Zohran, with respect, New Yorkers did not elect you to become another commentator. They elected you to govern.
Whether or not you possess the legal authority to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu is almost beside the point. Most people understand that foreign affairs are largely a federal responsibility. The real question is whether you are willing to exhaust every power that actually belongs to your office.
If you believe Netanyahu is responsible for war crimes, then act as though those words carry consequences.
Publicly urge the New York Attorney General to investigate New York registered charities accused of facilitating or financing unlawful settlement activity in the occupied West Bank. If evidence supports it, call for the revocation of their tax exempt status and enforcement of existing state law.
Direct every city agency under your authority to ensure that no municipal resources are used beyond what the law strictly requires. New Yorkers should not see symbolic honors, ceremonial welcomes, or unnecessary accommodations extended to someone you yourself have described as a war criminal.
Defend the right of peaceful demonstrators to assemble, criticize, and demand accountability. Make it unmistakably clear that protest is not a public nuisance to be managed away, but a constitutional right to be protected.
Use the mayor’s platform relentlessly. Convene hearings. Publish reports. Demand transparency from institutions operating in New York that may be connected to settlement financing. Ask difficult questions in public instead of allowing them to disappear behind closed doors.
Political leadership is measured not only by the powers you possess, but by the powers you choose to exercise. History rarely remembers those who explained why they could not act. It remembers those who exhausted every lawful avenue before saying their hands were tied.
You have already made the moral argument. Now make the institutional one. New Yorkers do not need another voice describing injustice. They need a mayor willing to use every legal instrument available to confront it.
Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal.