A Berkeley law professor called on President Donald Trump’s Justice Department to investigate a big city mayor after alleged threats to a foreign leader.
(Video Credit: Fox News Clips)
From keffiyeh-clad street shouting to embracing an unindicted co-conspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing on the campaign trail, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) has done little to dispel concerns about appearing to be a pro-Hamas communist looking to dismantle the American republic alongside his Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) peers.
Now, after Hizzoner recently reiterated his view that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested the next time he sets foot in the Big Apple, University of California, Berkeley law professor John Yoo wants to see Trump’s DOJ investigate Mamdani for allegedly violating federal law.
Appearing on Fox News with anchor Gillian Turner, the legal scholar expressed, “I think the mayor needs to read the Constitution and the laws of the United States first before he starts throwing out baseless accusations of genocide and violating international law … I think personally that Israel has every right to defend itself and has been doing so consistent with the laws of war.”
“But this is a question of the sovereignty of the United States, which the mayor apparently does not believe in,” continued Yoo, who reminded that neither the U.S. nor Israel are bound to the International Criminal Court and local governments “cannot interfere with the federal government’s … control over foreign policy.”
“So, what Mayor Mamdani is calling for is for the officials of New York City, including himself, to violate federal law. So, in the end, it’s not Netanyahu who should be arrested and investigated — I’m not trying to exaggerate here — the mayor is violating the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act, passed in 2002, and the Justice Department should be investigating him,” contended the law professor.
As previously reported, during an interview with The New York Times, Mamdani said, “I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in the Hague. He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court.”
He went on, “Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end.”
The stance came days after the mayor claimed ignorance that someone from his office was slated to meet with Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations before Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s office stepped in to prevent it.
Marco Rubio shuts down Mamdani official’s planned meeting with Iran envoy – Hizzoner plays dumb https://t.co/WvozqIc5Xo via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) July 11, 2026
According to Yoo, under the 2002 law, the president, “is authorized to use all necessary means to prevent any American or ally from being handed over to that court. So, if Mayor Mamdani wants to spend a lot of time dealing with FBI agents and Justice Department investigators, well, he just started that — he just launched that whole process for himself and the residents of New York City.”
Wondering if Mamdani’s position was “some kind of a political catcall,” Turner prompted her guest on the mayor’s intelligence.
“Yeah, I don’t know if I can add more than what you’ve heard from other political analysts and guests who’ve said that Mayor Mamdani is appealing to this large, sort of socialist-friendly base of young people in New York City who are becoming increasingly, I’m afraid, antisemitic and anti-Israel,” respondent Yoo. “But the question is, is he acting consistent with the law of the United States? And he is not.”
Meanwhile, the president himself weighed in on the matter on social media, posting Monday, “Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form, while in the United States of America. He is fighting against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which recently killed 52,000 innocent protestors, and has spent the last 47 years killing American Soldiers, and others.”
“The only ones that should be arrested,” added Trump, “are the people that led Iran into this unprecedented SPIRAL OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, something that should have been dealt with years ago, by previous Presidents!”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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