Trump vows Netanyahu won’t be arrested while visiting US, despite Mamdani’s wishes

US president says premier will ‘not be arrested in any way, shape, or form’ while in US, in remarks apparently aimed at NYC mayor’s expressed desire to nab PM to face ICC

US President Donald Trump declared Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will not be arrested in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America.”

Trump appeared to be responding to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s expressed desire to arrest Netanyahu when he comes to town in September for the UN General Assembly, citing the International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued against the Israeli premier for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Legal scholars have long said that Mamdani does not appear to have the authority to arrest Netanyahu. The mayor, a staunch critic of Israel, recently told The New York Times he is holding an “active conversation with our legal department” over the question of arresting Netanyahu and will do what the law allows.

“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” Mamdani told the Times. “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.”

Trump, in a Truth Social post, said Netanyahu “is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors, and has spent the last 47 years killing American Soldiers, and others.”

“The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented SPIRAL OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, something that should have been dealt with years ago, by previous presidents.”

Trump was apparently referring to the ongoing conflict that began when the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran at the end of February. The conflict was halted by an April ceasefire and a US-Iran agreement in June. However, talks to reach a permanent ceasefire evaporated as the US and Iran have over the past week resumed fighting.

Israel has not participated in the talks or the current round of conflict.

On Sunday, Netanyahu’s office hit back at Mamdani, saying that instead of pursuing an arrest warrant, the mayor “should focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York.”

Mamdani has acknowledged that the US is not a party to the ICC, without explaining how he would still carry out an arrest.

The Hague-based court, formed in 2002 to prosecute crimes against humanity, war crimes, and charges of genocide, issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant in 2024 on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes in a bombshell accusation against Israel’s leadership. Israel and the US decried the allegations.

US federal law prohibits municipal governments from cooperating with the court. The American Service-Members’ Protection Act, passed in 2002, bars local authorities from cooperating with the court or providing the ICC support.

A separate federal law prohibits imprisonment, intimidation, harassment, threats, and obstruction against foreign officials, including heads of state. Imprisonment of a foreign official can result in a fine and up to three years in prison.

The Trump administration is also no fan of the ICC and sanctioned the court in February to penalize it for the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.

Last week, the Trump administration launched an effort to “dismantle” the ICC over what it said was the threat the court poses to American sovereignty.

In 2025, Trump threatened to arrest Mamdani, then a candidate for mayor, over his plan to oppose Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities in New York City. The two have since held friendly meetings despite their sharp political differences.