Mayor Eric Adams met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday as a part of his taxpayer-funded multi-day journey to the Holy Land — as he took a veiled swipe at his successor Zohran Mamdani’s incoming tenure.
In what may very well be his remaining international journey as mayor, Adams stated he met with Netanyahu to reaffirm New York Metropolis’s ties with Jerusalem, with the Huge Apple housing the biggest Jewish inhabitants on the planet outdoors of Israel.
“Simply met with Prime Minister @netanyahu the place we mentioned the battle in opposition to antisemitism and the unbreakable bond between New York Metropolis and Israel,” Adams wrote on X.
“We stand robust, proud, and united in opposition to antisemitism and all different types of hate,” he stated.
Adams, who left for Israel on Friday, emphasised the reference to Israel was essential — a tie he feared may very well be undone beneath the incoming mayor Mamdani, who has been a vocal critic of Israel and vowed to arrest Netanyahu if the PM units foot within the Huge Apple.
The mayor additionally delivered a message to Jewish New Yorkers, saying he didn’t wish to “sugarcoat” the rise of antisemitism within the metropolis and world wide because the battle in Gaza started.
“I feel this can be a interval the place they [Jews in New York City] must be very acutely aware that there’s a stage of worldwide hostility in direction of the Jewish neighborhood,” Adams stated in an occasion on Sunday, referencing rising charges of antisemitism.
“If I used to be a Jewish New Yorker with youngsters, I might be involved proper now,” he stated, in keeping with the Ahead.
By the top of 2024, antisemitic incidents marked 54% of all hate crime stories within the Huge Apple, with 345 anti-Jewish incidents logged, in keeping with the NYPD.
“I’m not going to lie. I’m not going to faux as if every thing is okay,” Adams advised the Ahead in an interview Monday.
“Those that wish to interpret my candid view of what’s taking part in out now in our metropolis and throughout the globe, they will accomplish that.”
Adams went on to satisfy with the Israeli chief in Tel Aviv, with Netanyahu thanking Adams “for his nice assist for Israel and on being a real good friend of the Jewish folks,” in keeping with the prime minister’s workplace.
The friendship between the leaders of New York Metropolis and Israel stands in nice distinction with the connection between Mamdani and Netanyahu.
Mamdani has repeatedly stated he’s order the NYPD to arrest Netanyahu if the prime minister involves the town, complying with the warrant put out by the Worldwide Felony Courtroom over his alleged crimes in opposition to humanity, which the US doesn’t acknowledge.
The socialist mayor-elect has additionally rejected requires him to go to Israel, a decades-long custom by New York Metropolis mayors as a present of assist for the Jewish neighborhood.
Netanyahu has mocked Mamdani’s menace as “foolish,” and has repeatedly acknowledged that he’s not afraid to journey to New York Metropolis.
Together with the political visits, Adams tour of Israel included a cease on the Western wall and assembly with former Hamas hostages.
Throughout that assembly, Adams invited former captives Adams, Sagi Dekel-Chen and Yarden Bibas to go to the Huge Apple and watch the ball drop in Occasions Sq. through the metropolis’s massive New 12 months’s Eve celebration.
