President rejects New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s threat to detain Israeli leader during September’s U.N. General Assembly
by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – President Donald Trump declared Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested during his expected visit to New York City for the United Nations General Assembly in September.
“Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape or form, while in the United States of America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president’s statement came after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said his administration was consulting legal advisers about whether city authorities could detain Netanyahu under an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
Mamdani, who promised during his mayoral campaign to arrest the Israeli leader if he entered New York, recently called Netanyahu a “war criminal” and said officials were exploring “whatever the law allows me to do in New York City.”
Trump strongly defended Netanyahu, saying the Israeli prime minister had been fighting Iran’s Islamic regime, which the president accused of killing tens of thousands of protesters and targeting American servicemembers throughout its 47-year rule.
“The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented spiral of death and destruction,” Trump said.
The United States and Israel do not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction over their citizens. The Trump administration has previously condemned the court’s warrant against Netanyahu as illegitimate and imposed sanctions against ICC officials.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.