{"id":12811,"date":"2026-07-21T18:42:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T13:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=12811"},"modified":"2026-07-21T18:42:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T13:42:40","slug":"elie-honig-rips-mamdanis-ridiculous-threat-to-netanyahu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=12811","title":{"rendered":"Elie Honig Rips Mamdani&#8217;s &#8216;Ridiculous&#8217; Threat to Netanyahu"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-body\">\n<p>CNN senior legal analyst <strong>Elie Honig<\/strong> went off on New York City Mayor <strong>Zohran Mamdani<\/strong> (D) for aiming to arrest Israeli Prime Minister <strong>Benjamin Netanyahu<\/strong>, saying it is a delusional fantasy with zero legal basis for actually being carried out.<\/p>\n<p>Honig ripped the mayor\u2019s ambition to shreds during an appearance on <em>The Source With <strong>Kaitlan Collins<\/strong><\/em> on Monday night. Fill-in anchor <strong>Brianna Keilar<\/strong> asked him if Mamdani has the authority to arrest Netanyahu when he is expected to visit NYC in September for the U.N. General Assembly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbsolutely not. It is utterly ridiculous. For the mayor of New York City to even suggest that he might have the authority to order the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu or any visiting foreign head of state,\u201d Honig said. \u201cFirst of all, the mayor of New York City has zero law enforcement authority \u2014 he does not tell the Manhattan DA, the NYPD, who to arrest, who to indict.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He quickly rattled off two more reasons why it has no shot of happening. Honig pointed out the arrest warrant for Netanyahu is from the International Criminal Court \u2014 which the USA is not a part of. The ICC\u2019s warrant \u201chas zero legal effect\u201d in the States, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd finally, Brianna, the Constitution is quite clear that the conduct of foreign diplomacy, foreign affairs, is entirely up to the federal government,\u201d Honig said. \u201cIt\u2019s certainly not up to local and county governments in New York City or elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His answer followed Mamdani telling <em>The New York Times<\/em> last weekend his administration was looking at how to arrest Netanyahu when he comes to town. The socialist mayor initially vowed to arrest Netanyahu during his successful 2025 campaign in which he accused the prime minister of committing a \u201cgenocide\u201d in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,\u201d Mamdani reiterated to <em>The Times.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-aa8b97-Paragraph-baseStyles-paragraphTreatmentStyles-print evys1bk0\">\u201cHe\u2019s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,\u201d the mayor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/07\/18\/nyregion\/mamdani-netanyahu-interview.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">added<\/a>. \u201cAnd what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>President <strong>Donald Trump<\/strong> on Monday said Mamdani\u2019s plan was toast, posting Netanyahu <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/trump-insists-netanyahu-will-not-be-arrested-in-any-way-shape-or-form-by-mamdani\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">will not be arrested\u00a0<\/a>\u201cin any way, shape, or form\u201d when he comes to the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the mayor <a href=\"https:\/\/abc7ny.com\/post\/mayor-zohran-mamdani-doubles-down-threat-arrest-israeli-prime-minister-netanyahu-war-gaza\/19546429\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">doubled down<\/a> on his dream when speaking to reporters soon after. \u201cWhen someone is charged with an International Criminal Court warrant, it\u2019s something that should be taken seriously,\u201d Mamdani said.<\/p>\n<p>Honig \u2014 a former state and federal prosecutor \u2014 said Mamdani needs to stop wasting his time on it, though.<\/p>\n<p>I know the mayor is having his best lawyers look at this right now,\u201d he said. \u201cLet me save them some time: You do not have the authority to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Watch above.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>New: The Mediaite One-Sheet &#8220;Newsletter of Newsletters&#8221;<\/strong><br \/>Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/subscribe\">Subscribe now!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\nn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\ndocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig went off on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) for aiming to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying it is a delusional fantasy with zero legal basis for actually being carried out. Honig ripped the mayor\u2019s ambition to shreds during an appearance on The Source With Kaitlan&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Untitled-design-2026-07-21T050005-428.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}