NYC Mayor Adams lauds PM Netanyahu for defending Western 'way of life'

New York City Mayor Eric Adams personally thanked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he defended Western civilization during his address at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday. 

“I was particularly proud to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after his address to the United Nations, to thank him for defending the Western world and our way of life,” Adams said in an official statement. 

“Prime Minister Netanyahu laid out a clear case that those who call for the death of Jews across the globe are also calling for the death of Americans,” the NYC mayor stressed.

Adams who is strong supporter of Israel, dropped out on Sunday from the NYC mayoral election to be held in November. In contrast, frontrunner Zohran Mamdani is a far-leftist and self-declared anti-Zionist lawmaker who has accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza.

“I will always be clear in my language and based in facts: Israel is committing a genocide,” Mamdani wrote in a post on 𝕏 last year without elaborating. Mamdani who is especially popular among young Democrat voters, hopes to become New York City’s first Muslim mayor. 

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who currently holds the second place in the NYC mayoral election polls, is considered quite friendly towards Israel. However, due to growing anti-Israel sentiments among especially younger voters, Cuomo has in recent weeks criticized some of Israel’s actions in the war against the terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza. 

Mamdani has blasted both Adams and Cuomo for their strong ties with Israel and Netanyahu. He repeated his charges against the State of Israel. 

“A mayor cannot end these atrocities. But they can speak for the values of this city: a commitment to human rights for all people, including Palestinians, and a yearning for peace and justice,” Mamdani said in an official statement on Friday. 

Mamdani started accusing Israel of genocide just two weeks after the Oct. 7 massacre and before Israel had even launched its ground operation in Gaza. He has vowed to arrest Netanyahu if he visits New York while Mamdani is the city’s mayor. However, legal experts have argued that the mayor lacks the authority to arrest foreign dignitaries. 

Antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents have increased dramatically in New York and in the U.S. since the Hamas Oct. 7 attack on Israel in 2023. Polls indicate that Jewish New Yorkers are divided on Mamdani. Some 37% of Jewish New Yorkers backed Mamdani in a poll conducted in July. At the same time, over half of Jewish New Yorkers believed Mamdani was antisemitic and 58% feared the city would be less safe with him as mayor. 

In May, New York became the first major U.S. city to establish an office to combat antisemitism. Mayor Adams' office announced at the time that the new office will be "fighting antisemitism in all its forms, including by monitoring court cases and outcomes at all levels of the justice system, liaising with the New York City Law Department on appropriate cases to bring or join, advising on executive orders to issue and legislation to propose to address antisemitism, and working across agencies to ensure New Yorkers feel protected against antisemitism, and addressing incidents of antisemitism."