New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who won the Democratic primary for mayor Tuesday night, has said if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ever visited the city, he would arrest him.
Mamdani spoke with former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan in December, with the host asking Mamdani if he would “welcome Prime Minister Netanyahu to New York City for the — for whatever he comes for, given the U.S. is not a signatory to the ICC, so he can travel to the U.S., unlike a lot of other countries? Would a Mayor Mamdani welcome Benjamin Netanyahu to this city?”
The assemblyman from Queens responded, telling Hasan no.
“No. 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,” Mamdani said.
Hasan continued his questioning, asking Mamdani if he would still arrest Netanyahu even with Israel not being part of the International Criminal Court. The ICC works with global matters like genocide and war crimes and is located in the Netherlands.
Mamdani said “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.”
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February sanctioning the ICC for its arrest warrant for Netanyahu in May 2024.
Mamdani, who is trying to become New York City’s first Muslim and Indian-American mayor, appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert recently, saying he did believe that Israel had a right to exist, “like all nations.”
Earlier this month, Mamdani spoke at a synagogue, saying New York City should be in compliance with international laws.
“My answer is the same whether we are speaking about Vladimir Putin or Netanyahu. We have seen other countries across the world that are signatories of the ICC that they would honor that same request, being Canada or other countries in Europe, and their honoring of it meant that Netanyahu did not travel there.”
Mamdani was born to Indian parents and he was raised in Uganda. He now lives in Queens.
After he won the Democratic mayoral primary Tuesday in what was seen as an upset over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mamdani said he saw New York City as a place “where the mayor will use their power to reject Donald Trump’s fascism, to stop mass ICE agents from deporting our neighbors and to govern our city as a model for the Democratic Party.”
While Cuomo has already conceded, the New York City Board of Election will be releasing the official results of the Democratic mayoral primary on July 1. After that, Mamdani will face current New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent, and Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa in the general election in November.
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