New York City (NYC) Mayor Eric Adams signed two executive orders on Wednesday blocking city funds from going to the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Outgoing Mayor Adams specifically banned city “business or pension investment decisions that discriminate against Israel, a move that could be viewed as a challenge to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who supports the BDS movement,” Fox News reported.
The second order calls for the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to dial up the protection of synagogues and people of faith from harassment, according to the report.
Adams said while speaking at a conference in New Orleans sponsored by the North American Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism that his administration “recognizes the benefit of maintaining a strong relationship between the city of New York and the state of Israel.”
Mamdani, a Muslim socialist, will ultimately be forced to decide whether to keep or revoke the orders when he takes office on January 1. His team did not respond to the outlet’s request for comment by time of publication.
Mamdani doubled down on his support of the BDS movement during an interview with MSNBC on November 4, according to the report. He claimed the movement would pressure Israel to comply with international law.
“And I’ve said, I support BDS because this is a movement that is looking for that kind of compliance. We haven’t seen it,” he said.
When “Morning Joe” co-host Willie Geist asked him, “Would BDS be the policy of your administration as mayor?” Mamdani said he would continue to support “non-violent movements to bring about compliance with international law.”
“And where this mayor [Eric Adams] has violated and looked to violate that kind of law, I would bring us back into compliance,” he continued, adding later in the interview that he will be mayor for all Jewish New Yorkers.
New York City invests nearly $300 billion in securities in the global marketplace, including $300 million in Israeli assets, according to the New York Post.
Adams’ issued the executive orders a week after protesters gathered outside a synagogue in the city and chanted “Death to the IDF” and “Globalize the intifada,” according to the report.
Mayor Adams said after Wednesday’s conference that “we must loudly defend the Jewish people.”
“We cannot stand by as antisemitism or any other form of hate spreads,” he said.
During a fireside chat at a Combat Antisemitism Movement event in Tel Aviv in November, Adams notably warned Jewish New Yorkers to be concerned about their safety after Mamdani’s mayoral election victory, saying that “everything is not fine.”