New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s legal team has apparently informed him that he lacks jurisdiction to have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested should the Jewish leader choose to attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and the former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant in 2024, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including “starvation as a method of warfare, and … murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts” in relation to the nation’s military operations against Gaza, the U.K.’s Guardian reported.
The Israeli Defense Forces attacked Hamas in Gaza after the terrorist organization conducted an incursion into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing over 1,200 and taking over 250 captive. “I believe Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani told The New York Times last week, referring to the ICC’s location in the Netherlands. Neither the United States nor Israel is an ICC member.
