New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declines to call Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught on Israel a genocide or state when his legal team determined that the city could not arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Asked during a press conference whether he considers the Hamas attack a genocide, Mamdani says, “I consider October 7 to be a horrific war crime.”
Mamdani is also asked when his legal team informed him that the city could not arrest Netanyahu.
“That’s a review that I asked them to do. They made it clear that this is not possible through applicable law,” Mamdani says.
Asked again when the determination was made, Mamdani says, “I’ve answered the question.”
Mamdani first vowed to arrest Netanyahu in 2024 while he was running for mayor. Legal experts have said for a year that such an arrest was not possible.
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