New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has concluded that he does not possess the legal authority to order the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if the prime minister were to visit the city, despite earlier statements that he was exploring the possibility.
Mamdani publicly weighed the option after the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in 2024 alleging war crimes related to the Gaza war. Israel rejects the court's jurisdiction and denies the allegations.
The mayor, a Democrat, told the New York Times in a broadcast interview that he regarded Netanyahu as a "war criminal" and that the city's legal team was actively analyzing whether local law could support an arrest during the United Nations General Assembly in September. He had expressed comparable views while campaigning for mayor ahead of the November 4, 2025 election.
In a video posted to social media, Mamdani later said he had reached a different conclusion, stating: "It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant." His office did not expand on the legal analysis behind that determination. Neither Mamdani's office nor Israel's embassy in Washington immediately responded to requests for comment.
Legal scholars separate from the mayor's office say there are multiple, overlapping legal reasons why a New York municipal official cannot carry out the ICC arrest warrant. A key issue is that the United States is not a member of the ICC, which means there is no domestic mechanism under U.S. law to give effect to arrest warrants issued by The Hague, according to Alex Whiting, a professor at Harvard Law School and a former ICC prosecutor and U.S. Justice Department official.
Whiting also pointed to a specific U.S. statute that constrains action. The American Service-Members Protection Act of 2002 contains a provision that bars the United States from extraditing any individual to the ICC, regardless of nationality. That law would prevent U.S. authorities from transferring a person to the Hague even if other legal obstacles were addressed.
Another separate layer of protection arises from immunity doctrines. Sitting heads of government such as Netanyahu are generally immune from arrest and prosecution in U.S. courts, and representatives of U.N. member states enjoy legal immunity while transiting to and from U.N. meetings, said Rebecca Ingber, a professor at Cardozo Law School and a former U.S. State Department lawyer.
When Mamdani called on the federal government to execute the ICC warrant, experts described additional statutory and treaty-level hurdles that would confront Washington. Whiting noted that for the federal government even to consider enforcing an ICC warrant, the United States would first have to join the ICC and repeal the American Service-Members Protection Act. He added that, even if those changes occurred, the existing agreement between the United Nations and the United States that confers immunity on U.N. representatives would remain an obstacle.
The question of enforcement also took on a political dimension. U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post that Netanyahu would not be arrested while in the United States.
The mayor's announcement closes a chapter in which a municipal leader publicly contemplated using local authority to act on an international court's warrant, but it leaves open broader questions about the interplay between international justice mechanisms, domestic law, and diplomatic immunities. Legal experts say the combination of non-membership in the ICC, a federal law barring extradition to the court, and established immunities for foreign leaders and U.N. envoys together explain why a city government lacks the power to effectuate the Hague-based warrant.
For now, the matter appears to rest with national-level decision makers and the treaty obligations that frame U.S. interactions with international tribunals and the United Nations. The legal limits described by independent scholars help explain why municipal officials in the United States are constrained in responding to international arrest warrants issued by bodies such as the ICC.