NYC Mayor-Elect Mamdani Repeats Promise to Arrest Netanyahu Over ICC Warrant

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is doubling down on his shocking vow to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits the Big Apple a pledge that has sparked outrage across the political spectrum and raised serious concerns about the future direction of America’s largest city.

During a live ABC7 interview this week, Mamdani reiterated his support for the International Criminal Court’s controversial 2024 arrest warrant against Netanyahu, citing the need to “uphold international law.” He then boldly declared, “That means upholding the warrants from the International Criminal Court, whether they’re for Benjamin Netanyahu or Vladimir Putin.”

Mamdani’s statements came just days after outgoing Mayor Eric Adams met with Netanyahu and invited him to attend Mamdani’s January 1 inauguration. It was a pointed gesture one that now looks more like a challenge than a handoff of power.

“New Yorkers are looking for consistency in the way we talk about our values and follow through with them,” Mamdani said, defending his pledge.

Mamdani is threatening to arrest the democratically elected leader of one of America’s closest allies. He is basing this stance on a legally dubious ICC warrant that even the United States which is not a signatory to the ICC treaty has rejected as illegitimate.

And despite acknowledging that fact, Mamdani insists New York should still explore “every legal possibility” to detain Netanyahu, even though no such authority exists under U.S. law. He claims, “Unlike Donald Trump, I’m someone who looks to exist within the confines of the laws that we have,” while also pledging to stretch those laws to their political limits.

Here’s what Mamdani’s radical stance means for New York and the nation:

• He is actively undermining U.S. foreign policy and inviting diplomatic chaos.

• He is pandering to anti-Israel extremists in his political base while claiming to protect New York’s Jewish community.

• He is setting a dangerous precedent that local politicians can weaponize global politics for domestic gain.

Mamdani, the first Muslim and South Asian mayor of New York, insists that his administration will “cherish” Jewish New Yorkers even as he threatens the Israeli prime minister with arrest and cozies up to far-left agitators who openly support anti-Israel policies.

This isn’t diplomacy. It’s ideological performance. And it sends a chilling message to allies around the world: If you’re not aligned with far-left international tribunals or progressive activism, don’t count on American cities to have your back.

While Mamdani claims to be operating “within the law,” he’s exploiting legal gray areas to push an internationalist agenda that betrays basic U.S. interests and alienates New York’s Jewish population the largest outside of Israel.

And the silence from national Democrats is deafening.

If this is the future of leadership in American cities, it’s a future defined by divisiveness, lawfare, and performative radicalism.

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