NYC Mayor Calls for US to Join ICC, Enforce Arrest Warrant Against Netanyahu

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has called for the United States to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) and enforce its arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mamdani stated that if it were up to him, the U.S. government would join the ICC and honor all its issued orders. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu on November 21, 2024, citing reasonable grounds to suspect his responsibility for alleged war crimes, including starvation as a method of warfare, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, and crimes against humanity such as murder and persecution. Israel rejects the court's jurisdiction and the accusations against it. Neither the U.S. nor Israel are members of the ICC and do not recognize its authority over them, with 125 countries currently being members. The U.S. has historically been critical of the ICC, with both the Biden and Trump administrations expressing opposition. Mamdani had previously vowed to act for Netanyahu's arrest if he visited New York, but later acknowledged that the city lacked the independent legal authority to carry out such an arrest. Legal experts cited U.S. law, which does not provide a mechanism for enforcing ICC arrest warrants and includes a 2002 federal law limiting cooperation with the court, as significant obstacles, in addition to the issue of head-of-state immunity. The tension between Mamdani and Netanyahu escalated recently when the Prime Minister visited New York for the UN General Assembly. During his speech on September 24, Netanyahu criticized Mamdani, claiming that many Jews no longer feel safe in New York since his election, and also attacked Mamdani's statements regarding the war in Gaza. Mamdani, who was meeting with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands at the time, expressed surprise at Netanyahu's remarks and suggested they were an attempt to divert attention from criticism of Israel's conduct in Gaza, stating, "If I were the architect of genocide, I would probably talk about everything but that." Israel and Netanyahu reject the claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.