Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded on Sunday to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s threats to enforce an International Criminal Court arrest warrant when he lands in New York for the UN General Assembly.
The Prime Minister is traveling to the United States this week for an eighth sit-down with President Trump at the White House. He announced his departure on X this morning, writing, “In our meeting, we will discuss all the issues on the table, with Iran at the forefront. Our goal is clear: to safeguard Israel’s security, strengthen its power, and expand the circle of peace around us.” Netanyahu added, During the visit, I will also pay my last respects to a true friend of mine and of the State of Israel, Senator Lindsey Graham—one of Israel’s greatest friends of all time.”
As The Gateway Pundit reported, Mamdani sat for an interview with the New York Times this month, where he upped the ante on a campaign promise to “arrest Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Mamdani said he’s engaged in an “active conversation” with his legal department to find out “what the prospects are” to arrest Netanyahu for war crimes when he lands in New York for the UN General Assembly in September.
“Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani said, referencing Prison Scheveningen in The Hague, Netherlands, home of the United Nations Detention Unit (UNDU) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) Detention Center.
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However, Mamdani later walked back the empty threat, saying, Netanyahu is “not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at large” but still admitting he has no power to enforce the International Criminal Court warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest.
“It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant,” the mayor said. “The federal government, however, does — and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant.”
During an interview on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Netanyahu said he is “not concerned” and still plans to attend the UN General Assembly in New York.
Netanyahu further decried the charges against him as politically motivated and slammed Mamdani for “trying to turn one group against the other” and “foisting hate and fear.” Netanyahu added, “I don’t think it’s accidental that after he made this hate speech against Israel and against me, the next day a Jew is stabbed coming out of a synagogue. I think, and with a cry of Allah is Akbar, Allah Akbar, and you know what that means.”
“What we’re doing is trying to fight this genocidal terrorist organization that embeds itself among civilians, prevents us from moving the civilians out of harm’s way; they use gunpoint. That’s where the real criminals are, but Mandani is aligning himself with the criminals, with the with these murderers,” the Prime Minister continued. “But the worst thing is that he’s tormenting his own citizens, his own voters. No, that is wrong. And I, you know, I’ve been to New York so many times, Maria, over the years. I’ve met all the New York mayors. They all saw themselves as mayors of all New Yorkers, not pitting one part of the population against the other.”
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