NYC mayor says in Times interview that’s he’s in ‘active conversation’ with city’s law department about the matter

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has said he was reviewing whether his administration could arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if as expected the Israeli prime minister visits the city for the UN general assembly in September.

Mamdani’s comments on Saturday’s episode of the New York Times’s the Interview podcast echoed ones he had made to the publication as he successfully ran for mayor last fall.

“I believe that prime minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani said, referring to the Dutch city that is home to the international criminal court, which issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in November 2024 over alleged war crimes in Gaza. “He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the international criminal court, and what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these past many years.”

Mamdani said it was unclear to him whether he has the legal authority to order the New York police department (NYPD), which he oversees, to detain a foreign leader like Netanyahu. But he said he was in “an active conversation” with the city’s law department about the matter.

  • dastanktal@lemmy.ml
    218·
    2 days ago

    Yeah, can’t wait to see how he’s going to arrest Netanyahu, who already gave his speech at the U.N. Assembly, by the way, without a police force that’s willing to arrest him Since you know he’s a mayor and that’s about all the power he has.

    Of course all I’m doing is being pragmatic and pointing out how this is literally a piece of liberal propaganda that is not going to amount to anything. It’s performative bullshit. It’s not even baby steps. He might as well have said he has thoughts and prayers for Netanyahu facing justice. Would have accomplished the same fucking thing, namely good press and absolutely no action.

      • dastanktal@lemmy.ml
        222·
        2 days ago

        Thanks for contributing bs liberal propaganda to the Lemisphere. Really appreciate it, making it feel more like reddit.

        You have a good one yourself.