Mamdani will not be able to arrest Netanyahu, but the conflict with Israel is just beginning

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani acknowledged that the city administration does not have independent legal authority to detain Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This statement was the result of a legal review conducted after months of public promises to order the arrest of the Israeli leader if he appeared in New York.

At first glance, Mamdani abandoned one of the most prominent parts of his election campaign. But in reality, it is not about revising his attitude towards Israel, but merely acknowledging legal reality.

The mayor no longer claims that he can direct the New York police to detain Netanyahu. Instead, he demands that the appropriate actions be taken by the US federal government, continues to call the Israeli prime minister a war criminal, and states that he is ‘unwelcome’ in the country’s largest city.

A promise that faced American law

Mamdani took office as mayor of New York on January 1, 2026. Even during the election campaign, he repeatedly stated that he intended to seek Netanyahu’s arrest based on an International Criminal Court warrant. The city’s official website confirms that Mamdani was sworn in on January 1, replacing Eric Adams’ administration.

The potential visit of Netanyahu to the UN General Assembly session in September gained special significance. The United Nations headquarters is located in New York, so the Israeli prime minister regularly visits the city for speeches and diplomatic meetings.

In early July, Mamdani said that his administration was engaged in ‘active dialogue’ with the mayor’s legal department and was studying whether the police could detain the head of a foreign government.

On the night of July 21-22, the mayor released a video with the results of this review. According to him, lawyers considered all available options but came to an unequivocal conclusion: New York does not have independent legal authority to enforce the ICC warrant.

Thus, Mamdani’s main election promise turned out to be unfulfillable not because of a change in his position, but because the mayor of an American city does not control US foreign policy and cannot turn an international decision into a city arrest warrant.

The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute, on which the International Criminal Court operates. Therefore, the ICC warrant does not have the same automatic effect in the US as in countries that have officially joined this treaty.

Moreover, issues of diplomatic relations, immunity of foreign leaders, US participation in international agreements, and admission of foreign delegations to the UN primarily fall under federal authorities. State Department instructions specifically emphasize that any attempts to apply procedural actions to a head of state, head of government, or foreign minister require immediate involvement of federal structures.

Mamdani retreated legally, but not politically

Having acknowledged the lack of authority, Mamdani immediately shifted responsibility to Washington. He called on the federal government to join the International Criminal Court and enforce the warrant against Netanyahu.

At the same time, the mayor delivered an extremely harsh speech, holding the Israeli prime minister responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in Gaza, hunger, the death of children, journalists, and humanitarian workers. He called Netanyahu a war criminal and ‘architect of genocide.’

It is important to draw a clear line here. These are Mamdani’s own statements reflecting his political position. They do not constitute the wording of an enforceable court verdict.

The International Criminal Court indeed issued warrants against Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant on November 21, 2024. The Pre-Trial Chamber stated that it had sufficient grounds to suspect them of using starvation as a method of warfare, killings, persecution, and other inhumane acts. However, an arrest warrant signifies the start of proceedings and a demand to bring the suspect to court, not a declaration of guilt. Israel rejects the ICC’s jurisdiction and the allegations made.

For NANews — News of Israel, it is fundamentally important not to mix three different things: the political statements of the New York mayor, the preliminary position of the International Criminal Court, and the established criminal responsibility by the court. The latter does not exist as of today.

Trump guaranteed Netanyahu’s safety in the US

US President Donald Trump preemptively rejected the possibility of arresting the Israeli prime minister. In a publication on Truth Social, he stated that Netanyahu would not be arrested on US territory ‘in any form and under any circumstances.’

Trump did not directly name Mamdani, but the meaning of the statement was clear: the federal administration would not allow municipal authorities to turn the Israeli leader’s visit to the UN General Assembly into an operation to enforce the ICC warrant.

The White House’s position effectively closes the practical question. Even if Mamdani continues to use the arrest topic in political rhetoric, the mayor’s orders cannot replace federal law and Washington’s decisions.

But the political consequences have already occurred. For Mamdani’s supporters, the story became a demonstration of his readiness to confront Israel. For critics, it was proof that the mayor knowingly made a promise beyond his authority.

Israel’s representative to the UN, Danny Danon, demanded that Mamdani stop spreading what he called Hamas propaganda and focus on his duties to New York residents.

Israel’s ambassador to the US, Yehiel Leiter, stated that such rhetoric turns Israel and Jews into a politically convenient target to shift responsibility for the failures of one’s ideological program.

Why the situation worries Jewish New York

New York is not just an American metropolis where Israeli politicians temporarily stay. It is a city with one of the largest Jewish communities in the world and a major center of American Jewish culture, education, religious life, and public activity.

