Benjamin Netanyahu is wanted by the ICC on charges of war crimes committed in Gaza [Getty]
Outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday passed an executive order banning New York City from making business or pension decisions that “discriminate against Israel”, the New York Post reported.
The move is seen as a swipe at Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, as well as his pro-Palestine views.
“This administration recognises the benefit of maintaining a strong relationship between the city of New York and the state of Israel,” Adams said of the executive order at an event in New Orleans sponsored by the North American Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism.
Executive Order 60 “prohibits mayoral agency heads, agency chief contracting officers, and any other mayoral appointees with discretion over contracting from engaging in procurement practices that discriminate against the State of Israel, Israeli citizens, or those associated with Israel”.
The outgoing mayor also passed Executive Order 61, which directs the police to evaluate proposals for barring protests outside houses of worship. The move follows protests outside a synagogue in Manhattan over the worship house’s hosting of an event promoting migration to Israel and settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.
Adams, who has been vocally pro-Israel, will hand over the office of mayor to Mamdani on 1 January. Adams’ tenure has seen a crackdown on pro-Palestine activism and a deepening of ties between the NYPD and Israel.
On his official visit to Israel last month, Adams sparked controversy by telling a crowd of Israelis in occupied East Jerusalem that “I served you as the mayor”.
Mamdani, who will be the city’s first Asian Muslim mayor, won the election in November after a campaign in which opponents focused heavily on his views on Palestine and social justice. Despite accusations, including from the president, of Mamdani being a “jihadist”, the mayor-elect has said he believes Israel has a “right to exist”, albeit as a democratic state with equal rights for all citizens.
Mamdani also said during his campaign that he would enforce the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – a threat the Israeli leader dismissed on Wednesday.
“Yes, I’ll come to New York,” Netanyahu told The New York Times’ Dealbook forum in an online interview.
“If he changes his mind and says that we have the right to exist, that’ll be a good opening for a conversation,” he added, answering on whether he would speak to the new mayor.
It is also unclear whether, as mayor, he will have the power to command the police to carry out Netanyahu’s arrest. Further complicating matters is the mayor-elect’s decision to retain police commissioner Jessica Tisch, with Tisch having overseen a crackdown on pro-Palestine activism in the city.
Tisch’s re-appointment was criticised by several groups who supported Mamdani, who highlighted that the police commissioner was of outgoing pro-Israel mayor Eric Adams‘ “closest appointees”.