NEW YORK — Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s mayor since January, said Saturday that his administration is in “active conversation” with the city’s legal department about arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he travel to New York for the United Nations General Assembly in September.
The statement positions the mayor of the nation’s largest city in direct confrontation with the federal government’s approach to the International Criminal Court’s outstanding arrest warrants for Netanyahu, warrants the United States has refused to recognize and has actively worked to shield from international enforcement.
“We are in active conversation with our legal department to explore what legal options are available to us,” Mamdani said. He did not describe the specific legal mechanism the city would invoke or how it would navigate the diplomatic protections that accompany a sitting head of government traveling to a United Nations event on American soil.
The ICC issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing allegations of using starvation as a weapon of war and deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. The court found sufficient grounds to allege both committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. Neither has appeared before the court. Israel, like the United States, is not a signatory to the Rome Statute.
The Trump administration has gone further than simple non-recognition. It imposed sanctions earlier this year on ICC officials involved in the warrants and threatened economic penalties against countries that cooperate with the court’s proceedings. Several European governments, including France, have moved in the opposite direction, announcing they would enforce the warrant if Netanyahu entered their territory. Belgium became the fifth EU nation this week to take unilateral action against Israeli policies in defiance of Brussels’ slower institutional pace.
Against that backdrop, Mamdani’s statement is the most direct assertion by a major American elected official that domestic law enforcement could or should act on the ICC warrant. Whether it reflects a genuine legal strategy or a political signal is not yet clear. New York City does not hold independent foreign-affairs authority, and the federal government’s Host Country Agreement with the United Nations requires Washington to permit the entry of foreign dignitaries attending UN events. Any city-level arrest attempt during a UNGA visit would almost certainly trigger an immediate federal legal challenge.
Legal scholars and international law experts have argued that a municipal arrest attempt would be preempted by federal authority over diplomatic immunity determinations. The executive branch in Washington, not city governments, controls that determination, and the constitutional doctrine of federal supremacy in foreign affairs has been invoked in prior cases to block state and local actions conflicting with U.S. diplomatic commitments.
Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist who defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo in last year’s Democratic primary and took office in January 2026, has made his opposition to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza a defining feature of his mayoralty. His election drew significant international attention as a signal of shifting sentiment within the Democratic coalition, particularly in a city home to one of the largest Jewish communities outside Israel. He has publicly called the campaign in Gaza a genocide, language the Israeli and U.S. governments reject. The political dynamics around Israel in the Democratic Party have grown visibly sharper in recent months; this week, AIPAC froze fundraising for Democrats who voted to strip $3.3 billion in Israel aid.
Netanyahu is expected to travel to New York for UNGA in late September, scheduling permitting. His office did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
The United Kingdom has also indicated it would be legally obligated to enforce the warrant if Netanyahu traveled to British territory, a significant departure from the ambiguity it maintained through much of 2025. The trend across Europe toward enforcement stands in marked contrast to the posture of the United States, where no federal official has suggested any willingness to act on the warrant.
Whether Mamdani’s legal department will identify any viable mechanism under existing constitutional and diplomatic constraints, or conclude that the city’s authority does not extend to the question, remains unanswered. The mayor did not set a timeline for reaching a conclusion.
