New York City Councilmember Inna Vernikov has called on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to assess whether New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani could face federal legal action if he attempts to detain Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the upcoming UN General Assembly meeting, JNS reported.
In a Sunday letter to Rubio, the Ukrainian-born Jewish Republican councilwoman warned that Mamdani was threatening to enforce an "illegal order of arrest". She asked the State Department to deliver a "stern" reprimand to the mayor's office and clarify whether such an attempt would violate federal statutes.
“This week, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has yet again threatened to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon his arrival in New York City for UNGA in September, citing the International Criminal Court, which the United States is not a signatory to," Vernikov wrote.
“Not only does this political theater further fan the flames of antisemitism in New York City, but it is entirely baseless, as the mayor has no legal authority to arrest a sitting foreign diplomat," she added.
President Donald Trump weighed in on the issue on Monday via Truth Social, writing that Netanyahu “will not be arrested, in any way, shape or form, while in the United States of America."
According to Trump, 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."
He further insisted that "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!"
Speaking with JNS, Vernikov praised Trump’s response, saying it reaffirmed “what we already knew - Mamdani cannot and will not arrest Bibi."
“To all the hopeful DSA puppets, Mamdani is about to break one of his core promises: to arrest the sitting prime minister of the only Jewish state," she said. “Be angry."
The dispute resurfaced after an interview published Saturday in The New York Times, in which Mamdani reiterated that he is exploring options to take the Prime Minister into custody over an International Criminal Court warrant linked to the war against Hamas in Gaza.
Mamdani noted that his administration is actively consulting with the New York City Law Department to evaluate what legal avenues exist ahead of the September gathering in Manhattan, promising he would follow “whatever the law allows."
The Prime Minister's Office issued a scathing response to the mayor's comments: "The ICC is a kangaroo court that has no jurisdiction over Americans or Israelis. Its bogus arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu was issued by a disgraced former ICC Prosecutor, Karim Khan, a few days before allegations of sexual misconduct against him became public. It was a clear attempt by Khan to divert public attention and seek protection from scrutiny."
"Under Prime Minister Netanyahu's leadership, Israel has taken unprecedented wartime measures to minimize harm to civilians while confronting Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that uses Palestinians as human shields and deliberately targets innocent Israeli civilians," the office clarified.
"Instead of backing Khan's criminal behaviour, Mr. Mamdani should focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York. Like Karim Khan, Mamdani appears interested in diverting public attention from his follies and attacking the leader of the Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East," the statement concluded.
Other political figures also condemned the mayor's remarks. On Sunday, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) called Mamdani a "clown" during an appearance on Fox News, brushing off the mayor's statements as political theater.
"[He's] such a tough guy to say that kind of thing. He has no way to do that," Fetterman said, adding, "America's not even part of that corrupt court."
"He's just a clown to even say that, so he won't try that. Just sit down and focus on other... problems that they have in New York. That's really not your purview. You and I know that. Sit down."