President Trump declared that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested upon coming to the United States, slamming New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s earlier comments calling for his arrest.
“Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America. He 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,” he wrote. “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!”
Trump’s statement aligns with an earlier comment by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, who said that Mamdani’s threat “is not going to happen.”
Mamdani recently said that he believes Netanyahu is a “war criminal” who “belongs in The Hague.”
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” he told The New York Times. “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 made similar remarks during his mayoral campaign. “As mayor, New York City would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu. This is a city that our values are in line with international law. It’s time that our actions are also,” he said at the time. “It’s time that we actually step up and make clear what we are willing to do to showcase the leadership that is sorely missing in the federal administration.”
The International Criminal Court (ICC) filed an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in 2024.
