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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.
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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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UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire
Members of the Security Council cast a vote during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
It was not immediately clear when it could be put to a vote. The three countries circulated the draft text, said diplomats, and asked members to share their comments by Monday evening. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass.
The US is likely to oppose the draft resolution, seen by Reuters, which also condemns attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities. The text does not name the United States or Israel.
“The bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Sunday. “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
“We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear program,” Guterres said.
The world awaited Iran’s response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the US had “obliterated” Tehran’s key nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that while craters were visible at Iran’s enrichment site buried into a mountain at Fordow, “no one – including the IAEA – is in a position to assess the underground damage.”
Grossi said entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit at Iran’s sprawling Isfahan nuclear complex, while the fuel enrichment plant at Natanz has been struck again.
“Iran has informed the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites,” said Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran requested the U.N. Security Council meeting, calling on the 15-member body “to address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Israel‘s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement on Sunday that the U.S. and Israel “do not deserve any condemnation, but rather an expression of appreciation and gratitude for making the world a safer place.”
Danon told reporters before the council meeting that it was still early when it came to assessing the impact of the U.S. strikes. When asked if Israel was pursuing regime change in Iran, Danon said: “That’s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us.”
The post UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting
FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Israel has rejected a European Union report saying it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank as a “moral and methodological failure,” according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The note, sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, said the report by the bloc’s diplomatic service failed to consider Israel’s challenges and was based on inaccurate information.
“The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document … and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,” the note said, adding that it should be dismissed entirely.
The post Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’
FILE PHOTO: Pope Leo XIV holds a Jubilee audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of Sport, at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican June 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo
Pope Leo on Sunday said the international community must strive to avoid war that risks opening an “irreparable abyss,” and that diplomacy should take the place of conflict.
US forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites overnight, joining an Israeli assault in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself.
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” Pope Leo said during his weekly prayer with pilgrims.
“No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future. Let diplomacy silence the weapons, let nations chart their future with peace efforts, not with violence and bloody conflicts,” he added.
“In this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population, especially in Gaza and other territories, risks being forgotten, where the need for adequate humanitarian support is becoming increasingly urgent,” Pope Leo said.
The post Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.