Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, has said that if elected, he would order the New York Police Department to arrest Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he arrives in the city, The New York Times reports.

In an interview with NYT, Mamdani said Netanyahu was a “war criminal who was committing genocide in Gaza”, the report said.

If Netanyahu were to come to New York, Mamdani said, he would honour a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for the Israeli premier’s arrest by having him apprehended at the airport.

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“This is something that I intend to fulfil,” Mamdani said in the recent interview, not backing down from his statement earlier in the mayor’s race that he would arrest Netanyahu.

“This is a moment where we cannot look to the federal government for leadership,” Mamdani was quoted as saying. “This is a moment when cities and states will have to demonstrate what it actually looks like to stand up for our own values, our own people.”