New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said today that his legal advisors have concluded that the city does not have the authority to execute the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, DPA reported, BTA reported.
In a video message posted on the social media platform X, Mamdani said that his administration had considered all legal options under current law but ultimately determined that the city did not have the authority to execute the warrant.
Netanyahu is expected to arrive in New York in September for the annual session of the UN General Assembly.
„It is clear that if Benjamin Netanyahu came here, we do not have the necessary independent legal authority to execute this order,” he said, adding that the Israeli prime minister “is not welcome in New York.”
During the election campaign, Mamdani promised that he would try to find a way to arrest Netanyahu if he was elected mayor. However, he later softened his position and said that the issue should be considered from a legal perspective.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in November 2024 on charges of war crimes in Gaza. Netanyahu has repeatedly denied these charges.
According to Mamdani, the administration of President Donald Trump has the authority to execute the order. Trump has already ruled out this possibility, and the United States and Israel are not parties to the Rome Statute - the basis for the creation of the ICC, and are not bound by its decisions, DPA reports.