Israel’s UN Ambassador: Mamdani, Not Netanyahu, Should Be Arrested

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations responded Saturday to the mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, after the mayor suggested he may yet seek to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister visits New York City for the United Nations General Assembly in September.“Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will come to New York, address the United Nations General Assembly with pride, and stand before the world to state Israel’s truth and its unwavering right to defend its citizens,” Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement posted to X. “And if anyone should be arrested, it is Mamdani.”Mr. Danon accused the mayor of neglecting his duties, charging that Mr. Mamdani is “failing to govern New York” and has chosen instead to “incite hostility and generate headlines by attacking the State of Israel.”Israel’s consul general in New York, Ofir Akunis, was equally dismissive. “Instead of dealing with matters over which he has no authority, it would be better for him to start running New York City and only New York City,” Mr. Akunis said Saturday, the Jerusalem Post reported.New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, previously stated that the New York City mayor “does not have the power” to arrest Mr. Netanyahu. Under United States federal law, local governments are prohibited from cooperating with the International Criminal Court, and a separate law bars the imprisonment or obstruction of foreign officials, including heads of state, though Mr. Netanyahu is not Israel’s head of state.The controversy stems from an interview Mr. Mamdani gave to the New York Times, published Saturday, in which he said he believes Mr. Netanyahu should face justice at The Hague. “I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mr. Mamdani told a Times podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro. “He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court.Mr. Mamdani acknowledged uncertainty about his legal authority, saying he was in “active conversation” with the city’s Law Department. He was careful to add that “we won’t be writing our own laws to that end” and that “whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do.”Mr. Netanyahu, for his part, said he is not concerned. In an interview with Sid Rosenberg on 77 WABC radio, the prime minister accused Mr. Mamdani of siding with Hamas.“Who does he champion? Hamas, that calls openly to massacre every Jew on earth, that conducted that horrible massacre, the worst massacre on Jews since the Holocaust,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

Israel’s UN Ambassador: Mamdani, Not Netanyahu, Should Be Arrested

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