Outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams issued a stark warning during a visit to Israel, telling attendees at an event in Tel Aviv that Jewish New Yorkers should be concerned for their safety once Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani takes office on January 1, as reported [1] by Breitbart.
Adams, who arrived in Israel on Friday for his final international trip as mayor, met with business and political leaders and visited locations tied to the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre.
The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) honored him Sunday for his public support of Israel and his efforts to confront rising antisemitism.
Asked about Jewish safety under the incoming administration, Adams responded directly. “We need to be honest about the moment and cannot sugarcoat it,” he said.
“The New York Jewish community must prepare themselves. This is a period where you need to be conscious about the level of global hostility towards the Jewish community. If I were a Jewish New Yorker, I would be concerned about my children.”
Pressed further, Adams repeated the warning. “Everything is not fine. If you say everything is fine, you are setting yourself up for failure.”
Mayor Adams, speaking about rising antisemitism, at first open-to-press event in Israel:
“If I was a Jewish New Yorker with children, I would be concerned right now..
“I’m not just the mayor that’s leaving office, I’m your brother, and we will continue to stand side by side.” pic.twitter.com/7wtrg0ory8 [2]
— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) November 16, 2025 [3]
Adams described a cultural shift in which antisemitism has become socially acceptable. He recounted an incident involving a teenager in Brownsville.
“It is now cool and hip to be antisemitic,” he said. The teen, he recalled, called him a Zionist and demanded Israel’s destruction despite not knowing where the country was located on a map.
“They hijacked our young people,” Adams said. “Their plan was well executed. Now we need a professional plan to fight back.”
He pointed to similar trends on college campuses, in public schools, and on social media.
Adams referenced protesters “walking around the country with signs saying ‘Queers for Palestine,’” calling it “queer when the only place you can walk around in the Middle East being queer is Israel. They’ve hijacked the conversation.”
Adams argued that the anti-Israel movement is fundamentally ideological, not territorial. “The ‘Free Palestine Movement’ was never about land,” he said. “It was, and is, about the destruction and eradication of Jewish people.”
He added, “If this were happening to the African-American community, you would not be silent. So why are others silent now?”
The outgoing mayor criticized what he described as a messaging failure by Israel’s supporters following the October 7 attacks, saying opponents had filled the public sphere with emotionally charged images from Gaza.
Adams said that figures he referred to as “the Zohrans of the world” helped shape that narrative.
Adams has previously called Mamdani’s victory “abnormal” and evidence that “people are comfortable with being antisemitic.” Mamdani faced scrutiny during the campaign for refusing to denounce the slogan “globalize the intifada” as antisemitic until after sustained criticism.
He has rejected Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish state, supported the BDS movement since 2014, and promised not to visit Israel as mayor. He also pledged to “exhaust every legal option” to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he enters New York City.
Concerns about Mamdani’s agenda have been raised by political figures across the spectrum. Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf warned that Mamdani’s election marked “the end of Jewish New York as we know it,” predicting that residents who can leave will do so.
In an interview with Breitbart News, Mosab Hassan Yousef — “the Son of Hamas” — described Mamdani as a “Trojan horse” for a “Red-Green Alliance.” CAIR’s Ohio director called Mamdani’s victory a “referendum” on Palestinian “resistance.”
The New York Post recently reported that Jewish New Yorkers are increasingly seeking firearms for self-defense following Mamdani’s win.
The Anti-Defamation League has documented a 227% national increase in antisemitic incidents from 2021 to 2023, with nearly 1,000 incidents recorded in New York City in 2024 — the highest of any U.S. city since tracking began.
At the Tel Aviv event, CAM CEO Sacha Roytman Dratwa credited Adams for actions during his tenure, including adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, establishing the city’s first office devoted to combating antisemitism, creating a Jewish advisory council, and launching the New York City–Israel Economic Council.
In Jerusalem, Adams met with President Isaac Herzog and said he wanted Israel to know that 49% of New Yorkers “did not buy into the rhetoric of hatred towards Israel,” citing election results.
Adams also met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who recently said that if Mamdani represents New York’s future, “I think New York has a very dim future.”
Adams told the Tel Aviv audience that Jewish New Yorkers “must prepare themselves,” adding that pretending “everything is fine” under the incoming administration is “setting yourself up for failure.”