U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not be arrested while visiting the United States, after New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said his administration was examining whether it could detain the Israeli leader under an International Criminal Court warrant.
“Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “He is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors, and has spent the last 47 years killing American soldiers, and others. The only ones that should be arrested are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented spiral of death and destruction.”
Trump’s statement came as Israeli officials said senior figures in the U.S. administration, particularly officials aligned with Vice President JD Vance, were actively trying to prevent a meeting between Trump and Netanyahu. According to the officials, relations between the president and prime minister are considerably better than public reports suggest, with some of the apparent tension described as performative. Behind the scenes, however, administration officials are said to oppose a meeting they view as an attempt by Netanyahu to push Trump toward a more hawkish position on Iran.
It remains unclear when, or whether, the two leaders will meet. Aryeh Lightstone, an administration envoy and adviser to special envoy Steve Witkoff, is expected to meet Netanyahu and discuss the possible timing and details. Netanyahu wants to travel to the United States next week and attend the funeral of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on July 27, but is reluctant to travel to Washington without securing a meeting with Trump.
He canceled a planned U.S. visit this week, officially because Graham’s funeral had been postponed, though Israeli officials said the White House had also shown little interest in holding the meeting and believed Netanyahu was attempting to force it onto the schedule.
Trump’s public defense of Netanyahu followed Mamdani’s renewed statement that he remained interested in having the prime minister detained if he traveled to New York for the United Nations General Assembly in September. Mamdani said he was in active discussions with the city’s Law Department over whether he had the legal authority to direct the New York Police Department to arrest a foreign leader.
Mamdani
(Photo: AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
“Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end,” he said. “I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. He is a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court.”
The ICC issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant over allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel rejects the allegations and does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction.
The Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday denounced both the court and Mamdani, calling the ICC “a kangaroo court that has no jurisdiction over Americans or Israelis.” It said the warrant was issued by former prosecutor Karim Khan shortly before allegations of sexual misconduct against him became public and accused him of using the case to deflect scrutiny. Khan was suspended last month pending proceedings over his future.
The Prime Minister’s Office also defended Israel’s conduct in Gaza, saying it had taken unprecedented wartime measures to minimize civilian harm while fighting Hamas, and accused Mamdani of exploiting the issue for political cover. During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani said he would order police to arrest Netanyahu. Netanyahu has dismissed the threat and accused the mayor of siding with Hamas, saying he was condemning Israel while championing an organization responsible for the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
Vance
(Photo: Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)
The dispute comes as Vance has intensified his criticism of Israel and of efforts he says are intended to undermine U.S. negotiations with Iran. In a three-hour interview with podcaster Joe Rogan over the weekend, Vance alleged that figures connected to Israel were funding a covert campaign to influence American public opinion, sabotage talks with Iran and prolong the war indefinitely.
He also claimed that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had links to the highest levels of Israeli intelligence. His remarks have highlighted widening divisions within the Trump administration and the broader Republican movement over Israel, Iran and the extent of U.S. involvement in the Middle East.