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Mamdani Says NYC Can’t Arrest Netanyahu but the Federal Govt Should

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at an unknown location, in this still image taken from handout video released July 21, 2026. (NYC Mayor's Office via YouTube/Handout via Reuters)
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at an unknown location, in this still image taken from handout video released July 21, 2026. (NYC Mayor's Office via YouTube/Handout via Reuters)
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Mamdani Says NYC Can’t Arrest Netanyahu but the Federal Govt Should

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at an unknown location, in this still image taken from handout video released July 21, 2026. (NYC Mayor's Office via YouTube/Handout via Reuters)
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at an unknown location, in this still image taken from handout video released July 21, 2026. (NYC Mayor's Office via YouTube/Handout via Reuters)

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said late Tuesday that the city would not be able to execute an arrest warrant issued by the world’s top war-crimes court for Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, but urged the federal government to do so.

In the video Mamdani described the Israeli prime minister as a “war criminal” and said he is not welcome in New York City.

“It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant,” he said in a video posted on X. “The federal government however does and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant,” he added, referring to the International Criminal Court.

Mamdani had told the New York Times earlier this month that he and the city’s legal department were discussing arresting Netanyahu if he comes to New York City for the UN General Assembly in September.

President Donald Trump on Monday told Netanyahu in a social media post that he “will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America.” The post did not directly mention Mamdani.

Mamdani had said throughout his mayoral election campaign last year that he would seek to order the city’s police to arrest Netanyahu under the criminal court's warrant over Netanyahu’s role in the war in Gaza.

In his video message Tuesday, Mamdani said his administration has reviewed all avenues available and determined the city can't execute the arrest warrant.

“I want to be equally clear, Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at large," he said.

Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, responded by telling the mayor “enough.”

“You were elected to serve New Yorkers, not Hamas’ propaganda,” he said in a statement on social media. “Do your job!”

The world’s top war crime court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and others in 2024, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.

They said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and have intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza — charges Israeli officials deny.

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World

North Korea Preparing Further Russia Troop Deployments, No Sign Move Imminent, Seoul Says

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un examine a launch pad of Soyuz rockets during their meeting at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un examine a launch pad of Soyuz rockets during their meeting at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
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North Korea Preparing Further Russia Troop Deployments, No Sign Move Imminent, Seoul Says

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un examine a launch pad of Soyuz rockets during their meeting at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un examine a launch pad of Soyuz rockets during their meeting at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

South Korea's Defense Ministry said North Korea was continuing preparations for an additional troop deployment to Russia, but had detected no signs that such a deployment was imminent, according to a South Korean lawmaker's office.

The assessment came ‌after North ‌Korea's Kim Yo Jong, sister of leader Kim ‌Jong ⁠Un, last week ⁠denied Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's claim that Pyongyang planned to send up to 50,000 more troops to Russia to fight for its ally, Reuters said.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said in a statement to lawmaker Yu Yong-weon that North Korea had continued to supply Russia with weapons systems, including short-range ballistic missiles, according to Yu's office.

North ⁠Korea is estimated to have supplied Russia with ‌more than 15 million rounds of ‌artillery ammunition, measured in 152-millimetre shell equivalents, it said.

The lawmaker's office, ‌citing a South Korean Defense Intelligence Agency assessment, said North ‌Korean missiles used in the war may have improved in accuracy through battlefield data, alongside Russian technical advice and component support.

The ministry also said the development of some North Korean ballistic missiles and multiple rocket ‌launchers assessed as being intended for use in a conflict with South Korea was nearing completion, the ⁠lawmaker's office ⁠said.

The ministry added that North Korea's Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile, capable of reaching the US territory of Guam, was being prepared for operational deployment, according to Yu's office.

North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missiles have the flight capability to reach the US mainland, the ministry said, but key technologies, including warhead re-entry, have not been verified because all test launches have been conducted on lofted trajectories.

North Korea and Russia have deepened military cooperation since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Pyongyang supplying artillery ammunition and missiles since 2023 and deploying troops from 2024, according to South Korean, Ukrainian and Western assessments.

Moscow and Pyongyang have previously denied arms transfers.

World

US Vows 'Economic D-Day' as Iran Threatens to Halt all Oil Exports

Image published by the Iranian Parliament's website from Sunday's meeting of the Foreign Policy and National Security Committee.
Image published by the Iranian Parliament's website from Sunday's meeting of the Foreign Policy and National Security Committee.
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US Vows 'Economic D-Day' as Iran Threatens to Halt all Oil Exports

Image published by the Iranian Parliament's website from Sunday's meeting of the Foreign Policy and National Security Committee.
Image published by the Iranian Parliament's website from Sunday's meeting of the Foreign Policy and National Security Committee.

The US threatened Iran with what it called "the greatest financial offensive ever marshalled" as it prepared to roll out economic sanctions on Monday that target Iran's trade partners.

Iran in turn vowed to shut down all oil exports from the Gulf "if the economic war continues." US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) on Monday amid promises to reveal even more severe measures on a country that has endured near-continuous economic sanctions since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Reuters said.

