Topline
President Donald Trump on Monday vowed Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested if he visits New York City for the United Nations General Assembly in September despite an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court and a promise by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to pursue his capture.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 7, 2025.
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Key Facts
Trump posted to Truth Social on Monday promising Netanyahu “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America.”
He praised Netanyahu—who is sought by the ICC for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza—for actions against Iran and said “the only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented SPIRAL OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.”
Trump’s comments come after Mamdani said his office was in “active conversation with our legal department” to pursue the potential arrest of Netanyahu if he comes to the city for the General Assembly, but such a move would be unprecedented and is highly unlikely to occur.
Netanyahu’s office hit back on social media Sunday, saying “Mamdani appears interested in diverting public attention from his follies and attacking the leader” of Israel.
When asked for clarification on his comments Monday, Mamdani reiterated that he believes ICC warrants “should be taken seriously” and that his administration “will follow all applicable local laws.”
No ICC warrant has ever been enforced on U.S. soil.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani said on The New York Times’ “The Interview” podcast, referring to a United Nations-administered detention facility in the Netherlands. “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 last many years.”
Key background
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders in 2024, accusing them of war crimes after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. The court alleges Netanyahu used starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally directed attacks against civilians, which Israel has denied. While the ICC has jurisdiction to prosecute in situations of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes in cases that would be otherwise impossible to try using traditional criminal systems, it has no power to enforce warrants and instead relies on the cooperation of its 124 member countries to make arrests, transfer prisoners, freeze assets and enforce sentences on its behalf. Neither the U.S. nor Israel are members of the ICC and they’re under no obligation to enforce warrants. Both Trump and former President Joe Biden denounced the ICC’s warrant for Netanyahu and Trump has a history of opposing the ICC when it investigates U.S. allies. His administration imposed sanctions on ICC officials involved in investigations related to Afghanistan and later targeted court officials after the Netanyahu warrant.
TANGENT
Trump’s post frames Netanyahu’s government as an ally fighting a common enemy: Iran. Trump has long taken a pro-Israel position and has fostered a close relationship with Netanyahu in his second term, and the two nations launched coordinated, wide-ranging military strikes against Iran in February. The Trump administration said the strikes were meant to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear-armed power, weaken its military capabilities and reduce threats to U.S. allies, but critics have argued Trump allowed the U.S. to be used as a pawn by Israel against a country it has long viewed as its greatest security threat. Americans have repeatedly said they’re largely against the war, with more than half (53%) of respondents in a June Associated Press-NORC poll saying U.S. military action against Iran has gone too far.