Mamdani Backs Down On Arresting Netanyahu, Now Wants Trump To Do It Instead

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani spent weeks threatening to have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested on American soil, and on Tuesday evening he finally admitted what nearly every legal voice around him had already said, that he simply cannot do it. In a video posted on X, Mamdani conceded his administration had reviewed every possible avenue and found no independent authority to enforce the International Criminal Court warrant issued against Netanyahu in 2024 over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Having built political theatre around the promise of ordering the NYPD to detain a sitting foreign leader, he pivoted instead to demanding Washington join the ICC and carry out the arrest itself, a request going nowhere given the United States has never ratified the Rome Statute.

The climbdown follows days of pointed pushback. US Ambassador Mike Waltz listed four reasons the threat was hollow, citing America's non membership in the Rome Statute, diplomatic protections under the UN Headquarters Agreement, head of state immunity, and federal authority overriding any local action. Legal scholar Rebecca Ingber of Cardozo Law told reporters Netanyahu retains state immunity that shields him from criminal jurisdiction, while former Israeli UN spokesperson Jonathan Harounoff dismissed the entire episode as political theatre. New York Governor Kathy Hochul had already stated last year that the mayor holds no such power, and former federal prosecutors warned that any attempted arrest could expose city officials to federal conspiracy charges.

Netanyahu's office did not hold back either, branding the ICC a kangaroo court with no jurisdiction over Americans or Israelis and accusing Mamdani of following the same distraction playbook as former prosecutor Karim Khan, who issued the warrant days before facing his own misconduct allegations. The Simon Wiesenthal Center accused Mamdani of profoundly misusing his office, while Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon called the entire threat a stunt meant to deflect from Mamdani's record running the city.

President Donald Trump sealed the outcome a day earlier, declaring on Truth Social that Netanyahu will not be arrested in any way on American soil, framing him instead as an ally against Iran. Despite retreating on the legal claim, Mamdani has not softened his language, continuing to call Netanyahu a war criminal and the architect of what he termed a genocide against Palestinians, leaving him with a viral video and no actual plan.