In the end, Zohran Mamdani got what he wanted. A big fat helping of attention.

The theater kid (he comes by it naturally, his mom is a director) who thinks he rules the fiefdom of New York City made headlines last week when he said during an interview that he was looking into having Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if he came to New York City.

🚨 Mayor Mamdani Says He is Considering Arresting Bibi Netanyahu If He Visits NYC

“I believe that PM Netanyahu belongs in the Hague. He's a war criminal … There is an active conversation with our legal department in seeing what the prospects are we have here in our… pic.twitter.com/L9GI8hJLFp

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) July 18, 2026

The pushback began on his delusional Lord Mayorship almost immediately. Even POLITICO admitted that this was an empty publicity stunt.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani tossed more red meat to his base recently by suggesting he was still exploring options for arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during September’s United Nations General Assembly.

Yet after being in office for more than six months and presiding over a Law Department staffed by hundreds of capable jurists, the mayor has yet to articulate a legal rationale for collaring a foreign head of state.

That’s likely because his team would be hard-pressed to find one. And even if they did, people inside Mamdani’s own administration are treating his comments as more of an empty threat.

“When someone is charged with an international court warrant, it’s something that should be taken seriously, whether it’s Benjamin Netanyahu, whether it’s Vladimir Putin, or whomever else,” he said. “If someone is charged with a warrant by the International Criminal Court for these kinds of crimes, that’s something I believe that should be honored.”

Unfortunately for Mamdani, there are several statutes and longstanding agreements that would prevent a Netanyahu arrest, according to Stuart Eizenstat, who served as chief White House domestic policy adviser to President Jimmy Carter and held several high-ranking positions in the Clinton administration, including as U.S. ambassador to the European Union.

For starters, a pair of treaties — the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations and the US-UN Headquarters Agreement — both protect foreign diplomats from arrest. Second, neither the United States or Israel are parties to the International Criminal Court. Third, according to Eizenstat, foreign relations are the exclusive purview of the federal government. And President Donald Trump has made his feelings on the matter patently clear.

Speaking of President Trump’s opinion…

𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗽 – 𝟬𝟵:𝟱𝟬 𝗔𝗠 𝗣𝗦𝗧 𝟬𝟳.𝟮𝟬.𝟮𝟲 – 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁 pic.twitter.com/KIphhnYuOO

— Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) July 20, 2026

Mamdani kept talking about his attempt to have Netanyahu arrested, even though his own office admitted that it wasn’t going to happen.

Mamdani’s office and the Law Department declined to point to any legal rationale that would empower the city to arrest Netanyahu. But a senior administration official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the mayor, told Playbook there’s already a sense internally that the NYPD won’t attempt to arrest Netanyahu.

“There’s no way in hell the admin is arresting Netanyahu,” said the official. “Not sure why we keep discussing it.”

But that was never the point of the conversation. The point was that Mamdani sold a bill of goods to his base, so he has to keep bringing crap like this up, to prove that he is still One Of Them™. And when he’s milked enough attention from this whole issue, he goes before the cameras and announces, so very sadly, that reality has bitchslapped him in the face, so he can’t do The Thing that he REALLY wants to do, but thanks for electing him anyway.

“My administration has reviewed every avenue available under applicable law to determine whether New York City could execute the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant if Benjamin Netanyahu came here,” Mamdani said in a video posted on X. “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.”

In his video, Mamdani repeated that he believed Netanyahu was a war criminal and that he “is not welcome in New York City.”

“While we cannot end the genocide on our own, we can decide whether our silence will become another weapon, and we can examine every tool we have to defend the humanity and dignity of all people,” Mamdani said.

There’s also the insidious implication that Mamdani gives off in this video. You see, HE cannot do anything under the law. But maybe someone ELSE can do something, and in proclaiming Netanyahu a “war criminal,” Mamdani is creating the permission structure for someone else to act on his suggestions.

"Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?"

— double standard (@dubstandards) July 22, 2026

Mamdani is setting himself up to be Henry II in this scenario, who will then bear no legal responsibility when Thomas Becket is murdered, but will do some performative penance after the fact. Maybe he’ll put another monologue video for his theater portfolio up on X. But it is obvious that Zohran Mamdani knows what he is doing, despite the fact that he is being mocked for his little “speech” right now.

pic.twitter.com/QCsRaK8f04

— Magills (@magills_) July 22, 2026

Ridicule as a tool works well, but it would be a mistake to miss the ugly implications of Mamdani’s message. “I can’t do anything… but maybe YOU can.”

Mamdani encourages New Yorkers opposed to Netanyahu and frustrated by inability to arrest him to protest during the Israeli leader’s visit in Sept.

“I think one of the bedrocks of our city is protest… If anyone feels a level of frustration or opposition, protest is something… pic.twitter.com/GvMIuVAmHr

— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) July 22, 2026

Encouraging New Yorkers to come and “protest” probably won’t have any effect on the angry leftists and radicals who voted for Zohran Mamdani… right? Right?? Mock him all you want, because he does deserve it, but Zohran Mamdani is dangerous. We are all worse off because he is mayor of New York City, and able to command the attention of other dangerous people.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click