Trump says Netanyahu will not be arrested in US

President Donald Trump said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will not be arrested” if he comes to the United States, rejecting New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pledge to examine whether city authorities could detain the Israeli leader during the United Nations General Assembly in September.

In a Truth Social post Monday, Trump said Netanyahu, who has been the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant since November 2024 over alleged war crimes in Gaza, “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form while in the United States of America.”

Trump did not name Mamdani in the post. He said Netanyahu is “fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran” and added that “the only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented spiral of death and destruction.” Al Jazeera reported that Trump’s post also credited Israel with helping the United States in its war on Iran.

Mamdani told The New York Times in an interview published Saturday that his administration is discussing the limits of its legal authority if Netanyahu travels to New York, where Israeli leaders typically attend the annual UN gathering.

“I believe that prime minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani said, referring to the city where the ICC is based. “He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the international criminal court, and what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these past many years.”

Mamdani, who has described Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide, said he is in “an active conversation” with New York City’s law department about whether he could direct the New York Police Department to detain a foreign leader.

“Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do,” he said. “But we won’t be writing our own laws to that end.”

During his mayoral campaign last September, Mamdani pledged to arrest Netanyahu if he came to New York, saying he wanted the city to stand up for international law. Al Jazeera reported that he framed the pledge as enforcement of the ICC warrant.

The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other figures in connection with the war in Gaza. The Guardian reported that former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif have also been the subjects of ICC warrants. The court accused the Israeli leaders of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including “starvation as a method of warfare, and … murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”

The United States and Israel do not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction and are not parties to the court. Al Jazeera reported that Israel, posting on X, dismissed Mamdani’s remarks, calling the ICC a “kangaroo court” and its warrant “bogus,” and accused him of trying to divert attention from his own troubles.

Al Jazeera also reported that the Trump administration has sought to weaken the ICC by imposing sanctions on judges, prosecutors and groups seeking rulings against Israel over allegations of human rights violations. The court was established in 2002 to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.