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Anti-BDS order will test Mamdani on day one
Outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams is immediately testing his successor’s position on the boycott Israel movement as Zohran Mamdani takes office, at a moment when the city’s Jewish community remains divided over the next mayor’s priorities and his stance on Israel.
On Wednesday, Adams signed an executive order barring city agencies from participating in Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions efforts, which would pre-empt any moves by city officials to divest from Israel Bonds and other Israeli investments. Mamdani, a strident critic of Israel, has pledged to end the city’s decades-long practice of investing millions in Israeli government debt securities and has said he would order the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York.
Mamdani’s transition team had no immediate comment.
But Adams was prepared for a response. “If the incoming administration wants to reverse” the executive order, then “that is on their watch,” he said.
Why ban BDS now?
Adams announced the measure in remarks at the North American Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism, organized by the Combat Antisemitism Movement, in New Orleans, Louisiana. “You are being targeted,” Adams said. “And we have to be as intelligent and as focused, as strategic as possible. … That’s why I am signing an executive order today to deal with BDS, so we can stop the madness that we should not invest in Israel.”
Fabien Levy, the deputy mayor for communications, said the move, weeks before Adams departs, was “a flag in the ground” to state that the current administration “will not waver in the fight against antisemitism.”
New York City is home to the largest concentration of Jews in the United States. Many Jews view the bonds as a bulwark against the BDS movement, whose co-founder has stated that the goal is to apply economic pressure on Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank and to abolish Israel as a Jewish state.
The city’s investment in Israeli bonds was a flashpoint in the Democratic primary for mayor and in the general election. Mamdani, who co-founded the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at Bowdoin College, pledged to publicly back the movement to boycott Israel. In an interview with the Forward in April, Mamdani said he would end Adams’ policies that he regarded as a violation of international law and human rights.
The city’s Jewish voters split in the competitive mayoral election last month — with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo receiving the support of most voters who identify as Jewish and dominating in Hasidic and Orthodox strongholds, while Mamdani got 31% of the vote and swept progressive Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Manhattan on his way to a citywide win. A recent poll of 745 American Jews by the Jewish People Policy Institute found that 64% of respondents view Mamdani as both anti-Israel and antisemitic, and 67% believe his election would make New York City’s Jews less safe.
Nonetheless, Mamdani’s positions on BDS and stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resonated with a plurality of voters. Nearly half of Mamdani voters, 49%, said his position was a factor in their support, according to a CNN exit poll.
Levy, who is Jewish and accompanied Adams both on his four-day farewell trip to Israel and to Louisiana, said that the mayor is sending a message about what the city’s values are, “even if hating Israel has suddenly become ‘the cool thing’ by some.” In meetings and public remarks during his swing in Israel, Adams pointed out that Mamdani won with 50.4% of the vote, and that his policies were not popular. Mamdani met with Adams at Gracie Mansion earlier this week, a meeting that was kept private.
Mamdani will also have to decide whether to disband the recently-created mayor’s office to combat antisemitism, which has pursued a measure adopting the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which considers most forms of anti-Zionism as antisemitic. He’ll also need to decide whether to take action on Adams’ new New York City–Israel Economic Council, an initiative to strengthen economic ties with the Jewish state.
What the executive order says
Adams’ anti-BDS order bars agency heads, chief contracting officers and other mayoral appointees with contracting authority from adopting practices that discriminate against Israel or Israeli citizens. It also directs the city’s chief pension administrator and pension trustees appointed by the mayor not to support divestment from Israel Bonds or other assets.
Brad Lander, the outgoing city comptroller overseeing pension fund investments and a Mamdani ally, ended the city’s half-century practice of investing millions in Israeli government debt securities in 2023 when the holdings matured.
At the time, the city’s pension funds held $39 million in Israel Bonds, with a roughly 5% return. Lander, who is Jewish, maintained that he was following the city’s policy of avoiding foreign sovereign debt, treating Israel the same as other countries rather than giving it special treatment in the pension portfolio.
City pension funds also held more than $315 million in Israel-based assets, including nearly $300 million in common stock and over $1 million in Israeli real estate investment trusts.
Mark Levine, the comptroller-elect who is also Jewish, pledged to repurchase the bonds as part of the city’s portfolio. “This has been a rock-solid investment for decades,” he said. “Israel has never missed a bond payment, and a good, balanced portfolio should have global diversity.”
The post Anti-BDS order will test Mamdani on day one appeared first on The Forward.
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Deal With US Within Reach ‘Only if Diplomacy Is Given Priority,’ Iran’s Foreign Minister Says
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi speaks during a press conference following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramil Sitdikov/Pool
Iran‘s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Tuesday that a deal with the US was “within reach, but only if diplomacy is given priority,” days ahead of an expected fresh round of talks between the two sides in Geneva.
The talks are set to take place on Thursday in Geneva, a senior US official said on Monday, with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner slated to meet with an Iranian delegation for the negotiations.
The two countries resumed negotiations earlier this month as the US builds up its military capability in the Middle East. Iran has threatened to strike US bases in the region if it is attacked.
