On July 21, 2026, (July 22 in India) NewsX World’s international news program World Report, aired a segment examining New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s latest comments on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The discussion came amid reports that Netanyahu is expected to visit New York for the United Nations General Assembly in September. Mamdani had previously signaled interest in enforcing an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Netanyahu during any such visit. In a video statement played on air, Mamdani maintained his harsh criticism while conceding legal limits on his authority.
Mamdani described Netanyahu as “a war criminal, the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people,” citing casualty figures exceeding 73,000 and detailing alleged actions including the targeting of hospitals, aid restrictions, and attacks on civilians and aid workers. He affirmed agreement with the ICC warrant but stated: “It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this.”
The mayor called on the federal government to act and declared that Netanyahu “is not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at large.”
Investigative journalist Matthew Vadum weighed in, offering the following tidbits:
“It is a great relief that the communist mayor of New York City… has suddenly decided that he is not going to violate US law and kidnap a visiting foreign head of government by executing a warrant of a court that the United States doesn’t recognize.”
“The United States doesn’t recognize the authority of the International Criminal Court. The United States is not a signatory to the treaty that created it, which is known as the Rome Statute … so any arrest warrant issued for Benjamin Netanyahu is null and void in the United States.”
“If Mamdani had tried to execute it, he would have been engaged in kidnapping, and he could have been prosecuted and put in prison in the United States for that.”
“Fortunately, he has some lawyers in his legal department who are not complete idiots and they told him that this was not permitted under United States law and he backed away from the decision.”
“Mamdani is finally being forced to recognize that he is not the president of the United States… he doesn’t have independent authority to arrest people just because he doesn’t like their politics.”
“Mamdani is starting to grow and mature in office finally now that he recognizes that US law applies to him.”
Vadum noted that Israel shares the U.S. view of the ICC’s lack of legitimacy in this context and emphasized that sovereign nations maintain their own justice systems rather than deferring to international bodies like the UN or ICC.
Here is the video clip: