World
Netanyahu: Mamdani trying to distract from failed policies by exploring PM’s arrest
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office hit back on Sunday after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a recent interview that he was reviewing ways to arrest the Israeli leader if he comes to New York.
In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office called the International Criminal Court — which issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in 2024 over the war in Gaza — “a kangaroo court that has no jurisdiction over Americans or Israelis,” and accused Mamdani of seeking to distract the public from his own failed policies.
The ICC’s “bogus arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu was issued by a disgraced former ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, a few days before allegations of sexual misconduct against him became public,” Netanyahu’s office continued. “It was a clear attempt by Khan to divert public attention and seek protection from scrutiny.”
Israel, said the PMO, “has taken unprecedented wartime measures to minimize harm to civilians while confronting Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that uses Palestinians as human shields and deliberately targets innocent Israeli civilians.”
“Instead of backing Khan’s criminal behavior, Mr. Mamdani should focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York,” the statement continued.
“Like Karim Khan, Mamdani appears interested in diverting public attention from his follies and attacking the leader of the Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East,” it said of the ICC chief prosecutor who filed the charges against Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
Since the arrest warrants were issued in November 2024, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, was suspended, following a probe into accusations of sexual harassment made against him. A full vote by member states on his dismissal is slated for this week.
Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman on Sunday called Mamdani a “clown” for suggesting he would seek to have Netanyahu arrested.
“He has no way to do that,” Fetterman asserted during an interview with “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News. “America’s not even part of that corrupt court,” he said of the ICC.
Fetterman, a staunch Israel supporter, said Mamdani is “just a clown to even say that, so he won’t try that.”
“Just sit down and focus” on New York problems, “that’s really not your purview. You and I know that. Sit down,” the senator added.
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Mayor Zohran Mamdani has spent weeks saying New York City is exploring whether it can arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits for… pic.twitter.com/LbgG3sEX1V
— M.A. Rothman (@MichaelARothman) July 19, 2026
Speaking to The New York Times in an interview published Saturday, Mamdani was asked about his campaign pledge to arrest Netanyahu.
Mamdani said, “I will follow the laws that we have here in New York City” and that “whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end.” Asked specifically what the laws allow, he said that there was “an active conversation with our legal department.”
Mamdani had vowed to send the New York Police Department to enforce arrest warrants against leaders wanted by the International Criminal Court, including Netanyahu or Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mamdani has, in the past, cited the ICC war crimes arrest warrant as grounds for arresting Netanyahu, but the court does not have jurisdiction in the US, and US federal law makes it illegal for local governments to cooperate with the court. A separate federal law prohibits imprisonment and obstruction of foreign officials, including heads of state.
Also, last year, New York Governor Kathy Hochul stated that “the New York City mayor does not have the power to do that.”
Legal experts have also said Mamdani’s threat to arrest Netanyahu is baseless.
The Hague-based ICC in 2024 said it had reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu was responsible for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza following the unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack.
Israel vociferously denies the allegations and accusations of genocide in Gaza.
New York is home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel, as well as the United Nations, where Netanyahu has regularly attended the annual General Assembly, which is slated for September. Netanyahu has said he will not be deterred from attending by Mamdani’s threats.
