Mamdani Threatens Netanyahu as Bomb Rattles New York

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he is exploring whether he has the authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York City. Meanwhile, an anti-ICE incendiary attack outside a federal building in Manhattan is being investigated by the FBI.

As reported by the New York Post:

Critics are blasting Mayor Zohran Mamdani for vowing to try to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he comes to the UN in September — seething that [he] should focus on the city’s own major problems.

“He’s the mayor of New York City, not the secretary general of the United Nations,” scoffed [Brooklyn City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov] — who fired off a blistering letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday saying Mamdani’s “threat of an illegal order of arrest must bear consequences.

“The Mayor of New York City does not recognize the jurisdiction of the United States of America and will do anything he can to subvert our Constitutional Republic,” she wrote.

“I respectfully request that the State Department issue a stern warning and an opinion as to whether such an act would violate U.S. law resulting in a prosecution and/or criminal action taken by the federal government against Mayor Mamdani.”

Brooklyn state Assemblyman Kalman Yeger called Mamdani “delusional.”

Mamdani told the New York Times on Saturday, “I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” referring to the United Nations’ International Court of Justice — and said he is having an “active conversation’’ about trying to jail the PM when he comes to Manhattan for the United Nations General Assembly in the fall.

Mamdani has hardly veiled his disdain for Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu, and he seized this opportunity to talk tough on television. But it certainly feels like this was a moment when he should put his personal bias aside and focus on the fact that someone ignited an incendiary device outside of a federal building in his city.

As reported by Fox News:

The FBI announced that a suspect was taken into custody after deploying an incendiary device outside a federal building in New York City on Monday morning.

"This morning an individual deployed an incendiary device outside of 26 Federal Plaza in New York. The individual is in custody and two minor injuries reported thus far. FBI JTTF is investigating the incident," FBI Director Kash Patel noted in a post on X.

Fortunately, no serious injuries have been reported.

This is all happening at a very interesting time for New York. You just had the World Cup final there, and it went off without a problem. And now you have this incendiary device set out outside of a federal building which houses offices for the FBI and ICE – seemingly a targeted attack.

ACLJ Senior Counsel for Global Affairs and former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joined us to discuss the news out of New York and shared his belief that Mamdani’s words were a dog whistle to let anti-Israel factions that he stands with them.

As Secretary Pompeo said:

Look, I think this is just some guy just literally blowing smoke, trying to make noise to his political domestic base. He's no more going to arrest a prime minister or a president or a leader of another country who comes into New York than a man on the moon. It's simply not going to happen. Not only is it unlawful as a practical matter; no policeman is actually going to say, yeah, I'm going to go take on their security forces that are going to be largely federal protection. hen foreign diplomats travel, when foreign leaders travel, they're protected by the United States Department of State.

What he's actually doing is he's signaling to his DSA base…to the antisemitic community that he is with them, and he is signaling that he has identified this one leader, the leader of the only Jewish state, the rightful homeland of the Jewish people.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included more analysis of Mamdani’s incendiary comments, as well as updates on the explosive device found in Manhattan. Sec. Pompeo updated us on the ongoing military strikes in Iran. We were also joined live in-studio by U.S. Senator and Tennessee gubernatorial candidate Marsha Blackburn.

Watch the full broadcast below: