With less than two months remaining in office, Mayor Eric Adams of New York landed in Israel over the weekend to meet with business and political leaders and discuss rising global antisemitism.
Unspoken but implicit in his agenda was a desire to draw a clear contrast between his relationship with the Jewish community and that of Zohran Mamdani, a critic of Israel who will become New York’s first Muslim mayor when he is sworn in on Jan. 1.
At a reception in his honor hosted by the Combat Antisemitism Movement in Tel Aviv on Sunday, Mr. Adams took a question about the safety of Jews in New York under Mr. Mamdani. Rather than offer reassurance to Jewish New Yorkers who are on edge, he further stoked fears.
“If I were a Jewish New Yorker, I’d be concerned about my children,” Mr. Adams said. “There is something to be worried about.” He added: “The community needs to prepare itself. Everything is not fine.”
Mr. Adams made similar comments during the mayoral campaign, warning that New York, home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel, risked falling into “Islamic extremism” if Mr. Mamdani were elected.
Mr. Mamdani has pledged to be “a mayor for all New Yorkers” and has reached out to Jewish leaders and attended services at progressive synagogues. “We will build a City Hall that stands steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers and does not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism,” he said in his victory speech on Nov. 4.
On Sunday, Mr. Adams also met with three Israelis who had been held hostage in Gaza; visited a counterterrorism training academy and a facility that develops drone systems; and prayed at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, a holy site he visited in 2023, before the war, during his first trip to Israel as mayor.
Mr. Adams described this trip as a chance to discuss “new opportunities to partner with our friends in Israel” — last year, Israeli firms contributed $13 billion to New York’s economy and helped fuel over 50,000 jobs, according to the United States-Israel Business Alliance.
But the journey was also personal. Mr. Adams has cultivated warm ties both with New York City’s Jewish communities, particularly Orthodox Jews, and with the Israeli government.
Shortly after arriving in Tel Aviv Saturday, Mr. Adams strolled down Nachalat Binyamin, a pedestrian thoroughfare lined with shops and cafes, before sitting down for a meal with Asaf Zamir, a former Israeli consul in New York.
And at the reception Sunday, the mayor spoke emotionally about the period when he faced federal corruption charges, which the Trump administration eventually abandoned. “There were days that I didn’t want to get out of bed,” he said, calling that time “the most painful moment of my entire life.”
Mr. Adams, who abandoned plans to run for re-election in the face of low poll numbers, seems to be looking to spend his final weeks in office burnishing his place in history.
“He’s the mayor of New York City, has 45 days left, and really wants to cement the legacy of the issues he cares about: using cutting-edge technology, fighting antisemitism and supporting Israel in a nonpartisan way,” said David G. Greenfield, the chief executive of the prominent New York Jewish charity Met Council, who accompanied Mr. Adams on his previous Israel trip. Mr. Greenfield noted that Mr. Zamir, the former consul, has been a vocal critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The mayor’s office declined to say whether Mr. Adams would also try to meet with Mr. Netanyahu.
Mr. Mamdani has said he would honor the International Criminal Court’s warrant against Mr. Netanyahu and order the police to arrest him if he set foot in the city. (Legal experts have said that such an arrest would be difficult to execute and could violate federal law.) He has also condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide and questioned Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state rather than one with equal rights for all regardless of religion.
In contrast, Mr. Adams said last week that Mr. Netanyahu should come to New York and attend Mr. Mamdani’s inauguration. He told the newspaper Israel Hayom over the weekend that Mr. Netanyahu “needs to make clear to the entire community” of Jews in New York “that he will continue visiting the city as often as possible.”
Mr. Mamdani’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Mr. Adams’s latest remarks on Sunday.
At the same time, Mr. Adams, who visited Albania last month, said he was looking to relax a bit during his final days in office. “No. 1 thing I’m going to do is I’m going to have fun,” he said the day after Election Day.
On Sunday at the reception, Mr. Adams was asked about his plans after he leaves office. He suggested that he would start looking for a property to move to in Israel, prompting loud laughter from the audience.
Andy Newman writes about New Yorkers facing difficult situations, including homelessness, poverty and mental illness. He has been a journalist for more than three decades.
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