New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has urged the US federal government to enforce an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because New York City lacks the legal authority to do so.
In a video posted to social media on Tuesday, Mr Mamdani called Netanyahu a "war criminal" and "the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people."
He acknowledged that the city lacked the legal authority to enforce the ICC warrant.
"The federal government, however, does, and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant," he said.
"Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at large."
"While we cannot end the genocide on our own, we can decide whether our silence will become another weapon, and we can examine every tool we have to defend the humanity and dignity of all people," he added.
Mr Mamdani has repeatedly called for the Israeli leader’s arrest. During last year's mayoral campaign, he pledged to direct the New York Police Department to arrest Mr Netanyahu if he visited New York under the ICC warrant issued over Israel's conduct in the Gaza war.
President Donald Trump said on Monday that Mr Netanyahu would not be arrested “in any way, shape, or form” while visiting the US.
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, accused Mr Mamdani of spreading false accusations.
"Enough with the blood libels," Mr Danon wrote on social media. "You were elected to serve New Yorkers, not Hamas' propaganda. Do your job!"
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) accused Mamdani of "shamefully trading the truth for social media clicks" and attempting to score political points by "demonising our ally and its supporters."
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called Mr Mamdani "an ignorant bigot" and accused him of using the "genocide" term to "stoke Jew hate."
The ICC issued arrest warrants in 2024 for Mr Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes linked to Israel's military campaign in Gaza following Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.
ICC judges also said there were reasonable grounds to believe Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant had used "starvation as a method of warfare" by restricting humanitarian aid to Gaza and had intentionally directed attacks against civilians.
Neither Israel nor the US is a member of the ICC, and Washington does not recognise the court's jurisdiction over its citizens or those of allied countries.
