This article originally appeared in Real Clear World.
By Brian L. Cox & John Spencer, July 28, 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, D.C. this week reignited controversial demands for his arrest in response to ongoing proceedings before the International Criminal Court.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani reiterated his threat to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in comments published this month as part of a New York Times news article. During the interview, Mamdani reportedly insisted, “Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do.”
Although Mamdani later admitted his government “does not have the independent legal authority to enforce” the ICC warrant, he nonetheless asserted he agrees with the international tribunal that Netanyahu should be arrested and insisted that the prime minister “is not welcome” in New York City.
Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) then contended during an interview posted last week that even though Mamdani lacks the authority, “the American president” should arrest Netanyahu “in accordance with international law.”
Regardless of the source, any demand to detain Netanyahu is nothing but misguided rhetoric. There is no legal mechanism — not one — by which New York City or any other municipal, state, or federal jurisdiction could lawfully arrest the Israeli prime minister on the basis of these ICC warrants.
Although Mamdani indicated in his remarks that his “administration has reviewed every avenue available under applicable law to determine whether New York City” could arrest Netanyahu, he didn’t explain why he lacks the authority as a municipal mayor.
This is what Mamdani left out. He will commit a criminal offense if he orders the prime minister to be arrested during a visit to New York City, as Netanyahu is expected to do in September to attend sessions at the UN General Assembly.
Here is why: New York law establishes that restraining another person is a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in prison. It becomes a class E felony if the restraint exposes the person “to a risk of serious physical injury.”
The law defines “restrain” as restricting “a person’s movements intentionally and unlawfully.” There is no question the act would be intentional. The Constitution makes the rest clear. It would be entirely unlawful.
The ICC may have issued a warrant, but it has no legal force in this country because America never ratified the Rome Statute. President Bill Clinton signed it, but the Bush administration withdrew the signature, and no president has ever submitted the treaty to the Senate. Without Senate approval, the Rome Statute has no legal standing in the United States.
There is no ambiguity. An ICC warrant cannot be enforced anywhere in this country. Attempting to act on it would be unlawful.
Although Mamdani only exercises governing authority within New York City, Ro Khanna’s call for President Trump to arrest Netanyahu extends beyond the confines of a single municipality. Regardless of the location, arresting the prime minister on the basis of ICC warrants would also constitute the intentional tort of false imprisonment.
The decisive element in a civil suit for false imprisonment under these circumstances would be that the defendant acted “without lawful authority.” Because ICC proceedings are not recognized by a country such as the United States that hasn’t ratified the Rome Statute, no governmental official has “lawful authority” to implement warrants issued by the international tribunal.
Any attempt to detain him would trigger federal jurisdiction. Israel and Netanyahu could take the offenders to federal court, and the financial and diplomatic fallout would be enormous.
Mamdani claims New York City is a “city of international law.” It is not. It cannot be. And no mayor can declare it otherwise.
The Big Apple is a metropolitan area in the State of New York, which is part of the United States of America. This means New York City is a city of constitutional law, just like every other municipality in the country.
And Ro Khanna asserts “America needs to cooperate with the ICC” because “it’s a matter of a rules-based international order.” This is false.
The “rules-based international order” is built on consent. While the United States agrees with most of the substance of the Rome Statute, this country has not acquiesced to the court’s jurisdiction by virtue of ratifying this multilateral treaty.
As such, arrest warrants issued by the ICC have no legal effect in America. This means arresting Benjamin Netanyahu would violate the rules-based international order as well as constitutional law that applies domestically across the United States.
Brian L. Cox is a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a former professor at Cornell Law School, and a retired U.S. Army judge advocate.
John Spencer is the executive director of the Urban Warfare Institute.
