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NYC Mayor Eric Adams heading next week to Israel, where he once said he hoped to retire

(New York Jewish Week) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams missed one appointment to eat Israeli food Thursday night. He’ll have another chance next week when he travels to Israel for the first time since taking office last year.

Adams was a no-show Thursday at the grand opening of Shawarma Shabazi, a new kosher restaurant serving Israeli street food on the Upper West Side that’s named for an iconic street in Tel Aviv. His senior Jewish liaison, Moshe Davis, was on hand instead for the ribbon-cutting that was held the same day that Adams’ office announced his three-day trip to Israel.

Sponsored by UJA-Federation of New York in partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, the trip will include visits to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. (UJA is a funder of 70 Faces Media, New York Jewish Week’s parent company.) Adams “will meet with local and national leaders, learn about Israeli technology, and discuss combined efforts to combat antisemitism,” a statement from the mayor’s office said. The visit will also “showcase innovative programs and initiatives supported by the New York Jewish community.”

The statement from Adams’ office did not include further details about who Adams will meet or what other cities he will visit, if any. But some Israeli media reports suggested that could meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been kept at arm’s length by other officials from the United States because of his government’s push to sap the power of Israel’s judiciary. Neither Adams’ office nor Netanyahu’s responded to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s questions.

Responding to the announcement of the trip, a Jewish progressive group in New York City urged Adams to use the opportunity to lobby against Netanyahu’s judiciary changes.

The New York Jewish Agenda “encourages the mayor to take time on this trip to meet with pro-democracy leaders, and hopes that he’ll represent the majority of New Yorkers who are deeply concerned about the anti-democratic actions of this government.” its executive director, Phylisa Wisdom, said in a statement.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams did not attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony at Shawarma Shabazi on the Upper West Side, which had been on his public schedule. (Jackie Hajdenberg)

“As the mayor spends time learning about Israeli technological advancements and work to end antisemitism around the globe, so too should he engage with the pro-democracy movement that so many New Yorkers support,” Wisdom added.

Another progressive group condemned the trip altogether. Jews for Racial and Economic Justice tweeted Thursday afternoon, “We can think of only 2 reasons @NYCMayor might find it appropriate to visit Israel right now: either he is unaware the current government represents the most extremist & racist coalition in the nation’s history … or he finds it acceptable to signal support for such leadership.”

While this will be Adams’ first trip to Israel as mayor, he has visited before, most recently as Brooklyn borough president in 2016, when he led a delegation of law enforcement officials focused on public safety partnerships between the United States and Israel.

Adams met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog when Herzog visited New York late last month and called him a “steadfast friend of our city.”

“I want to be clear that New York City and Israel share an unbreakable bond,” Adams said in a statement after the visit.

Adams frequently uses Israel as a reference point in praising New York City, telling Mishpacha Magazine in 2021 that “Brooklyn is the Tel Aviv of America.” He made the same analogy for the entire city during Herzog’s visit.

“I love the people of Israel, the food, the culture, the dance, everything about Israel,” he told Mishpacha. He even said he wanted to one day retire in Israel – possibly in the Golan Heights.


The post NYC Mayor Eric Adams heading next week to Israel, where he once said he hoped to retire appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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New ‘Report It’ App Allows Users to Expose Antisemitic Incidents in Real Time

Car in New South Wales, Australia graffitied with antisemitic message. The word “F**k” has been removed from this image. Photo: Screenshot

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) launched this week a new mobile app that allows users worldwide to quickly and securely report antisemitic incidents in real time.

Report It is available for download in the Apple Store and Google Play. Users can easily share details of antisemitic incidents through the app – such as date, location, and even photos or videos – and verified reports are then forwarded to local leaders, law enforcement, media outlets, and community organizations who can intervene and respond when necessary. Users of Report It also have the option to remain anonymous when reporting an incident and their personal details are never shared.

