US President Donald Trump has said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will in no way be arrested if he visits the United States. Trump made the declaration in a social-media post on Monday, after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was still weighing possible legal steps on the matter.
According to Reuters, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, under any circumstances, while in the United States.” He did not name Mamdani in the post but praised Israel’s support during the Iran war.
Earlier, in 2024, the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu over alleged war crimes during the Gaza war. Israel does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction and has rejected the war-crimes allegations.
In the New York Times video podcast “The Interview,” broadcast Saturday, Mamdani said the city’s law department was actively reviewing what steps the law allowed. “I believe Prime Minister Netanyahu’s place is in The Hague,” he said. “He is a war criminal charged by the International Criminal Court.”
Netanyahu traditionally visits New York each September for the annual session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
Responding to Mamdani, Israel in a post on X on Sunday called the ICC a “kangaroo court” and described the arrest warrant against Netanyahu as “fake.” The post added: “Mamdani seems eager to divert public attention from his own failings and to attack the leader of the Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East.”
The ICC, established in 2002, has international jurisdiction to try genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, but the United States and Israel are not members. Mamdani, who took office in January this year, had said during his mayoral campaign that if Netanyahu came to New York City he would order police to arrest him.
Shortly after winning last November’s election, then mayor-elect Mamdani and Trump held an unexpectedly cordial meeting at the White House, though they had earlier traded insults.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report