Dozens of people were arrested in New York City while protesting against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s participation in the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday.
Actors Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder, as well as activist and whistleblower Chelsea Manning, were among the protesters arrested during a sit-in that blocked a main road leading to the UN.
Handcuffed and escorted by a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer, Einbinder was recorded in a video shared on social media saying, “Netanyahu out of New York, no bombs on Lebanon, no bombs on Iran, stop the genocide.”
Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of Within Our Lifetime, a Palestinian-led community organisation, criticised Mamdani’s video, saying it was “a far cry from campaigning on arresting Netanyahu. Instead of arresting Netanyahu, the NYPD arrested the protesters.
“This is the exact opposite of what Mamdani ran on,” she wrote.
While I agree with them that Netanyahu should be arrested, neither Mamdani nor the NYPD have the jurisdiction to do it.
They do. Trump can release Netanyahu shortly after but Mamdani has the jurisdiction to make the initial arrest for Netanyahu killing Americans.
Unfortunately I don’t think you are correct here. By being a diplomat attached to the UN Netanyahu would have diplomatic immunity while on an official visit. If he had gone to Times Square or something completely outside of the duties of his visit then there might be a case but he didn’t.
New York City shouldn’t arrest anyone for crimes committed entirely elsewhere absent an extradition request.
New York State shouldn’t arrest foreign diplomats since the federal government is responsible for interacting with diplomats.
The USA shouldn’t arrest any diplomat heading to the United Nations since the UN stops being useful if it’s not a place for hated enemies to talk
The only entity that should be expected to arrest someone at the UN for an ICC warrant is the UN itself. And they fucking should have, but that’s on them and not Mamdani, Hochul, or (sigh) Trump.
He didn’t have the jurisdiction, he asked and checked before, last time Bibi was here