New York City mayor slams ‘lies’ in Netanyahu’s UN speech, cites ICC warrant for his arrest

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday hit back at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s criticisms in his UN General Assembly address, pointing to the international warrant seeking the visiting prime minister’s arrest.

Netanyahu’s “lies” in his UN address cannot erase the warrant for genocidal war crimes issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), said the mayor.

“As he has done time and again, Prime Minister Netanyahu used his speech to repeat baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians,” Mamdani said in a statement, local media reported.

“Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

In November 2024 the ICC, based in The Hague, issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

This July, Mamdani urged US federal authorities to enforce the ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu, acknowledging that New York City authorities lack the legal power to carry it out.