OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
8:22 AM – Thursday, October 16, 2025
The Democrat mayoral front-runner for New York City, Zohran Mamdani, repeatedly avoided saying that Hamas should lay down its weapons, while doubling down on his promise to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On Wednesday, Fox News host Martha MacCallum grilled Mamdani on his criticism of Israel during the cease-fire orchestrated by the Trump administration.
Hamas and Israel are set to enter the second phase of the U.S.-overseen ceasefire agreement. Phase one called for Hamas to return the 48 hostages still in Gaza. The 20 living hostages have been returned this week, but not all of the deceased have been accounted for, including two American citizens. The second phase calls for disarmament, a major pillar of the deal, which Hamas may be reluctant to comply with.
When asked for his response to Hamas’s handling of the deceased hostages, particularly the Americans, Mamdani said, “I think those are bodies and remains that should absolutely be returned, and I think that I have no issue with critiquing Hamas or the Israeli government, because my critiques all come from a place of universal human rights.”
Mamdani quickly turned instead towards the issue of affordability in New York City, which has been a large focus of his campaign. Still, the interviewer persisted on the topic of disarmament.
“I don’t really have opinions about the future of Hamas and Israel beyond the question of justice and safety, and the fact that anything has to abide by international law,” the candidate said. “That applies to Hamas, that applies to the Israeli military, applies to anyone you could ask me about.”
Mamdani reaffirmed his pledge that, if elected mayor, he would direct the NYPD to arrest Netanyahu in accordance with the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) warrant against him.
MacCallum noted that the U.S. has not signed the treaty for the ICC and therefore would not recognize Netanyahu’s warrant. However, Mamdani pointed out that there is a similar warrant out for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that if the Russian president were to enter New York City, he would treat him the same on principle.
“I believe that we should uphold arrests warrants by the International Criminal Court, and that we should do so only in abiding with all of the laws in front of us,” he said.
“I can tell you that I’m going to exhaust every legal option in front me, not to make new laws to do so,” he added, smiling.
Mamdani expressed gratitude for the ceasefire deal, saying that he had “hope that it will actually endure and that it will be lasting,” though he stopped short of giving credit to President Donald Trump because it was “too early to do so.”
“If it proves to be something that is lasting, something that is durable, then I think that that’s where you give credit,” said the candidate.
Mamdani is currently the top Mayoral candidate among New Yorkers. The election for mayor of New York City is scheduled for November 4th.
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