration has taken a hostile approach to the court, with the U.S. State Department in July launching a campaign to dismantle what it has said is a threat to Americans posed by the judicial body.

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Netanyahu responded to the New York City mayor’s threat in a radio interview, in which he claimed Mamdani “secretly hates America” and “champions” Hamas.

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The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in November 2024, accusing the leader of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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