“Research and reports have consistently demonstrated that the overwhelming majority of antisemitic incidents are unreported, frequently because of a mistrust of authorities, a lack of awareness of reporting systems, bureaucratic hurdles, and excessive ‘red tape,’” CAM CEO Sacha Roytman said in a released statement. “With Report It, we are giving every individual a quick, safe, and effective way to shine a light on hate, hold perpetrators accountable, and drive meaningful change. Together, we can fight back against antisemitism and build safer, stronger communities.”

A survey commissioned by CAM last year revealed that 3.5 million Jewish Americans personally experienced antisemitism following the Hamas-led terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. CAM’s Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) has monitored more than 12,000 antisemitic incidents across the world in the last half decade, including acts of graffiti, vandalism, harassment, discrimination, incitement, threats, and violence.

Each submission on the Report It app “contributes to a clearer picture of the scale of antisemitism and strengthens advocacy for stronger protections and policies,” CAM said in a press release. “CAM calls on individuals everywhere to join the fight against antisemitism: See it. Report it. Stop it.”

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Europeans Likely to Initiate UN Sanctions Process on Iran on Thursday, Sources Say

France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer pose as they meet on the sidelines of the two-day NATO’s Heads of State and Government summit, in The Hague, Netherlands, June 24, 2025. Photo: Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS

Britain, France, and Germany are likely to begin the process of reimposing UN sanctions on Iran on Thursday but hope Tehran will provide commitments over its nuclear program within 30 days that will convince them to defer concrete action, four diplomats said.

The trio, known as the E3, met Iran on Tuesday to try to revive diplomacy over the nuclear program before they lose the ability in mid-October to restore sanctions on Tehran that were lifted under a 2015 nuclear accord with world powers.

Three European diplomats and a Western diplomat said Tuesday’s talks did not yield sufficiently tangible commitments from Iran, although they believed there was scope for further diplomacy in the coming weeks.

They said the E3 had decided to start triggering the so-called snapback of UN sanctions, possibly as early as Thursday, over accusations that Iran has violated the 2015 deal with world powers that aimed to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.

The West says the advancement of Iran‘s nuclear program goes beyond civilian needs, while Tehran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons.

The UN process takes 30 days before sanctions that would cover Iran‘s financial, banking, hydrocarbons, and defense sectors were restored.

“The real negotiations will start once the letter [to the UN Security Council] is submitted,” the Western diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A German foreign ministry spokesperson said triggering the snapback remained an option for the E3. The British and French foreign ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Tehran has warned of a “harsh response” if sanctions are reinstated.

NUCLEAR INSPECTORS

UN nuclear inspectors have returned to Iran for the first time since it suspended cooperation with them in the wake of Israel and the United States’ attacks on its nuclear sites in June, Iranian state media reported on Wednesday.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said on Tuesday they had been allowed into the country, although there was no agreement on what they would actually be allowed to do there or whether they would have access to nuclear facilities.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi also told lawmakers Tehran had not reached an agreement on how it would resume full work with the watchdog, parliament news agency ICANA reported.

The E3 have offered to delay the snapback for as much as six months to enable serious negotiations if Iran resumes full UN inspections – which would also seek to account for Iran‘s large stock of enriched uranium that has not been verified since the attacks – and engages in talks with the United States.

Iran has been enriching uranium to up to 60 percent fissile purity, a short step from the roughly 90 percent of weapons-grade, and had enough material enriched to that level, if refined further, for six nuclear weapons, before the strikes by Israel started on June 13, according the IAEA.

Actually producing a weapon would take more time, however, and the IAEA has said that while it cannot guarantee Tehran’s nuclear program is entirely peaceful, it has no credible indication of a coordinated weapons project in the Islamic Republic.

Iran and the United States had held several rounds of talks before June.

One diplomat said Iran had shown signs of readiness to resume negotiations with the US in Tuesday’s meeting with the E3. An Iranian source said it would only do so “if Washington guarantees there will be no [military] strikes during the talks.”