“We have a historic opportunity to strike an unprecedented agreement that addresses mutual concerns and achieves mutual interests,” Araqchi said in a post on X.
The Iranian top diplomat said his country would resume the talks with “a determination to achieve a fair and equitable deal in the shortest possible time.”
Earlier, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said Iran was ready to take all necessary steps to reach a deal with the United States.
“We are ready to reach an agreement as soon as possible. We will do whatever it takes to make this happen. We will enter the negotiating room in Geneva with complete honesty and good faith,” Takht-Ravanchi said in comments carried by state media.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump’s “first option” was always diplomacy but that he was “willing to use lethal force” if necessary.
“The president is always the final decision maker around here,” she told reporters at the White House.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday that Tehran would seriously consider a combination of sending half of its most highly enriched uranium abroad, diluting the rest, and taking part in creating a regional enrichment consortium – an idea periodically raised during years of Iran-linked diplomacy.
Iran would do this in return for US recognition of Iran‘s right to “peaceful nuclear enrichment” under a deal that would also include lifting economic sanctions, the official said.
“If there is an attack or aggression against Iran, we will respond according to our defense plans … A US attack on Iran is a real gamble,” Takht-Ravanchi added.
Indirect talks between the two sides last year brought no agreement, primarily due to friction over a US demand that Iran forgo uranium enrichment on its soil, which Washington views as a pathway to a nuclear bomb.
Iran has always denied seeking such weapons.
The US joined Israel in hitting Iranian nuclear sites last June, effectively curtailing Iran‘s uranium enrichment, with Trump saying its key nuclear sites were “obliterated.” But Iran is still believed to possess stockpiles enriched previously, which Washington wants it to relinquish.
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Australia Begins Inquiry Into Antisemitism After Bondi Shooting
An Australian flag sits amongst floral tributes honoring the victims of a shooting at Jewish holiday celebration on Sunday at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Australia on Tuesday opened a government-backed inquiry into antisemitism, after a mass shooting at a Jewish event at Bondi Beach killed 15 people in December 2025.
The attack at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration shocked a country with strict gun laws and fueled calls for tougher controls and stronger action against antisemitism.
The Royal Commission, the most powerful type of government inquiry in Australia which can compel people to give evidence, will be led by retired judge Virginia Bell.
It will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia, and is expected to report its findings by December this year.
In her opening statement at a court in Sydney on Tuesday, Bell said security arrangements for the event would form a major part of the commission.
“The commission needs to investigate the security arrangements for that event, and to report on whether our intelligence and law enforcement agencies performed to maximum effectiveness,” Bell said.
Police say the alleged gunmen, Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram, were inspired by Islamic State.
Sajid Akram was shot dead by police at the scene, while Naveed Akram, who was also shot but survived, is currently facing charges including 15 counts of murder and a terror offense.
INQUIRY SCOPE LIMITED
Due to the ongoing legal proceedings, no potential witnesses in Akram’s trial will be called to give evidence to the commission, Bell said.
Bell said she plans to meet with victims’ families in private to explain some of the limitations of her inquiry.
Richard Lancaster, the top lawyer assisting Bell with the inquiry, said his team had sent dozens of requests to government and other agencies to produce documentary evidence, but the level of responses is “not presently where we would like it to be.”
There was no testimony heard or evidence given on Tuesday, and the commission is yet to determine when it will next sit.
Michele Goldman, CEO of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, said after the hearing that the inquiry would be an opportunity to showcase the community’s “horrific” experiences of antisemitism.
But some people directly impacted by the attack would find it “very hard” to be barred from sharing their accounts with the inquiry, she said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had initially resisted calls to set up a Royal Commission, saying the process would take years, which attracted criticism from Jewish groups and victims’ families.
The Bondi attack followed a spate of antisemitic incidents in the country, including the firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue.
The government has already responded by tightening gun laws and introducing new legislation against hate speech.
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Iran Issues Death Sentence Linked to January Protests, Source Says
A February 2023 protest in Washington, DC calling for an end to executions and human rights violations in Iran. Photo: Reuters/ Bryan Olin Dozier
A revolutionary court in Tehran has issued a death sentence for an Iranian man accused of “enmity against god,” which if confirmed would be the first such sentence linked to mass protests in January, a source close to the man’s family said.
The source told Reuters on Tuesday that Iran‘s judiciary had not yet announced the sentence against the man, Mohammad Abbasi, and that Iran‘s Supreme Court was yet to uphold it.
Abbasi was accused of killing a security officer, an allegation his family denied, the source said.
Rights groups say thousands of people were killed in a crackdown on the protests, the worst domestic unrest in Iran since the era of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
During the unrest, US President Donald Trump warned Tehran that he could order military action if it carried out executions.
The source said the defendant’s daughter, Fatemeh Abbasi, was handed a 25-year prison sentence over her role in protests.
“The defendants do not have access to the lawyer they wanted, and were given a public defender,” the source added.