Therefore, the conflict around Mamdani is perceived much more broadly than a dispute over police powers.

A report by the Israeli channel KAN shows that many Israelis and American Jews see in the first months of his administration an attempt to change not only the foreign policy rhetoric of the mayor’s office but also the symbolic image of New York itself. At the same time, the Jewish community is not united: some progressive Jewish voters support Mamdani’s social program, while others perceive his attitude towards Israel as a direct threat to the security and legitimacy of Jewish life in the city.

Mamdani previously refused to participate in the annual parade in support of Israel, although he promised to ensure the event’s security. He also supported the official mention of the Nakba by the city administration. These steps have widened the gap between the mayor’s office and a significant part of New York’s pro-Israel organizations.

His supporters respond that criticism of the Israeli government is not equivalent to anti-Semitism and remind that the mayor promised to fight crimes against Jewish residents.

However, the problem is not only in criticizing a specific Israeli cabinet. Mamdani uses the status of mayor to promote a foreign policy position that formally does not relate to his municipal duties. The topic of Israel becomes a constant part of the city’s agenda — from parades and statements about Gaza to promises to detain a foreign prime minister.

‘Little Palestine’ on the map and the disappearance of Jewish neighborhoods

Another symbol of the conflict was the map of immigrant neighborhoods in New York, released as part of the NYC Neighborhood Passport program ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

Initially, the initiative was presented as a tourist and cultural project. The mayor’s office offered residents and visitors to get acquainted with immigrant communities, cultural institutions, small businesses, and events in all five boroughs.

The map marked about 30 neighborhoods, including Little Palestine in Bay Ridge, Little Pakistan, Little Yemen, Little Egypt, Little Senegal, several Chinese quarters, and Little Odessa.

But the first version of the map did not include the famous Little Italy, historical Irish neighborhoods, and major Jewish centers — in particular, Borough Park, the Hasidic part of Williamsburg, the Bukharian community of Queens, and the Syrian-Jewish quarters of Brooklyn.

The combination of the presence of Little Palestine and the absence of Little Italy and Jewish neighborhoods led to accusations of a selective approach to the city’s history. Criticism came not only from Israelis and Jewish organizations but also from Italian-American and Irish associations. KAN presented this story as an example of Mamdani’s administration’s attempt to form a new map of New York’s identity.

The mayor’s office responded that the document was not intended as a list of all historical or religious enclaves. According to the official version, the map was supposed to show areas with a significant share of residents born outside the US. Therefore, the absence of old European neighborhoods was explained by demographic changes, not an attempt to remove them from history.

This argument partially explains the selection principle but did not remove questions. Little Italy remains one of the main symbols of New York’s immigrant history, even if today a significant part of its residents are no longer recent immigrants from Italy.

After public reaction, Mamdani acknowledged that the list was incomplete, reminded of the existence of more than 200 ethnic communities, and promised to add Little Italy.

At the same time, the administration referred to materials prepared during Eric Adams’ tenure. Critics responded that the previous project was a series of separate illustrations of 27 communities, while Mamdani’s team combined them into a general city map and added Little Egypt, Little Palestine, and Little Senegal.

For NANews — News of Israel, the dispute over the map is important not because of the name Little Palestine itself. This designation of the Bay Ridge area existed before. The main question is different: why did the new official presentation of multicultural New York find a place for some communities but initially overlooked others that have defined the city’s image for decades.

Municipal office turned into a foreign policy platform

The story with Netanyahu’s arrest ended predictably: legal institutions stopped a political promise that the mayor had no ability to fulfill.

But the conflict itself is not over.

Mamdani maintained his previous rhetoric, declared Netanyahu an unwelcome guest, and called on the US federal government to change its attitude towards the International Criminal Court. That is, instead of abandoning the idea, he merely shifted it from the municipal level to the federal level.

At the same time, disputes around the parade in support of Israel, official rhetoric about the Nakba, and the map of ethnic neighborhoods show that it is not about one emotional statement. Mamdani’s administration consistently offers New York a new political language in which Israel is primarily viewed through accusations, and the Palestinian agenda receives official city status.

For Israel, the main risk is not that the New York police will actually detain the prime minister. After the mayor’s legal conclusion and the White House’s position, such a scenario is practically excluded.

Much more important is that in the largest city in the US, home to one of the world’s most significant Jewish communities, harsh anti-Israel rhetoric ceases to be the language of street activists and becomes part of the official policy of the mayor’s office.

Mamdani lost the legal dispute before it even began. But the battle for the political and symbolic image of New York is just beginning.