New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday renewed his verbal attacks on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that in his view, the premier should be arrested during his upcoming visit to the UN General Assembly in the city.

“When it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu, I have described him as I believe him to be — a war criminal and an architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people,” Mamdani told CNN in an interview after holding a cordial meeting with US President Donald Trump in New York City, adding that the issue was discussed with the US president at the mayor’s residence, Gracie Mansion.

The far-left mayor, who vowed for months to arrest Netanyahu if he came to New York City even though he lacks the authority to do so, recently acknowledged he is powerless to prevent the visit, and added that he will not be attending planned protests against the premier’s presence.

Citing the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes during Israel’s war in Gaza against Palestinian terror group Hamas, Mamdani said: “I do believe that that is something that should be honored, because what we want to see, and we’ve been talking about this today, is a faith in our politics, a faith in accountability.”

“If the International Criminal Court deems someone worthy of an arrest because of a violation of those laws, then who are we to say that anyone should be above that? And I think very clearly that everyone should be held accountable to it,” he said.

The ICC was established in 2002 by the international community to prosecute war crimes, ​genocide and crimes against humanity. It asserts jurisdiction only if a member state is unable or unwilling to prosecute ‌atrocities itself.

The United States has never been an ICC member. Israel is not an ICC member and rejects its........

© The Times of Israel