Mayor Eric Adams warmly embraced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations on Friday — while Zohran Mamdani slammed the Israeli leader, whom he has vowed to arrest if elected to City Hall.
Adams met briefly with Netanyahu following the PM’s defiant address at the UN General Assembly that was boycotted by some delegates, with the mayor’s office sharing photos showing Hizzoner shaking Bibi’s hand and posing with him and his wife Sara.
In a statement, Adams said he was “particularly proud” of meeting Netanyahu, “to thank him for defending the western world and our way of life.”
“While we may not always agree with these leaders, New York City has always been a place where all are welcome, regardless of their beliefs,” Adams said.
“Allowing everyone to speak freely is who we are as a city and as a nation — and while many may try to reject that notion today, I will continue to embrace it.”
Adams — who even made a late-night change to his public schedule to attend UNGA’s morning session where Netanyahu spoke — was the first sitting Big Apple mayor to meet one-on-one with the longtime Israel leader since former Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2012.
The kind words and defense of Netanyahu stood in stark contrast to Adams’ presumptive successor, the front-runner Democratic mayoral candidate Mamdani — who once again criticized the prime minister and threw shade at pols who support him.
“This morning, Benjamin Netanyahu will address the United Nations — an institution which has concluded his government is committing a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” Mamdani said in a social media post.
“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.”
The socialist Queens state assemblyman has been a vocal critic of Netanyahu and has vowed that, if elected, he’d order the NYPD to arrest the Israeli PM should he come to New York City.
He’s repeatedly cited the International Criminal Court’s warrant issued last year for Netanyahu’s arrest over alleged “crimes against humanity and war crimes” in the ongoing Gaza Strip conflict. The US does not recognize the ICC’s decision.
In an unrelated press conference on Friday afternoon, Mamdani claimed Adams’ expression of gratitude to Mamdani was offensive to New Yorkers across the five boroughs.
“To have a mayor who went to the United Nations to watch his address and then thank Benjamin Netanyahu for defending the Western world in our way of life. Those are the words that Eric Adams shared. I can’t even begin to explain the offense that that brings to New Yorkers across the five boroughs,” he told reporters.
“How can we describe the killing of a child once an hour every hour for close to two years as a defense of our way of life?”
Netanyahu was one of the many world leaders to speak this week at the 80th UN General Assembly.
— Additional reporting by Hannah Fierick
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