Trump rejects prospect of Netanyahu arrest during New York visit

President Donald Trump said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not be arrested during a planned September visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. The statement followed comments by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who said the city’s legal department was discussing whether Netanyahu could be detained during the trip.

The dispute places a local legal question inside a broader diplomatic confrontation over the International Criminal Court’s case against Netanyahu. Mamdani, speaking on The New York Times’ “The Interview” podcast, said he believed the Israeli leader “belongs in The Hague” and described him as “a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court.”

Trump answered on Truth Social, writing that “Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America.” The president did not describe any legal mechanism in the post, but framed his response as a defense of Netanyahu and as criticism of Iran.

Netanyahu is expected to be in New York in September for the annual UN gathering, according to Mamdani’s remarks. The mayor said New York City’s legal department was examining the possibility of an arrest, but no decision or operational plan was disclosed in the remarks reported by The New York Times podcast.

Trump linked his defense of Netanyahu to the Israeli prime minister’s confrontation with Tehran. In the same Truth Social post, Trump said Netanyahu was “fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” and claimed Iran “recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors” and had spent “the last 47 years killing American Soldiers, and others.” Those claims were made by Trump in the post.

The president also wrote that “the only ones that should be arrested” were the people who led Iran into what he called an “unprecedented” spiral of death and destruction. He said the matter should have been addressed by prior presidents.

Mamdani’s comments centered on the ICC charges and Netanyahu’s conduct over recent years. “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 told the podcast.

The exchange underscores the political sensitivity of Netanyahu’s expected appearance in New York, where the UN General Assembly routinely brings heads of government and senior diplomats into the city. Trump’s statement sought to foreclose the prospect of detention on US soil, while Mamdani’s comments indicated that city lawyers were reviewing the issue rather than announcing an arrest.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.