Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a press conference in Jerusalem on June 15, 2026.
Ronen Zvulun | AFP | getty images
President Donald Trump said Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will not be arrested” when he visits New York in September, refuting a suggestion by Mayor Zohran Mamdani that such an arrest could happen.
Mamdani has said that the New York City Legal Department is discussing the possibility of arresting Netanyahu while the prime minister is in the city to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
“I believe Prime Minister Netanyahu is in The Hague,” Mamdani told The New York Times.Interview” podcast.
“He is a war criminal who has been accused of International Criminal Court. And you’ll find that it’s an opinion that many people have that is purely because of his actions over the last several years,” the mayor said.
“Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested in any way, shape, or form while in the United States of America,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Monday.
“He is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protesters and has spent the last 47 years killing American soldiers and others,” Trump wrote. “The only people who should be arrested are those who led Iran to this unprecedented period of death and destruction, which previous presidents should have dealt with years ago!”
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu on November 21, 2024, charging that he is “responsible for the war crimes of directing deliberate attacks against the civilian population and starvation as a method of warfare” in Gaza, as well as “murder, torture and other inhumane acts against humanity from at least 8 October 2023 to at least 20 May 2024.” Crime.”
The case relates to Israel’s war on Gaza following the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Netanyahu’s office on Sunday lashed out at the ICC and Mamdani.
“The ICC is a kangaroo court that has no jurisdiction over Americans or Israelis,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on X.
“Instead of supporting Khan’s criminal behavior, Mr. Mamdani should focus on repairing the damage his policies have done to New York,” the Post said. “Like Karim Khan, Mamdani is interested in diverting public attention from his idiosyncrasies and attacking the leader of the Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East.”