Zohran Mamdani made a promise during his campaign for Mayor that, if elected, he would use his power to order the NYPD to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York City. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has put out a warrant for Netanyahu to bring him to trial for crimes against humanity. Not only is he responsible for the last three years of genocide in Gaza, he’s been the champion of all-out regional war with Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, on top of the longstanding settler theft of the West Bank and apartheid conditions for Palestinians.
Mamdani made this promise out of recognition that the US government, which has given its full support to Israel for decades and is not a member state of the ICC, will never arrest Netanyahu and hand him over to international authorities. Therefore, New York City would defy the US government in the pursuit of justice.
So how come when Zohran took back his promise, claiming that NYC does not have the “independent legal authority to enforce this warrant,” he urged the federal government to do it instead knowing damn well they won’t.
Does Zohran think we’re morons?
As Norman Finkelstein pointed out, “he could say, people can close down the UN. We’re a big city, we have a lot of people angry about Gaza. You can use non-violent civil disobedience and close down the UN. And you know what else he could say? He can say, as a private citizen I’m going to join you.”
Instead, Zohran has said, “I do not have any plans to attend any protests at the UN General Assembly […] To New Yorkers, I have never encouraged them to protest.”
Breaking a promise by claiming it’s out of his hands and then not even encouraging or participating in protests against the man whose arrest he called for is spineless behavior. But Zohran has decided to sacrifice Palestine for a career in politics.
Why? To become a politician is to become a servant of empire
Israel would not be able to get away with these crimes without the infinite amount of military aid and diplomatic immunity the US gives it. The United Nations, an international institution created after the horrors of WWII to prevent and take action against genocide and other threats to world peace, has been powerless to stop the US-Israel genocide. Its General Assembly has proven itself once again to be nothing more than a talk-shop for global diplomats while the real power is in the UN Security Council, where the US uses its veto power to block any real action that could be taken.
Politicians in the US routinely reject using whatever authority they have to challenge these things, opting instead to stick to acceptable denunciations without backing it up with any meaningful action, even as private citizens.
We’ve seen this same story too many times. When there is mass rebellion and protest against the horrors of this empire, so-called “progressive” politicians make bold and attractive promises to channel mass outrage back into the electoral machine, only for those same “progressives” to become defenders of the US Empire.
It’s our duty to break this cycle by going to the masses, exposing these accomplices in power, and building an anti-imperialist movement outside of the electoral machine that can take the fight straight to the heart of empire.
