BY ROBERT HORNAK | rahornak@gmail.com
During the mayor’s race last year Zohran Mamdani made an extremely baffling campaign promise. To arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu if he dares set foot in NYC and turn him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague that wants to try Netanyahu for war crimes.
It was baffling because everyone seemed to know that Mamdani would have absolutely zero authority to arrest the head of state from any country, let alone one of America’s closest allies. Not to mention that neither the U.S. or Israel recognize the ICC or the treaty that created it.
Mike Waltz, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., posted on social media all the protections that Netanyahu has under U.S. law, the diplomatic protections in place according to the UN Headquarters Agreement, and referred to Mamdani’s hollow threat as “political theater.”
There is no debate, the U.S. Constitution vests all authority for foreign relations with the federal government and primarily with the Executive Branch. What Mamdani is promising to do, if carried out, would likely violate federal law and specifically the Logan Act, which, according to the Justice Dept website:
“Bars a citizen of the United States “without authority of the United States” from “directly or indirectly commenc[ing] or carr[ying] on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government…”
And, as happened during the campaign, many people are calling out Mamdani for his immaturity, lack of experience, and lack of seriousness in running the important affairs that actually matter to the people of NYC.
And still Mamdani refuses to back down, saying that he is in talks with the City Law Dept to see what he might be allowed to do.
That was surely a two-minute conversation. Any lawyer who passed the bar would know that looking at city law for an angle to arrest a foreign leader would be like looking at the instruction manual for a 1965 Mustang to fix a 2025 Volvo.
So, why would Mamdani ostensibly make a fool of himself by continuing to push this ridiculous issue?
This is nothing more than Mamdani telling his most loyal supporters that he has not forgotten what they care most about and even without the power to do anything about it, Mamdani will continue to use his platform to amplify their main talking point, that Israel is committing genocide and Netanyahu, as Prime Minister, is guilty of war crimes.
It doesn’t even matter that Mamdani swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States and not some foreign treaty that he says he is looking to serve. After all, this is the same Constitution that gives sole authority to the Executive Branch to oversee immigration and determine who can lawfully enter the country.
The reality is glaring, Mamdani only supports the Constitution when it gives him the authority he wants, but not when it’s inconvenient.
And who is Mamdani’s base? Mostly it is wealthy, white, ivory tower elitists who have long driven the most radical ideas on college campuses across the country along with the belief that they know better than everyone else how you should live your life and have fueled the violent anti-Israel college protests.
Even Jay Jacobs, NYS Democratic Party Chairman, admits this is a growing divide in the party, recently saying, “Yes. I do think the Israel-Palestinian issue had an impact in the election. It hurt establishment Democrats.” And continued, “It was important to the activists who came out and voted.”
And, most likely should push come to shove, NYPD Commissioner Tisch would not follow through on an action that she knows violates federal law, would put the NYPD at the center of a nasty international controversy, and likely get anyone involved arrested by federal authorities.
And the guy with the final word on this, and the only person allowed to speak with foreign governments and organizations on behalf of the U.S., President Trump, has now weighed in and said most emphatically that under no circumstances will Netanyahu be arrested. So, sorry Mamdani, your bloviating is just hot air.
Robert Hornak is a veteran political consultant who has previously worked for the NYC office of the Republican Assembly Leader and served as Executive Director of the Queens Republican Party. He can be reached at rahornak@gmail.com and @roberthornak on X.
