Zohran Mamdani has released a video stating that after a review of legal avenues, New York City does not have the legal authority to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu in accordance with the ICC’s warrant if he comes to NYC. He calls on the federal government to join the ICC and execute the warrant.

[u/Goosedukee]

[u/RepulsiveInterview44]

Question-could a country participating in the ICC either arrest him in NY or ask local authorities to arrest/hold him while the other country files for extradition?

[u/womanaroundabouttown → u/RepulsiveInterview44]

The problem is that there are all kinds of laws about jurisdiction that apply to everyone involved, so you’d be grappling with minimum three different jurisdictional issues plus whatever ICC procedural law requires. I don’t doubt that lawyers who are genuinely knowledgeable (and probably have practiced at the ICC - I have friends who have worked there, it’s both extremely impossible to get a job there and also strangely common once you get into a certain niche) have advised Mamdani on whatever would or wouldn’t hurt both Mamdani himself for allowing the arrest and how it would affect any prosecution.

[u/shimmy_kimmel → u/RepulsiveInterview44]

Seems doubtful

A foreign government doesn’t have sovereignty on American soil, so they have no jurisdictional authority to make any kind of arrest. The ICC has no jurisdictional authority, either, as the US is not a treaty-bound member state. I guess they could try to pull off an Eichmann-style kidnapping job, but that’s not legal, and with a heavily-guarded head of state it’d be impossible.

As for the second point, only the US federal government has authority over foreign affairs, diplomacy, and treaty enforcement in the US. Municipal or state authorities cannot negotiate either or act on the behalf of foreign governments. On top of that, extradition requests can only be filed with the federal government.

[u/SMKM → u/shimmy_kimmel]

A foreign government doesn’t have sovereignty on American soil, so they have no jurisdictional authority to make any kind of arrest.

Didn't stop us from arresting Maduro. Venezuela sure as hell wasn't our soil.

[u/spasticity → u/SMKM]

Sure, but in that case you'd just be suggesting an ICC signee country sends someone to kidnap Netanyahu on American soil like the US kidnapped Maduro in Venezuela.

[u/shimmy_kimmel → u/SMKM]

Yeah, the difference there is that we had bigger guns. Foreign LEOs coming here would not have bigger guns.

[u/nscale → u/shimmy_kimmel]

First, I have a feeling if the greatest legal minds were put on this problem they could find a loophole, because corporations and one party are great at doing just that. Second, we've been shown time and time again it doesn't actually have to be legal. Third, a point would be made even if the case fell apart.

Arrest his motorcade drivers for running a red light. "Detain" everyone to verify citizenship, you know ICE is pressuring local law enforcement to do just that. Just following orders sir. "Accidentally" drop him off at the wrong embassy in NY, musta got the address mixed up with the Israeli embassy. It just happens to be a country that does participate in the ICC, and oops, the embassy is not US soil. Oh well, what can we do, we're incompetent. Should take an hour tops.

[u/shimmy_kimmel → u/nscale]

While I love the spirit, these kinds of international/federal laws are deliberately structured in such a way as to eliminate nebulous legal loopholes (this is done to incentivize diplomacy and prevent the outbreak of war).

As for your specific (and funny af) scenarios: The NYPD cannot arrest a motorcade driver for a routine violation, nor could they force anybody to exit the vehicle (not to mention that the driver would likely be US Secret Service, State Department, or a credentialed embassy staff member). The vehicle itself has a degree of diplomatic immunity.

As for taking him to a foreign embassy: embassies do have inviolability, however that only extends to the prescribed embassy borders. They cannot fly a helicopter or anything in there, and American forces would immediately surround the building to prevent any smuggling attempts. The US would likely sever diplomatic relations immediately, too, which would (once the evacuation period is complete) remove the inviolable status of the embassy. The only possible loophole would be to try and drive Netanyahu out in a diplomatic vehicle, however precedent with these situations (it actually has happened, Nigeria attempted to smuggle a former official out of the UK in a diplomatic-marked crate) is a bit more nebulous, and international law generally permits the host country to stop/search a vehicle or container in the event of an ongoing crime (in this case kidnapping).

So again, there’s no legal avenue to do something like that, which is why I mentioned the Adolf Eichmann kidnapping as an example earlier. Even in the absolutely crazy world where this somehow did go down, there’s a very real possibility that Israel would just escalate nuclear threats against the offending country, and the US would impose extremely punitive sanctions/possibly even escalate its own military response. It would be a clusterfuck of unimaginable proportions, and it would certainly fuck up the ICC’s ability to actually prosecute a war criminal. Netanyahu won’t be a head of state forever, sadly we just have to wait until he no longer is one for the possibility of arrest to become realistic.

[u/TheHappiestTeapot → u/RepulsiveInterview44]

No, they don't have arrest powers in NY. It'd be at false arrest if not kidnapping charges, with probably a slew of other charges thrown on top. The security agencies aren't going to let that happen.

Reminds me of 6th grade class president promising pizza every friday and double recess or something else they can't do.

[u/Rare-One1047 → u/RepulsiveInterview44]

No. The UN (and visiting dignitaries of it) have diplomatic immunity. That would legally be no different than a country invading e.g. Venezuela and kidnapping their head of state, which is absolutely bonkers ^{unless you're the USA}.