Key points
- New York City would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu: Mamdani
- I’m not concerned about that: Netanyahu
- I’ll get him out: President Trump
ISLAMABAD: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off recent remarks by Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, who threatened to arrest him if he visits New York City, calling the statement “silly” during a working dinner with President Donald Trump on Monday evening.
According to Yahoo News, Mamdani, who identifies as a democratic socialist and is the Democratic Party’s nominee for New York City mayor, said, “As mayor, New York City would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Mamdani: If elected Mayor I would arrest Netanyahu if he sets foot in NYC: pic.twitter.com/iHK9DBuAka
— PalMedia (@PalMediaOrg) June 25, 2025
“I’m not concerned about that,” Netanyahu told reporters at the White House. “There’s enough craziness in the world, but I guess it never ends. This is folly and it’s silly in many ways.”
Yesterday at the White House, a reporter asked Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump to respond to Zohran Mamdani’s remarks to me on Zeteo, late last year, that as mayor of New York he would arrest the Israeli prime minister and wanted ICC fugitive if he visited NYC.
Watch: pic.twitter.com/BQ0E0a1KjC
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) July 8, 2025
Netanyahu hinted at plans to travel to New York alongside Trump, seemingly in defiance of Mamdani’s warning.
“I’m going to come there with President Trump and we’ll see,” he added.
Trump, seated next to Netanyahu, responded with a grin: “I’ll get him out.”
Mamdani, a Queens assemblyman and self-described democratic socialist, previously told journalist Mehdi Hasan that, if elected, he would order Netanyahu’s arrest should he step foot in New York City. The statement came in response to an International Criminal Court warrant issued last year for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
Values and international law
“No. As mayor, New York City would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu. This is a city that our values are in line with international law. It’s time that our actions are also,” Mamdani said in a December interview with Zeteo.
Trump, in turn, criticised Mamdani during the dinner, calling him “a communist” and alleging that he had “said some really bad things about Jewish people” and others. He also cast doubt on Mamdani’s political longevity.
What are ICC’s charges against Netanyahu?
Netanyahu and Gallant have been charged with “crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October until at least 20 May 2024”. The charges also related to the use of starvation and the deliberate targeting of medical facilities.
The court says there are reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bear “criminal responsibility” for causing mass starvation in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera.
The court has accused both Netanyahu and Gallant of jointly using “starvation as a method of warfare”, referring to Israel’s systemic restriction of food and humanitarian aid supplies into the Gaza Strip throughout the war.
