Netanyahu welcomes NY Mayor Adams: ‘A great friend of Israel’

New York and Israel have the potential to do good together, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told New York Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday.

“You are a great friend of Israel,” Netanyahu said. “You live in a city that is the intellectual, cultural, financial hub of the world and we’re sort of another hub. If we combine the hubs together, we will do better for everyone.”

Adams later tweeted that he met with Netanyahu to "deepen [the] bonds" between his city and Israel, whicih "share an unbreakable bond." 

The Prime Minister’s Office brought Israeli food-tech companies to present their products to Adams, who is a vegan. Among the companies whose wares the mayor tasted were Aleph Farms, which cultivates meat from cells without harm to animals, and Bee-io, which makes bee-free honey.

Cohen: Israel and New York are connected

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen met with Adams earlier Tuesday. “Israel appreciates your actions and efforts to fight antisemitism very much,” Cohen told him. “We must continue acting in all ways to fight the phenomenon of antisemitism that is raising its head.”

Antisemitic attacks in New York surged in 2022 to the highest level since 1979, according to the Anti-Defamation League, with 416 antisemitic incidents, including 51 assaults, statewide.

Cohen also said Israel and New York are connected by the Jewish community in the city, as well as the many Israeli businesses active in New York. The foreign minister called to “act together to strengthen the economic connections between Israel and New York.”

When Cohen remarked that New York is the city with the largest Jewish population in the world, Adams said: “We like to believe New York is the Israel of America – between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.”

Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz was also in the meeting with Adams. Ganz’s office said they met at the Celebrate Israel Parade earlier this year. They discussed cooperation between the American city and the West Bank region on tourism and education.

“Adams showed great interest in what is being done in Binyamin and the growth of Jewish settlement in the region,” Ganz’s office stated. “The two agreed to hold their next meeting in a tour of the Binyamin region.”

Adams’s office did not respond to queries as to his position on making official visits to the West Bank.

The mayor also met with Adams met with opponents of the government's judicial reform, Prof. Karine Nahon of Reichman University, and Gigi Levy-Weiss, an Israeli tech investor. Adams tweeted that they “had an honest conversation… about numerous issues at play here. I appreciate the opportunity to hear their diverse perspective,” he wrote.

Shany Granot-Lubaton, who has led the Israeli expat protest movement that demonstrates against government officials visiting the US, responded: “Very important you met them. Thank you. The fight for democracy is a global fight.”

Adams told reporters in his delegation that he "wanted to be here not to interfere, but just to learn...The people of Israel will make the determination of how they want to move forward." 

The mayor visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, as well as the Western Wall and Yad Vashem.

He also visited Rabbi Shmuel Yaakov Kohn, the rebbe of the Toldos Avrohom hassidic sect, that is based in Jerusalem and New York, and toured the Macane Yehuda Market with Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion.