Mamdani won’t stop Netanyahu from speaking at UN General Assembly, Danon says

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said on Saturday that threats by New York City’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani to possibly order the arrest of Israel’s prime minister will not dissuade Benjamin Netanyahu from speaking “proudly” at the U.N. General Assembly’s annual General Debate in the Big Apple in September.

“Zohran Mamdani has failed at managing New York, and instead of fulfilling his role as mayor and fighting the rising wave of antisemitism in his city, he chooses to engage in incitement and generate headlines through attacks against the State of Israel,” Danon tweeted in Hebrew.

Nevertheless, Netanyahu will “stand before the world to clearly proclaim Israel’s truth and its uncompromising right to defend its citizens.”

“And if someone needs to be arrested—it’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani,” the diplomat added.

In an interview with The New York Times published earlier on Saturday, Mamdani again said he was floating the idea of arresting Israel’s prime minister if he steps foot in New York City.

“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in the Hague,” the mayor said, referring to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu in the wake of the war against Hamas in Gaza.

“He’s a war criminal who has been charged [sic] by the International Criminal Court. 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,” he continued.

Mamdani qualified his remarks by adding that he was unsure whether he has the legal authority to detain a foreign leader, but is in “an active conversation” with the city’s Law Department over the matter, according to the Times.

“Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end,” he said.