Trump: No, Netanyahu Won't Be Arrested in NYC

President Trump is trying to slam the door on a politically explosive question: whether New York City's mayor could have Benjamin Netanyahu arrested during his expected visit for the UN General Assembly in September. In a social media post Monday, Trump wrote that the Israeli prime minister "will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form" while in the US, reports CNBC. Trump cast Netanyahu as a key adversary of Iran and argued that Iranian leaders—not Netanyahu—are the ones who should face detention.

The president's declaration follows comments from Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who told Lulu Garcia-Novarro of the New York Times last week that Netanyahu is a "war criminal" who "belongs in the Hague" because of Israel's conduct in Gaza. (The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for the prime minister.) Mamdani said he wasn't sure whether he had the authority to have Netanyahu arrested, but added it was the subject of an "active conversation" between him and the city's legal authorities. Netanyahu, for his part, has publicly brushed off the arrest talk, accusing Mamdani of siding with Hamas and claiming the mayor "secretly" hates America.