US President Donald Trump greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Sept. 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

US President Donald Trump declared Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will not be arrested” during an expected visit to New York, rebuking Mayor Zohran Mamdani for exploring whether the city could act on an International Criminal Court warrant against the Israeli leader.

“Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Netanyahu is expected to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September. Mamdani recently said city lawyers were examining what authority, if any, New York officials would have to detain him.

“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani told The New York Times, referring to the Dutch city where the ICC is based.

“He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” the democratic socialist mayor added, saying his administration would pursue whatever action New York law permits. Mamdani has stressed that he would not rewrite city or state law to carry out the arrest.

Trump did not name Mamdani in his response, instead defending Netanyahu as he confronts Iran.

“He is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protesters, and has spent the last 47 years killing American soldiers, and others,” Trump wrote.

“The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented spiral of death and destruction,” he added.

Trump’s claim that Iran recently killed 52,000 protesters could not be independently verified and should be presented strictly as the president’s assertion.

The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024, alleging that they bear criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Gaza conflict.

The court said there were reasonable grounds to believe the two men were responsible for the alleged use of starvation as a method of warfare, as well as murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts. Netanyahu and Gallant have denied the accusations, while Israel has rejected the ICC’s jurisdiction and condemned the proceedings as politically motivated.

The ICC simultaneously issued a warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif over alleged crimes connected to the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel. That warrant was withdrawn in February 2025 after prosecutors received confirmation of Deif’s death.

The United States and Israel are not parties to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC. Legal experts have said Mamdani would face formidable obstacles to carrying out an arrest, since ICC warrants are enforced through national governments and New York City has no independent foreign-policy authority.

The Trump administration has taken an aggressively hostile approach toward the court. In February 2025, Trump signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against ICC personnel involved in investigations of Americans or citizens of allied countries, describing the proceedings against Netanyahu and Gallant as “illegitimate and baseless.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has since pledged to “systematically disable” the court, accusing it of using international law to target the United States and its allies.

Mamdani has long been one of Israel’s most outspoken critics in Democratic politics. He supports the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, has accused Israel of committing genocide and apartheid, and has declined to recognize Israel specifically as a Jewish state.

His renewed threat against Netanyahu comes as Israel has become increasingly divisive within the Democratic coalition, particularly among younger and progressive voters. But whether New York City possesses any lawful mechanism to enforce the ICC warrant remains highly doubtful.