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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s abandoned pledge to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu divided House Democrats, with some backing his proposal while others said the mayor lacked the legal authority to carry it out.
“Arrest him,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., told Fox News Digital. “He’s a war criminal.”
Throughout Mamdani’s campaign, he repeatedly insisted that he would order the New York Police Department (NYPD) to enforce the warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and arrest Netanyahu for his role in the war in Gaza.
MAMDANI GOES BACK ON CAMPAIGN PROMISE, SAYS NYC CAN’T ARREST NETANYAHU
But Mamdani finally acknowledged his inability to do so as the city lacks the “independent legal authority” to do so. On Tuesday night, he took to social media with a video calling on the federal government to execute the warrant by the ICC to arrest Netanyahu, also stating to be “equally clear” that the prime minister is “not welcome in New York City.”
“I think that whether or not he has the authority about it, I don’t really have an opinion on,” Rep. Summer Lee, D-Penn., said. She continued, “But I do think that Netanyahu is a war criminal.”
“I wish that we had a country that didn’t excuse war criminals,” Lee said.
Tlaib also offered Mamdani help with the arrest as she wasn’t sure if he had the authority to complete the arrest.
“I don’t know if it applies to citizen’s arrest,” she said. “If he needs help, tell him to call me.”
CNN LEGAL ANALYST CALLS OUT ‘UTTERLY RIDICULOUS’ CLAIM BY MAMDANI ABOUT NETANYAHU ARREST
Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., was one of the few House Democrats that Fox News Digital spoke with who immediately shut down the idea that Mamdani would be able to pursue this arrest under any avenue explored by the city, arguing it would violate a treaty with the United Nations.
He said, “There’s a treaty under which the U.N. is lodged in the United States. Pursuit to that treaty, any diplomat can come to the U.N. and be immune from process.”
The U.N. Headquarters Agreement is a 1947 treaty between the United States and the United Nations that governs the legal status of the U.N. headquarters in New York and provides protections for foreign officials attending U.N. meetings.
MAMDANI SAYS NYC IS EXPLORING WHETHER IT CAN ARREST NETANYAHU IF ISRAELI LEADER VISITS FOR UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The U.S. is not a member of the ICC, nor is it a party to the Rome Statute, which requires member countries to arrest individuals wanted under ICC warrants.
Mamdani’s call on the federal government to arrest Netanyahu comes after President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social on Monday that the prime minister “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also recently threatened to “dismantle” the ICC as he claims the court’s force of international law is overreaching its powers and “threatens every aspect of our political and legal system.”
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