*Update...
As I explained below….
Mandani WILL have the NYPD PROTECT the Israeli Prime Minister in New York City….
There will be NO effort at affecting an ‘Arrest’….
The Mayor IS the Mayor …
The political flexing is just THAT….
The mayor said the city Law Department explored whether the New York Police Department could arrest the Israeli prime minister during his expected visit to the city in September but that the city did not have “independent legal authority” to do so….
….
THAT is NOT gonna happen…
The media reports are just that….
Politics….
The Israeli Prime Minister carries a Diplomatic Passport.…
And the NY City Police do NOT enforce International Law…..
Second….
ANY New York City Police action. against a State of Head at the UN that they DO provide security for along with the Secret Service would put cops in a bad place and would certainly arise a VERY ANGRY President Trump , which would put the NYC Mayor in a VERY tough place although he does NOT need to be…..
Maybe good politics for the Mayor at home…
But would NOT be worth the pain for the Big Apple….
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said his administration was still discussing whether to arrest the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, if he comes to New York City as expected for the U.N. General Assembly in September.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mr. Mamdani told Lulu Garcia-Navarro this week on “The Interview,” a New York Times show, referring to the home of the United Nations’ International Court of Justice.
“He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” Mr. Mamdani added. “And what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years.”
The mayor said it was unclear to him whether he has the legal authority to order the Police Department, which he oversees, to detain a foreign leader like Mr. Netanyahu. He said he was in “an active conversation” with the city’s Law Department about the matter….
…
Legal experts have cast doubt on the legality of a New York City mayor having the Israeli leader arrested. The United States is not a party to the International Criminal Court and does not recognize its authority; the Trump administration recently announced a campaign to “dismantle” it.
After the mayor’s latest remarks, Harold Hongju Koh, a professor of international law at Yale Law School, described the situation as “a game of chicken between the mayor on one side and Trump and Netanyahu on the other.”…
…
Professor Koh said the prime minister would be exempt from arrest once inside the United Nations headquarters, and that he has “sitting head of state immunity,” but that he could be “exposed” while driving within New York City.
“The real question is whether the prime minister is ready to face such a spectacle,” Professor Koh added. “The same question applies to the mayor.”….
…
Update….
Trump Says Netanyahu Will Not Be Arrested in the U.S.
President Trump said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not be arrested in the United States, “in any way, shape, or form,” saying Mr. Netanyahu was fighting the Islamic Republic of Iran and that Iranian leaders are the ones that should be arrested.
His comments, posted on social media, came after Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations on Monday fired back at New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who has said he is looking into whether he can arrest Mr. Netanyahu, when he visits the U.N. headquarters in September.
The “threat is empty,” the ambassador, Danny Danon, said in an address to the U.N. General Assembly. Mr. Danon said there is “no legal basis” for an arrest and he accused the mayor of engaging in “political theater” to excite his “radical base.”
When Mr. Mamdani was campaigning for mayor, he had pledged to arrest Mr. Netanyahu on his annual visit to the U.N. General Assembly this September. It would be based on an International Criminal Court warrant citing alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza, following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel….
The flip side of this is some Republican saying that the U.S. can and should mount a military operation to rescue any American held by the I.C.C. in The Hague.