Israel's ambassador to the United Nations turned the tables on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, calling for his arrest on charges of incitement and collaboration with U.S. adversaries, days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned address to the General Assembly.
Ambassador Danny Danon, 55, used a Thursday press conference to deliver a blunt response to months of threats from Mamdani, who has repeatedly vowed to find a way to arrest Netanyahu on war-crimes charges when the Israeli leader arrives in New York. Danon dismissed the mayor's posture as baseless and flipped the accusation, telling reporters that Mamdani himself is the one who should face legal consequences.
Danon did not hold back about where he thinks the real misconduct lies. The ambassador accused Mamdani of sending city officials to meet with Iran's ambassador at the United Nations and of stoking unrest ahead of one of the world's largest diplomatic gatherings.
"If someone should be arrested, it's Mayor Mamdani for inciting, for actually collaborating with the enemy of the United States."
The confrontation caps a months-long escalation that began during Mamdani's mayoral campaign in late 2025, when the self-described pro-Palestine socialist made arresting Netanyahu a signature pledge. He doubled down in July, announcing publicly that he was hunting for a legal loophole to detain the Israeli prime minister during his September visit.
That search came up empty. Mamdani conceded that his administration lacks the independent legal authority to enforce the International Criminal Court warrant against Netanyahu. The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, meaning no ICC warrant carries legal force on American soil.
Mamdani himself acknowledged as much. In a video released by the mayor's office on July 21, he called Netanyahu a "war criminal" and "architect of a horrific genocide," but then pivoted to demanding federal intervention rather than city action, Fox News reported.
"It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant. The federal government, however, does, and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant."
At the press conference, Danon cast the mayor's behavior not as a policy disagreement but as a direct obstacle to the functioning of the UN General Assembly. Thousands of diplomats, staff, and officials from around the world are expected in New York next week, and Danon argued that the mayor's job is to keep the city running, not to incite protests against visiting heads of state.
"I hope that he realizes he has a responsibility, not to call for people to demonstrate but to take care of the city and to make sure that next week will be a quiet, functioning week for the thousands of people that will come from all around the world."
Danon went further, accusing the mayor of actively undermining that responsibility. He pointed to Mamdani's international affairs commissioner, who in July attempted to arrange a meeting with Iran's ambassador at the United Nations. The ambassador's name and the commissioner's identity were not disclosed, but the outreach itself drew sharp criticism.
That episode fits a broader pattern of decisions that have drawn scrutiny to Mamdani's judgment in office. The mayor faced backlash from 9/11 families over a separate controversy involving a former al Qaeda defense lawyer, and his priorities have repeatedly drawn fire from critics across the political spectrum.
Danon also noted that his criticism of Mamdani carries no partisan loyalty to Netanyahu. The UK Guardian has described the ambassador as a "right-wing thorn in Netanyahu's side," and Danon has publicly broken with the prime minister on past occasions. His objection, he made clear, is to Mamdani's conduct, not to any domestic Israeli political alignment.
Israeli officials have treated Mamdani's arrest talk with open dismissal. Danon called the mayor's pledge a stunt with no legal foundation, telling Just The News that "the U.S. is not part of the ICC so there is no warrant against a prime minister in the U.S., and there is no jurisdiction for the mayor."
President Donald Trump, who is also expected to attend the UN assembly, has publicly stated that Netanyahu will not face arrest on American soil. That position removes any realistic path for Mamdani's pledge, even if the mayor had wanted to act unilaterally, which he has now admitted he cannot.
Netanyahu, undeterred, plans to address the General Assembly next Wednesday. Danon framed the visit in defiant terms, saying in footage captured by C-SPAN and posted by Jewish Insider that the prime minister would speak "despite threats, incitement and antisemitic rhetoric we have heard from the mayor of the city of New York."
Danon added that the mayor "is doing the exact opposite" of his duty, "inciting, calling for people to demonstrate against our prime minister," but that "none of that will stop us." Anti-Israel protests are expected in the city next week, though specifics about organizers and planned events were not disclosed.
Mamdani, for his part, has declined to say whether he will join the protests he once encouraged, another shift from the combative posture of his campaign and early months in office.
Asked about the situation at a separate security briefing on Thursday, Mamdani offered a notably restrained response, a far cry from the fiery rhetoric of his July video. He described his conversations with the NYPD as routine.
"The conversations that I've had with the police department have been purely on standard preparations for this event, as well as standard preparations for keeping New Yorkers safe. And I'm fully confident in our police department's ability to do so."
He said he was in the process of setting up meetings with foreign dignitaries during the General Assembly but declined to name them. When asked whether he would meet with President Trump, Mamdani was evasive, saying only that the two "continue to have a conversation about how best to deliver for this city."
The gap between Mamdani's July bombast and his Thursday caution is hard to miss. Two months ago, the mayor was publicly calling an allied head of state a war criminal and demanding the federal government join an international court to arrest him. Now he is talking about traffic management and standard preparations.
Danon, meanwhile, spoke not just about Mamdani but about the broader security environment Israel faces, referencing the country's ongoing conflict with Hamas and threats from Syria, Hezbollah, and ISIS. He framed Netanyahu's visit as an act of resolve in the face of multiple adversaries, diplomatic and otherwise.
The Washington Examiner noted the dramatic reversal embedded in Danon's demand: the diplomat who was supposed to be the target of arrest is now the one calling for the mayor's detention. No law enforcement agency has publicly responded to Danon's call, and no legal action against Mamdani appears imminent.
Still, the episode has exposed a pattern that extends well beyond this single controversy. Mamdani abandoned a signature campaign pledge he had no legal authority to fulfill, sent city officials to court the Iranian ambassador, and spent months stoking confrontation with an allied nation, all while the city he governs prepared to host the world's largest annual diplomatic gathering.
When a mayor spends more energy threatening to arrest an allied leader than preparing his city for the week ahead, the question isn't whether the stunt worked. It's who exactly is serving the people of New York.
