JERUSALEM, July 20 — The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday denounced New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani after he said he was considering whether to arrest the Israeli leader during an upcoming UN summit.

“Mr Mamdani should focus on fixing the damage his policies have caused New York,” Netanyahu’s office said in a post on its official X account.

“Like Karim Khan, Mamdani appears interested in diverting public attention from his follies and attacking the leader of the Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East.”

In an interview published on Saturday, Mamdani said he was consulting New York City’s legal team about the extent of the mayor’s authority to direct police to detain a foreign leader, referring to Netanyahu.

“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani told The New York Times. “He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court.”

“Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do,” he said.

Netanyahu’s office hit back on Sunday against Mamdani and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“The ICC is a kangaroo court that has no jurisdiction over Americans or Israelis. Its bogus arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu was issued by a disgraced former ICC Prosecutor, Karim Khan,” the office said.

It added that the warrant was issued days before allegations of sexual misconduct were made against Khan, calling it “a clear attempt by Khan to divert public attention and seek protection from scrutiny”.

Mamdani has previously vowed to send the NYPD to enforce arrest warrants against leaders wanted by the ICC, including Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The UN General Assembly, a major gathering of world leaders, takes place in September at UN headquarters in New York.

The Hague-based ICC said in 2024 that it had reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu was responsible for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to Israel’s offensive in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 cross-border attack by Hamas. — AFP