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.
So tell me again how this mayor who can only command the police force to arrest somebody is going to arrest someone without that police force. How exactly is this a step in the right direction and not bold-faced liberal propaganda designed to make Madamni look good without lifting a finger?
Who said Madamni was TRYING to look good?
What people need to see is enforcement of laws that are already on the books.
If the police won’t enforce the existing laws then we need POLICE REFORM. That’s what he CAN do.
A baby step in the right direction.