New York City Mayor Eric Adams to meet Netanyahu during Israel visit

New York City Mayor Eric Adams will be meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after travelling to Israel on Monday for a three-day visit to emphasise his close connection with the Jewish community.

In a statement Monday, Adams’ office said he planned to “learn about Israeli technology and discuss combined efforts to combat antisemitism".

"Eric Adams has publicly stated that one of his main goals in travelling to apartheid Israel is to learn more about the regime's high-tech industry under the guise of improving public safety,” Sandra Tamari, the executive director at the Adalah Justice Project, told Middle East eye.

“But the reality is that Israel's tech industry is rooted in violence, producing technology that is infamously used to surveil, control, and kill Palestinians under Israeli military occupation.

"The mayor has no business bringing back these deadly technologies to New York City."

New York City has the largest Jewish population in the world outside of Israel.

His visit began on Monday with a meeting with Moshe Leon, Jerusalem’s mayor. Adams is also expected to meet with Netanyahu and opposition leader Yair Lapid during his time there.

There were no apparent or disclosed plans that he would be visiting the West Bank or meeting with Palestinian leaders. 

This is Adams’ first official trip to Israel since taking office last year. He has visited Israel two times in the past and once said that he wants to retire in the occupied Golan Heights.

“I am going to try to find a plot of land so it can be my retirement place,” Adams told Mishpacha magazine in 2021. 

“I love the people of Israel, the food, the culture, the dance, everything about Israel.”

.@NYCMayor on the ground in Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/VF4KsO7tun

— NYC Mayor's Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) August 21, 2023

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court revoked the appointment of Aryeh Deri, a leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, from serving in Netanyahu's government on the grounds that it was "extremely unreasonable".

On Saturday, Tel Aviv saw a massive turnout of Israelis protesting against the government's contentious plans to overhaul the judiciary.

Last month, the Israeli parliament voted to limit the so-called "reasonableness" law. The legislation would prevent the Supreme Court from striking down government decisions on the basis that they are "unreasonable".

Ever since the introduction of these reform proposals in January, weekly demonstrations have drawn tens of thousands of Israelis, making the largest protest movement in the nation's history.

Although multiple cities have witnessed these demonstrations, Tel Aviv, the country's commercial heart, remains the focal point. Every Saturday, crowds gather to voice their dissent against Netanyahu's administration.

‘Outrageous and shameful’

Beth Miller, the political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action, told Middle East Eye that the trip is “outrageous and shameful”.

"Instead of staying in New York to address the raging housing crisis and otherwise support the people he was elected to serve, Mayor Adams is flying to Israel to 'strengthen' ties with an extremist and racist government,” Miller said.

“Adams does not even pretend to care about the Palestinian families and communities that are under daily attack from Israeli soldiers and settlers, the Palestinian homes and schools being destroyed by the Israeli government, or the 41 Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces this year alone.”

The mayor is travelling with David Greenfield, who is the executive director of the Met Council, a prominent Jewish non-profit based in New York. The trip is sponsored and paid for by the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, The New York Times reported. 

Ahmad Abuznaid, the executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, told MEE that Adams has a lot to do in New York. 

"Mayor Eric Adams has a long list of duties and responsibilities as mayor. He's leaving those behind in order to deepen complicity with an apartheid state whose ministers have proudly labelled themselves fascists and made calls for wiping out entire Palestinian towns. With alliances like those, who needs enemies?"

Earlier in the month, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries visited Israel alongside fellow House Democrats. 

His meeting with Netanyahu drew criticism from those backing pro-democracy protests.

In 2015, then-New York City mayor Bill de Blasio visited Israel. He said he wanted to meet with Palestinians but then cancelled his plans, citing security issues.