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President Donald Trump said on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested on United States soil, amid New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s most recent comments about the Israeli leader.
“Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America,” the president declared in a statement.
He continued, “[Netanyahu] is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors, and has spent the last 47 years killing American Soldiers, and others.”
In comments to a New York Times show called “The Interview,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently addressed the possibility that Prime Minister Netanyahu may soon visit his city for the upcoming U.N. General Assembly in September.
“He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” Mamdani told the outlet. “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.”
He also said that Netanyahu belonged in “The Hague,” referring to the ICC’s permanent residence in the Netherlands. The mayor did not say that New York law enforcement would arrest Netanyahu, but commented, “Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end.”
According to information provided about the arrest warrant issued by the ICC in 2024, Netanyahu has been charged in their court with allegations of “war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.”
President Trump’s stance on Netanyahu’s problems with the ICC comes amid his administration’s diplomatic campaign to weaken the power of the International Criminal Court.
As reported by RSBN, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is spearheading the effort to loosen the ICC’s grip on global law. He explained in a statement, “The International Criminal Court seeks to become the unaccountable arbiter of a new global law — empowered to prosecute and arrest our citizens at will and existentially threaten American sovereignty. We will teach the ICC the full meaning of American resolve.”
In his comments on Monday, President Trump suggested that the individuals who should instead be targeted for arrest were the Iranians.
“The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented SPIRAL OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, something that should have been dealt with years ago, by previous Presidents!” he argued.
