26 June 2025 : New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani once vowed to have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if he ever visited New York.
In an interview clip from December last year that is now going viral, Mamdani was asked he would welcome the Israeli PM, to which the 33-year-old Queens assemblyman said, “No. As mayor, New York City would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu. This is a city that our values are in line with international law. It’s time that our actions are also.”
The interviewer, former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan, had asked Mamdani the question referencing the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The United States, Israel’s key diplomatic ally, is not a member of the ICC. When the interviewer pointed this out, Mamdani said, “It’s time we step up and make clear what we are willing to do to showcase the leadership that is sorely missing in the federal administration.”
Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary on Tuesday and is inching closer to victory with 43 per cent votes in his favour in the counting of 95 per cent of ballots. His biggest rival and former New York governor Andrew Cuomo has conceded defeat with only 36 per cent votes in initial counting.
Mamdani, labelled a “100% communist lunatic” by US President Donald Trump, would make history as the first Muslim New York City mayor.
The self-declared socialist has always supported Palestine and has been a vocal critic of Israel’s policies. Earlier, this month, Mamdani was criticised for refusing to recognise Israel as a Jewish state.
At an NBC 4 NY-Politico primary debate, Mamdani said he does believe Israel has a right to exist, to which he was asked by the interviewer, “as a Jewish state?”, and Mamdani replied, “as a state with equal rights.”
When asked to clarify his remarks in another interview, Mamdani had said he wasn’t comfortable with a state giving citizenship on the basis of “religion or anything else”, a New York Post report said.
Summary: Zohran Mamdani’s past remark about arresting Netanyahu in New York resurfaces, citing ICC warrants and sparking renewed political debate.