"At dawn begins an economic D-Day — the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary," Bessent wrote in an opinion piece published in the Financial Times on Sunday.

The warring nations have not conducted military strikes against each other for weeks, ‌but they also ‌have not engaged in meaningful talks to end the six-month-old conflict.

Thousands of people ‌have ⁠died, most of ⁠them in Iran and Lebanon, since the US and Israel began strikes on February 28, degrading much of Iran's conventional military capacity and inflicting economic pain while killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

But Iran has preserved enough missile and drone capability to attack its Gulf neighbors and threaten oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, bringing shipping in the key waterway to a near standstill and pressuring world fuel prices.

The exact state of Iran's nuclear program, which the Americans and Israelis aim to wipe out, remains unknown. Without detailing specific measures, Bessent signaled the US would target "fearful nations" that practice "appeasement" ⁠by engaging with Iran's economy and financial system.

"They would do well to consider ‌the consequences of sustaining it," he wrote in the Financial Times. Iran ‌has been bracing for the sanctions for days, issuing a series of strongly worded statements hinting at a major military response.

Mohsen ‌Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, on Sunday suggested economic retaliation.

Rezaei wrote in a social media post that if the economic war continues, “not ‌a single drop of oil will be exported”, neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor from anywhere in the Arabian Gulf . "Iran will regard any country’s participation in or support for America’s economic war against the Iranian people as an act of war." Bessent previously urged China to cooperate with the US, noting China historically has received half ‌of its oil imports from the Gulf region. A spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington responded with a statement that "sanctions and pressure do not help resolve the problem," ⁠while calling for diplomacy.

Iran's economy ⁠was already under pressure from international sanctions before the US and Israeli attacks destroyed parts of its infrastructure. Though Tehran remains outwardly defiant, Iranian officials have warned that further economic punishment could increase hardships, reignite unrest and further erode the Iranian Republic's legitimacy.

Iran entered the war with high inflation, a weakening currency, energy shortages, sanctions and deep structural weaknesses, and must now contend with damaged infrastructure, disrupted trade, lost production and the cost of rebuilding.

In the absence of official face-to-face talks between the US and Iran, which were last conducted in June in Switzerland, other nations including Qatar, Pakistan and Türkiye have attempted to promote diplomacy. Iran said Pakistan's army chief, Asim Munir, will visit Tehran on Monday as part of efforts to restore peace and security in the region, but gave few details.

Pakistan has been mediating in the conflict and a Pakistani government source said Munir would touch on recent developments including the US threat of new sanctions. US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon during the war have killed thousands and displaced millions. The US reported 18 military personnel killed and more than 750 wounded.

World

US: Pro-Palestinian Protesters Sentenced over Blocking Golden Gate Bridge Traffic in 2024

The Golden Gate Bridge during sunrise seen from Marin Headlands viewpoint in Marin County, California, US October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Manuel Orbegozo/File Photo
The Golden Gate Bridge during sunrise seen from Marin Headlands viewpoint in Marin County, California, US October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Manuel Orbegozo/File Photo
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US: Pro-Palestinian Protesters Sentenced over Blocking Golden Gate Bridge Traffic in 2024

The Golden Gate Bridge during sunrise seen from Marin Headlands viewpoint in Marin County, California, US October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Manuel Orbegozo/File Photo
The Golden Gate Bridge during sunrise seen from Marin Headlands viewpoint in Marin County, California, US October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Manuel Orbegozo/File Photo

Seven protesters who blocked traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge in a 2024 pro-Palestinian protest against Israel's assault on Gaza have been sentenced to 30 days, with credit for time already served.

They were convicted in July of misdemeanor charges by a San Francisco jury that remained deadlocked on the more serious charge of felony conspiracy.

Defense attorneys said demonstrators acted out of a moral responsibility to oppose the devastation from Israeli strikes on Gaza and Washington's support for its ally.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said the protest caused ⁠a safety risk ⁠for those stuck in traffic and there should be consequences when laws are broken.

"Throughout history, civil disobedience has mostly involved accepting legal consequences," Superior Court Judge Teresa Caffese was quoted as saying by KQED.

"In that spirit, those who blocked the bridge and disrupted the lives of hundreds of ⁠commuters should be treated respectfully, but should also be prepared to accept the consequences of their actions."

The sentences included half the time in county jail while the remaining days can be served at a work release program operated by the San Francisco Sheriff's Office. There will be four days' credit for previous time already served. The sentencing also included six months of probation, and fines and restitution of over $1,000, Reuters reported.

The defendants will remain free while the case is appealed, SFGate ⁠reported.

Defense ⁠attorneys argued that protesters resorted to blocking the bridge after writing letters and appealing to congressional representatives produced no result.

The jury convicted the seven protesters on misdemeanor counts including false imprisonment, obstruction of thoroughfare, unlawful assembly and in one defendant's case refusal to disperse.

The jury did not reach a verdict on the most serious charge of felony conspiracy, an agreement between two or more people to commit a crime coupled with an overt act, which could have had a sentence of up to 15 years. Prosecutors said they will not retry the charges.