U.S. President Donald Trump has declared that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested during any visit to the United States, responding to remarks by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who said he was still considering the possibility of such an arrest.
The growing tension between the U.S. federal government and the New York City administration was reported by Reuters on Monday, July 21, 2026.
According to Reuters, Trump posted a strongly worded statement on Truth Social.
“Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any form, manner, or circumstance, while he is in the United States,” Trump wrote, as quoted in the report.
Although Trump did not mention Mamdani by name in the post, he praised Israel for its contribution to the ongoing war against Iran.
The International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, Netherlands, issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in 2024 over alleged war crimes committed during the war in Gaza.
Israel rejects the court’s jurisdiction and denies committing war crimes.
Neither the United States nor Israel is a member of the ICC, which was established in 2002 with the authority to prosecute cases involving genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
Mamdani had previously expressed his views in an interview broadcast on Saturday.
“I believe Prime Minister Netanyahu should be in The Hague. He is a war criminal who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court,” Mamdani said during The Interview, a video podcast produced by The New York Times, as quoted in the Reuters report.
Mamdani added that the New York City Law Department was actively examining what actions would be legally permissible regarding the possibility of such an arrest.
Netanyahu regularly visits New York each September to attend the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly.
Israel responded to Mamdani’s remarks in a post on X, describing the ICC as an illegitimate court and dismissing the arrest warrant against Netanyahu as baseless.
“Mamdani appears to be attempting to divert public attention from his own failures by attacking the leader of the Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East,” the Israeli statement said, as quoted in the report.
Mamdani took office as Mayor of New York City in January 2026.
During his mayoral campaign, he had already pledged that he would instruct police to arrest Netanyahu if the Israeli leader ever set foot in New York City.
Interestingly, in November last year, shortly after Mamdani’s election victory, the mayor-elect held a surprisingly cordial meeting with Trump at the White House, despite the two having previously exchanged frequent political attacks.***
