Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" with Maria Bartiromo that he plans to travel to New York City to speak at the United Nations. This would happen despite an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and over the objections of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. "I intend to come and speak the truth — speak for Israel and for the Israeli-American alliance from the podium of the United Nations," Netanyahu said (Al Jazeera).

The ICC is a global court based in The Hague that charges individuals — not countries — with serious crimes like war crimes and crimes against humanity. In November 2024, it issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over their alleged actions in Gaza. Israel has called the warrants "bogus" (Reuters). Netanyahu could visit New York as early as September 2026, when the UN General Assembly holds its annual meeting (Reuters).

The legal situation around such a visit is complicated. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who won the city's Democratic mayoral primary on June 24, 2025, said during his campaign that he would have Netanyahu arrested if he visited. He later admitted that the city does not have the legal power to do that (Al Jazeera). Mamdani, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, has since shifted responsibility upward, saying that while the city cannot act, "the federal government should" (PBS; AP News).

Reuters explained on July 22, 2026, why Mamdani cannot make the arrest: carrying out an ICC warrant on US soil is a job for the federal government, not a city government (Reuters). Mamdani had previously said the city's legal team was looking into its options (Reuters).

President Donald Trump made the federal position clear on or around July 20, 2026, stating that Netanyahu will not be arrested in the United States (Reuters). That declaration effectively shuts down any chance of the ICC warrant being enforced on American soil. The United States never joined the Rome Statute — the treaty that created the ICC — meaning it has no obligation to cooperate with the court.

The broader context here is one of military and diplomatic tension at the same time. Al Jazeera describes the US and Israel as being engaged in a war on Iran at the time of reporting. Netanyahu used the Fox News interview to warn that any renewed Iranian attacks on Israel would be a "terrible mistake" (Al Jazeera).

Netanyahu also attacked Mamdani personally, accusing the mayor of "fomenting hate" and saying of Jewish Americans: "they're afraid right now" (Al Jazeera). But polling data tells a more complicated story. A June AP-NORC survey of more than 1,000 Jewish adults across the US found 44% viewed Mamdani somewhat or very favourably, while 39% viewed him somewhat or very unfavourably. The same survey found about one-third of Jewish adults believed Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.

Netanyahu's own standing among American Jews, in the same poll, is weaker: about one-third viewed him favourably, while roughly six in ten viewed him unfavourably, including 42% with a very unfavourable view (Al Jazeera).

The stakes here are significant. Netanyahu's planned UN speech works on two levels at once. As a diplomatic move, it lets him address world leaders directly. As a legal move, it forces a public test of whether the US will enforce the ICC warrant — and Trump has already said it will not. That guarantee gives Netanyahu cover, but it also widens the gap between the United States and the international system of criminal accountability that the ICC represents.

The clash between Netanyahu and Mamdani also pulls the Israel-Gaza conflict straight into US domestic politics. A foreign leader under international indictment is trying to publicly shame a local official in the city he wants to enter. The polling suggests American Jewish opinion does not line up neatly with Netanyahu's claims, which means his rhetoric may energize his supporters while alienating some of the very people he says he is speaking for.

For the UN, the situation revives an old tension: the agreement that lets the UN operate its New York headquarters also requires the US, as the host country, to allow foreign leaders to visit. A leader under ICC warrant speaking at the General Assembly has happened before, but the open political fighting — with Trump and Mamdani both weighing in — adds a level of confrontation the UN's legal system was not built to handle smoothly.