Trump declares ‘Netanyahu will not be arrested’ after Mamdani weighs arrest during New York visit

After New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was exploring whether he could arrest Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to the city, US President Donald Trump on Monday declared that the Israeli prime minister would not be arrested under any circumstances.

Trump said that the only people who should be arrested are Iranian leaders and their supporters.

"He [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 said on Truth Social.

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The declaration comes days after Mamdani said he was in "an active conversation" with New York City's Law Department to determine whether he had the authority to order Netanyahu's arrest during the Israeli leader's visit to the city in September for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

"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," Mamdani told The New York Times in an interview.

Mamdani said he believed Netanyahu "belongs in The Hague", referring to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Hague-based ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. But the United States is not a member of the ICC and is not bound to execute ICC's warrants.

Mamdani has long described Netanyahu as a war criminal over the indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians over the past three years.

"He's a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court. And what you will find is that that is an opinion held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years," Mamdani said in the interview.