OAN Staff Lillian Mann
2:01 PM – Monday, July 20, 2026
President Donald Trump vowed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested during his upcoming visit to the United States, despite repeated claims by New York City Democrat Mayor Zohran Mamdani that he “belongs in The Hague.”
On Monday, President Trump took to Truth Social to emphasize that the prime minister will not be arrested, as he is “fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America,” Trump said in the post. “He 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!”
Mamdani (D-N.Y.) has reportedly called for the Israeli prime minister’s arrest multiple times, citing an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant from 2024. The democratic socialist mayor most recently pushed for Netanyahu’s arrest during an episode of the New York Times podcast “The Interview” on Saturday.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in the Hague,” Mamdani declared.
“He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” he stated. “And what you will find is that it is an opinion that is held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years.”
“We’re not talking about a personal assessment of Benjamin Netanyahu,” Mamdani continued. “We’re talking about the international criminal court and the fact that they have a warrant out for this prime minister’s arrest, and I think it’s important to talk about the weight that that has as a charge and that also, as the mayor of New York City, I’ll be following the laws of New York City.”
Mamdani’s claims on Saturday point to the ICC’s 2024 decision, which accused Netanyahu of “war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare” along with crimes against humanity of murder and persecution, according to a statement from the ICC.
However, Mamdani’s claims remain largely empty, as legal experts and federal officials have noted that the U.S. is not a member of the ICC. Therefore, federal law prohibits local municipalities from cooperating with the court or obstructing foreign heads of state, according to The Guardian.
Furthermore, legal experts noted that having Netanyahu arrested “would be a practical impossibility,” for Mamdani, and could bring him into a legal dispute with the U.S. Federal Government, the New York Times noted.
While Mamdani appeared to acknowledge these legal restrictions during The Interview, he pledged to do “whatever the law allows me to do in New York City.”
In a radio appearance on 77 WABC with host Sid Rosenberg on Saturday, Netanyahu was asked whether he was nervous that Mamdani would attempt to have him arrested when he arrives in the U.S. in September.
“No I’m not,” Netanyahu said. “I think he [Mamdani] should look at who he is condemning—Israel—the one democracy that stands shoulder to shoulder with American values.”
“He basically apologizes and excuses for Iran- the greatest terror regime on earth… so he’s with the terror actors. I think the problem is that he doesn’t recognize, or he doesn’t care, that those who hate the Jews and Israel hate America—and in fact, I think he secretly hates America,” Netanyahu continued.
World leaders from United Nations member states will gather in New York this September for the annual General Assembly session — an event Netanyahu has regularly attended in previous years.
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