US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (July 21) that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "will not be arrested during his visit to the United States", after New York City Mayor Zahran Mamadani said he was considering taking the step.
In a social media post that did not mention the mayor's remarks, Trump wrote, "Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested in any way while he is in the United States of America."
Trump did not mention Mamdani by name in his post on Truth Social, but he praised Israel's help in the war on Iran.
Mamdani considers Netanyahu's arrest in New York
In an interview broadcast on Saturday, July 18, Mamdani said that the legal department in New York is seriously considering the possibility of issuing an arrest warrant for Netanyahu when he participates in the meetings of the United Nations General Assembly scheduled for next September.
"I think Netanyahu's place is The Hague, he's accused of war crimes, and I share that view," Mamdani said in a video podcast to the New York Times. We will do what the law allows in New York, but we will not invent new laws to that end."
Mamdani, an American politician of Indian origin, had vowed during his election campaign in 2025 to arrest the head of the occupation government if he won the position of mayor.
125 countries obliged to arrest Netanyahu
The New York mayor's remarks are based on two arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court in November 2024 against Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant on charges related to war crimes and crimes against humanity, and were recently strengthened by the Istanbul Supreme Criminal Court in July 2026 issuing an international arrest warrant against him, which obliges 125 member states of the Rome Statute to arrest him immediately upon entering their territory.
Despite these international prosecutions, the implementation of Maddani's electoral promise in New York City faces near-impossible legal and political obstacles, given that the United States is not a signatory to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and it imposes strict federal protection on official diplomatic delegations participating in the work of the United Nations, nullifying any domestic action that the city authorities may take unilaterally.
What do you know about the Rome Statute?
International documents confirm that the Rome Statute is the treaty from which the International Criminal Court was born in 2002, after it was adopted by 120 countries at the Rome Conference in 1998, to become the supreme legal reference for holding accountable the perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.
This regime is designed to close the door to impunity and to give the international community a permanent judicial instrument that does not expire and does not become obsolete.
Today, it includes 125 member states, led by Europe as a supporting and funded bloc, along with most Latin American countries, a large number of African and Asian countries, in addition to 4 Arab countries: Jordan, Tunisia, Djibouti, and Palestine. On the other hand, major powers such as the United States, Russia, China, and Israel refuse to join it, for fear of prosecuting their leaders and soldiers in court.
The system has been significantly expanded with the recent accession of Ukraine, which has given the court direct jurisdiction over crimes committed in the context of the war on its territory.