Eric Adams has signed executive orders aimed at preventing divestment initiatives and restricting protests near religious sites, as Zohran Mamdani prepares to assume the mayoralty.
New York City’s outgoing mayor, Eric Adams, has enacted executive orders against initiatives promoting divestment from Israel and prohibiting demonstrations at places of worship. He is slated to be replaced by Zohran Mamdani, who will be the city’s first Muslim mayor.
Mamdani, scheduled to take office on January 1, is known for his pro-Palestinian stance. In a meeting last month with US President Donald Trump, he described Israel’s military operation against Hamas in the densely populated Palestinian territory as “genocide.”
On Tuesday, Adams issued an executive order forbidding mayoral appointees from “engaging in procurement practices that discriminate against the State of Israel, Israeli citizens, or those associated with Israel.”
The order states that “New York City not only maintains a strong bond with the State of Israel due to our commitment to protecting a Jewish homeland, but also because it has consistently proven to be a sound financial investment.”
It further specifies that the measure aims to combat “anti-Semitism wherever it rears its ugly head.”
A second executive order proposes the creation of designated zones surrounding houses of worship “where protest activity would be prohibited or regulated.”
Last month, Adams denounced a pro-Palestinian demonstration that took place near a New York City synagogue. Through a series of posts on X, he implied that the protest amounted to “desecration.”
Also in November, he visited Israel, where he met with survivors of the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas militants and was received by the country’s parliament.
Adams pledged to “always stand with [them] in the fight against anti-Semitism.”
In recent years, New York has experienced numerous pro-Palestinian protests concerning what many view as the Israeli military’s heavy-handed tactics.