According to the Times of Israel, on Sunday July 19, 2026, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has strongly criticised New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for further inflaming an already heated political dispute with potential domestic and international legal ramifications by suggesting that Netanyahu could face arrest during his visit to the city.
Mamdani informed The New York Times that his government was investigating potential legal remedies under New York law, which sparked the start of the exchange.
“I will follow the laws that we have here in New York City” as well as “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,” stated Mamdani.
When questioned about the scope of those legislation, he stated that they were the subject of “an active conversation with our legal department.”
The plan was rejected by Netanyahu’s office, which said that the International Criminal Court does not have jurisdiction over the US and Israel. Their official stance was that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is “a kangaroo court that has no jurisdiction over Americans or Israelis.”
The letter went on to criticise the ICC’s 2024 arrest warrant against Netanyahu, claiming that it was issued by a discredited former ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, only days before public charges of sexual misconduct against him.According to the report, Khan made an effort to shift the focus away from himself and seek refuge from investigation.
An official statement from the Prime Minister’s Office defended Israel’s actions in the Gaza war, stating that Israel “has taken unprecedented wartime measures to minimise harm to civilians while confronting Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that uses Palestinians as human shields and deliberately targets innocent Israeli civilians.”
Mamdani was accused of diverting attention from local administration by utilising the issue, according to the statement’s conclusion. “Mr. Mamdani need to stop endorsing Khan’s illegal actions and start repairing the harm his policies have brought to New York.
It also stated that “Like Karim Khan, Mamdani appears interested in diverting public attention from his follies and attacking the leader of the Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East.”
Washington has also responded to the disagreement. John Fetterman, a Democrat in the Senate, refused Mamdani’s proposal, referring to him as “a clown” and stating unequivocally, “He has no way to do that.”
In reference to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fetterman stated, “America’s not even part of that corrupt court,” before advising Mamdani to “Just sit down and focus” on the issues facing New York.
Since the US is not a member of the ICC and federal law restricts collaboration with the court, legal experts have cast doubt on the mayor’s stance.
Last year, New York Governor Kathy Hochul echoed this sentiment, saying that the mayor of the city lacks the power to make such an arrest.
Since the United Nations is located in New York and Netanyahu has been a regular attendee of the annual General Assembly, the disagreement has wider implications. Netanyahu has stated that he will still visit the city for future UN summits, regardless of what Mamdani says.
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