I think it's bad actually for mayoral candidates to promise to violate international treaties allowing leaders of foreign countries free passage to the UN General Assembly.
Zohran Mamdani: “If Netanyahu comes to deliver a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York next year while I am mayor, I will move to honor the ICC arrest warrant issued in The Hague against him — just as I would against Putin."
Wait sincere question of fact: are there specific free passage to UNGA treaties or are you referring more generally to the international agreements that, e.g., let Putin visit South Africa despite the ICC warrants?
The 1947 treaty between the US and the UN that established New York as its headquarters has a provision prohibiting US authorities from impeding representatives of member nations to and from the UN
Oh. So, since the ICC isn't a US authority, this wouldn't be in violation of that?
Oct 3, 2025 03:11It would be if American law enforcement makes the arrest
That's not clear from the quote, so I was a little confused. Honoring that they have the right to arrest him isn't necessarily using NY cops to do so, you know? Watching the clip, though, it does sound like he'd be in violation of that agreement. Got it now
It's hard to tell what's going on in the quote. His response about using "pursuing every legal avenue" could be mean he will honor the warrant, or it could be to give him room to eventually say the treaty prohibits arrest. I'm not sure what you mean about not using NY cops. Arresting is impeding
I specified NY cops because those would be the only US authority he could use as mayor to make an arrest, as compared to allowing Interpol to make the arrest. Interpol is not a US authority, and they're not acting on behalf of the US. This still wouldn't be under the purview of the NY mayor, though.
Interpol doesn't make arrests. That only happens in movies. It coordinates information sharing among countries and offers technical assistance. Only US law enforcement or someone who is otherwise allowed to by US law can arrest someone here, either of which would violate the treaty
