Por Renan Filho · 2026-10-03**Lead**
Mahmood Mamdani, the Ugandan-born scholar and longtime Columbia University professor, said it was "strange" to be singled out by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the aftermath of Mamdani's public call for Netanyahu's arrest. The exchange adds a new layer to the ongoing confrontation between the Israeli government and the international legal order, as an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu remains outstanding.
**Context**
Mamdani is one of the most widely cited scholars of Africa and colonialism, known for works such as "Citizen and Subject" and "When Victims Become Killers." In recent years, he has been a vocal participant in debates over the war in Gaza, and his criticisms of Israel's military campaign have placed him in the crosshairs of supporters of the Israeli government. The decision by Netanyahu to call out an academic by name is not incidental; it reflects a broader pattern in which Israeli officials and their allies have sought to put pressure on professors and universities that are seen as hostile to Israel.
The back-and-forth also cannot be understood outside the context of international criminal law. In May 2024, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the Gaza conflict. The court later issued warrants in November 2024, charging the two men with crimes including starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. Mamdani, along with a number of legal scholars and public intellectuals, has argued that no one should be above that process, and he called for Netanyahu's arrest as part of a broader demand for accountability. Netanyahu is not alone in being singled out by the ICC; warrants were also sought and issued for senior Hamas figures, several of whom were killed over the course of the war.
Mamdani's own scholarship has long complicated easy narratives about victims and perpetrators. In "When Victims Become Killers," his influential study of the Rwandan genocide, he examined how ordinary people could be mobilized to commit violence, and in recent commentary he has connected these themes to questions of complicity and responsibility. That intellectual history gives his voice particular weight in debates about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and it may explain why Netanyahu or members of his political circle decided to respond to him directly.
**Analise**
The significance of this collision is twofold. First, it shows how the battle over the ICC is being waged in the realm of public opinion, not only in courtrooms. By responding to an academic rather than to the court itself, Netanyahu keeps attention fixed on the character and politics of those seeking his arrest, rather than the substance of the allegations against him. For Mamdani, the "strange" nature of the call-out lies precisely in the inversion: the person facing arrest trying to put an intellectual on trial in the court of public opinion.
Second, the episode reflects a broader clampdown on academic speech about Israel. Since the start of the Gaza war, American universities have become frontline sites of protest and repressive institutional reaction. Congressional hearings, donor pressures and lawsuits have singled out prominent scholars and student groups. Netanyahu's decision to pick out Mamdani by name fits into that pattern, elevating a personal attack into a political message intended to deter other professors from speaking out.
At the same time, the exchange is unlikely to change the underlying legal reality. The ICC process moves at its own pace, and a government's diplomatic efforts can freeze, delay or complicate that process — as has happened before. But the moment does highlight how fragile and contested international justice remains. For many observers in the Global South, Mamdani embodies a skepticism of Western powers combined with a firm demand for universal legal standards. That position makes him an awkward target for a leader who has spent much of his political career claiming that Israel is held to a different and unfair standard.
**Fontes**
This report is based on public remarks by Mahmood Mamdani and Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as the official record of the International Criminal Court, including the prosecutor's arrest warrant request and the Pre-Trial Chamber's decision on warrants issued in 2024. Additional reporting context has been drawn from established international news outlets covering the Gaza conflict and international legal proceedings.