Israeli PM will visit NYC despite Mayor-elect Mamdani promising to arrest him

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he still plans to travel to New York, brushing off threats from incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has publicly stated he would order police to arrest the Israeli leader under an International Criminal Court warrant.

Netanyahu told the New York Times he intends to visit the city regardless of Mamdani’s warnings. Asked whether he was prepared to test the mayor-elect’s pledge, Netanyahu responded, “Well, why don’t you wait and see?”

Mamdani, a democratic socialist and soon to be New York’s first Muslim mayor, has repeatedly said the city should honor the ICC’s warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes. He has even suggested that NYPD officers would be instructed to detain Netanyahu — or Russian President Vladimir Putin — if either landed at a New York airport.

“Being a city of international law means looking to uphold international law,” Mamdani said. “And that means upholding the warrants from the International Criminal Court, whether they’re for Benjamin Netanyahu or Vladimir Putin.”

Netanyahu had previously said he was not concerned about the threats and noted he would visit New York alongside President Donald Trump.

Legal experts have cast doubt on whether Mamdani could actually carry out an arrest. The United States does not recognize the ICC, and Washington, along with Israel, has long slammed the court’s attempts to claim jurisdiction in their cases.

The Trump administration-imposed sanctions on ICC officials earlier this year.

Syracuse University law professor Cora True-Frost said the mayor-elect’s vow is “politically very significant” but would be nearly impossible to enforce. She noted that foreign policy authority belongs to the federal government and that the administration would likely assert head-of-state immunity on Netanyahu’s behalf.

If Netanyahu were traveling for meetings at the United Nations, additional protections under the UN Headquarters Agreement and diplomatic immunity rules would also apply.

Mamdani, 34, is a vocal opponent of Israel’s government. He has supported the BDS movement and has argued against Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.