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NYC Mayoral Nominee Mamdani Wants to Arrest Netanyahu

(Wall Street Journal) Alan M. Dershowitz - Zohran Mamdani has pledged that he will order the New York City Police Department to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister visits the city while Mamdani is mayor. Has Mamdani even heard of diplomatic immunity? The Democratic mayoral nominee claims he would be carrying out the will of the International Criminal Court, but that position defies both U.S. foreign policy and law. Neither the U.S. nor Israel ever joined the court, and presidents from both parties have dismissed it as unaccountable, politicized and a threat to sovereignty. In 2002, Congress enacted the American Servicemembers' Protection Act, which flatly prohibits state and local officials from helping the ICC target U.S. personnel or leaders of allied nations. The ICC's charges against Netanyahu are a travesty. Its arrest warrant accuses him of intentionally starving civilians in Gaza - never mind that Israel has facilitated the delivery of more than a million tons of food to the strip. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan had planned to travel to Israel to conduct an investigation. I arranged the trip with his deputy. Then Khan was charged with sexual misconduct. He immediately canceled the trip and issued the arrest warrants. That prompted the U.S. to impose sanctions on Khan. Should a Mayor Mamdani attempt such a stunt, I would happily represent the prime minister in a federal lawsuit, which would be the easiest win of my career. The writer is a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School.
2025-09-18 00:00:00
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