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Iran Link to Australian Synagogue Attack Uncovered Via Funding Trail, Spy Agency Says

A flag flutters above the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 26, 2025. Photo: Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expelled Iran’s ambassador, accusing Iran of orchestrating at least two antisemitic attacks on Australian soil. Photo: REUTERS/Peter Hobson

Australia’s intelligence agency traced the funding of hooded criminals who allegedly set fire to a Melbourne synagogue, linking the antisemitic attack to Iran, officials said, even as those charged with the crime were likely unaware Tehran was their puppet master.

A 20-year-old local man, Younes Ali Younes, appeared in Melbourne’s Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with the Dec. 6 arson attack on the Adass Israel synagogue and theft of a car. He did not enter a plea and did not seek bail. His lawyer declined to comment to Reuters.

A day earlier Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia’s intelligence agencies had shown the attack, and another in Sydney last year, were directed by the Iranian government, and expelled Tehran’s ambassador, becoming the latest Western government to accuse Iran of carrying out hostile covert activities on its soil.

Security services in Britain and Sweden warned last year that Tehran was using criminal proxies to carry out its violent attacks in those countries, with London saying it had disrupted 20 Iranlinked plots since 2022. A dozen other countries have condemned what they called a surge in assassination, kidnapping, and harassment plots by Iranian intelligence services.

Australia’s spy chief Mike Burgess said a series of “cut outs,” an intelligence term for intermediaries, were used to conceal Iran‘s involvement in the attacks, and warned that it may have orchestrated others.

Security forces “have done rather extraordinary work to trace the source of the funding of these criminal elements who’ve been used as tools of the Iranian regime,” Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday.

The investigation worked backwards through payments made onshore and offshore to “petty and sometimes not so petty criminals,” he said in parliament on Wednesday.

Albanese was briefed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organization on Monday on evidence of a “supply chain” that he said linked the attacks to offshore individuals and Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Australia’s diplomats in Iran were discreetly told to leave, making it out of Iranian airspace just after midnight, he said.

A public announcement, with Albanese flanked by his spy chief and foreign and home affairs ministers, came on Tuesday, prompting accolades from Israel.

Iran‘s Foreign Ministry said it “absolutely rejected” Australia’s accusation.

The turning point in the investigation came weeks earlier, as Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) seized mobile phones and digital devices from suspects arrested in Victoria state over the synagogue attack – and highlighted a stolen blue Volkswagen Golf sedan used in unrelated attacks.

CCTV footage of the night of Dec. 6 released by police shows three hooded figures unloading red jerry cans of fuel from the boot of the car, one of whom was wielding an axe, at the entrance of the synagogue and setting it alight before speeding away.

Victoria’s Joint Counter Terrorism Team alleged Younes, 20, stole the car to carry out the attack and recklessly endangered lives by setting fire to the A$20 million synagogue when people were inside, a charge sheet shows. No one was wounded in the attack.

A co-accused, Giovanni Laulu, 21, appeared in court last month on the same charges.

Police have referred to the sedan as a “communal crime car” linked to other attacks that were not politically motivated.

In a press conference on July 30 to announce seven search warrants had been executed and a man arrested over the synagogue attack, the Australian Federal Police’s then deputy commissioner Krissy Barrett said it was politically motivated and involved offshore criminals.

“We suspect these criminals worked with criminal associates in Victoria to carry out the arson attack,” she said, also confirming a major Australian crime figure deported to Iraq in 2023 was “one of our ongoing lines of inquiry.”

Police were working with the Five Eyes intelligence network that also includes Britain, the United States, Canada, and New Zealand, she said.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told ABC Radio on Wednesday that those involved locally would not have necessarily known “who had started it.”

“You have a series of intermediaries so that people performing different actions don’t in fact know who is directing them or don’t necessarily know who is directing them,” he said.

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