Mr. Mamdani said in an interview with The New York Times on Thursday that the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was a war criminal who was committing genocide in Gaza. If the Israeli leader were to come to New York, Mr. Mamdani said, he would honor a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Mr. Netanyahu's arrest by having him apprehended at the airport.
Legal experts suggested that having Mr. Netanyahu arrested would be a practical impossibility, and some said it could violate federal law. Even so, Mr. Mamdani's pledge will likely provoke strong reactions in New York, the second-largest home to Jews in the world.
Mr. Mamdani had said earlier in the mayor's race that he would arrest Mr. Netanyahu. In the interview on Thursday, he did not back down and offered new specifics, affirming that he would order the police to make the arrest upon Mr. Netanyahu's arrival in the city.
"This is something that I intend to fulfill," Mr. Mamdani said.
Mr. Mamdani, a state assemblyman who leads in the polls ahead of the November election, said that state and local Democrats needed to show that they would take action where the federal government will not. He cited a decision made by Gavin Newsom, now the governor of California, in 2004, when, as mayor of San Francisco, he defied federal law and issued marriage licenses for same-sex couples.
Mamdani, if Elected Mayor, Pledges to Order N.Y.P.D. to Arrest Netanyahu - The New York Times
Legend. Democrat Leadership are about to lose their shit and come out and attack him stronger than they've ever attacked Trump 😂
