House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) would not say Friday whether he agrees with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's call for the United States to join the International Criminal Court and arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Breitbart's account of his appearance on CNN's "OutFront."
Pressed on whether he backs the mayor of his own city — and a fellow Democrat — Jeffries declined to give a direct answer, the outlet reported.
The question lands in the middle of a public feud between Mamdani and Netanyahu. During an appearance on comedian Theo Von's podcast, Mamdani said the U.S. should join the ICC and honor its warrants, including the 2024 warrant issued against Netanyahu. "If I had my say, the U.S. government would have joined the ICC and honored every single warrant that they've issued," Mamdani said, according to the New York Post.
The ICC, which has 124 member states, can prosecute crimes committed by nationals of member states or on the territory of member states by others. The United States is not a member.
Mamdani had campaigned on a promise to have Netanyahu arrested if he ever set foot in the Big Apple, but backed off in July after reviewing potential legal avenues and concluding there were none, according to the Post.
That retreat did not stop him from restating the position on Von's show — and it did not stop Jeffries from being asked whether he stands with the mayor. The Minority Leader's non-answer is itself the story: the top Democrat in the House was handed a yes-or-no question about arresting the leader of America's closest Middle East ally and chose silence.
Mamdani's push has drawn attention on the international stage as well, with outlets including Times Now picking up his podcast remarks. Jewish Voice for Peace activists staged a sit-in blockade during the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 24, 2026, the Post reported — a reminder that the pressure campaign against Israel is not confined to rhetoric.
The politics for Jeffries are brutal either way. Endorse Mamdani's position and he signs on to arresting a sitting prime minister of a democratic ally. Reject it and he picks a fight with the activist base of his own party in his own state. So he did what career politicians do when the cameras are rolling: he dodged.
Republicans have spent years arguing that the modern Democratic Party has a antisemitism problem it refuses to name. Jeffries just handed them another data point. When the mayor of America's largest city calls for the arrest of Israel's prime minister, the House Minority Leader cannot bring himself to say no.
For Jewish voters in New York and across the country, the silence is deafening. For the Israeli government, it is another signal that parts of the Democratic coalition are no longer reliable partners. And for Mamdani, it is a green light to keep pushing — because as long as leaders like Jeffries refuse to push back, the mayor's position becomes the party's default.
Our Take
This is not a complicated question, and Jeffries knows it. The United States does not take orders from the ICC, and it certainly does not arrest the elected prime minister of Israel at the behest of a socialist mayor from New York City with a podcast habit. If Jeffries believed that, he would have said so in five seconds.
Instead, he gave the classic Washington non-answer — the kind that tells you everything about where his party's base has gone. Mamdani is not a fringe figure anymore. He is the mayor of New York City, and he is telling anyone who will listen that the U.S. should join a court that has issued a warrant for Netanyahu. The question is no longer whether the far left has turned on Israel. The question is whether anyone in the Democratic leadership has the spine to say so out loud.
Netanyahu was right about one thing: Jews in New York City are watching. So are American voters who remember when support for Israel was not a controversial position inside either party.
Patriots should be paying attention — not just to what Mamdani says, but to who refuses to condemn it. Jeffries had his moment on CNN. He chose to hide. Remember that the next time he asks for your vote.
