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NYC Mayor Eric Adams, in interview, seeks ‘pipeline’ to mend Black-Jewish relations
(New York Jewish Week) — After attending a mayors’ gathering in Athens Wednesday to discuss solutions to antisemitism, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he wants to build “a pipeline” of young people from all walks of life to fight back against hate.
“When you see these interactions that are negative, it’s involving young people,” Adams told the New York Jewish Week in a brief phone interview from Greece. “We have to go and build up that pipeline. We have not done that, and that is where I think we made a mistake.”
Adam’s reply came in response to a question about the controversy surrounding Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, who was suspended after tweeting an endorsement of a film that features Holocaust denial and other antisemitic tropes. Adams appeared to agree that the incident threatened to further cool an already lukewarm relationship between Blacks and Jews.
“The error that I believe we’ve made is that we didn’t continue to build out the pipeline, because many of those who had strong relationships between communities, some have transitioned and may have passed on,” Adams said. “Some of us are still here.”
Adams continued, “We have to start them young, doing different sporting events together, doing different video games together, doing projects together, visiting mosques, synagogues and Baptist churches.”
Mayor Eric Adams calls New York City ‘the Tel Aviv of America’ while speaking in Athens, Greece. pic.twitter.com/hvUN8OGwf9
— Jacob Henry (@jhenrynews) November 30, 2022
In a virtual press conference that followed his one-on-one with the New York Jewish Week, Adams continued with this idea, saying that the communities that value relationships between the Black and Jewish communities “must now expand and recruit and bring in other young people.”
“We have an obligation to bring those young people together and start being creative in how we foster those relationships,” Adams said. “That is what I’ve heard my mayors across the entire entire participant group in this workshop and seminar.”
In the same press conference, Adams called on federal lawmakers to take on more of a role in looking at social media’s influence on hate, adding that he wants to “convene together leaders of the social media industry.”
He also said that “it is troubling to find that many people who commit these hate crimes are not going to jail” and that he wants to hold people committing hate crimes more accountable for their actions.
The two-day summit, which began Wednesday, is a gathering of more than 50 mayors and municipal leaders from across the globe. It was created in partnership with the Combat Antisemitism Movement, a global coalition of 65 Jewish and interfaith organizations; the Center for Jewish Impact, an Israeli relationship-building organization, and the Jewish Federations of North America.
On Thursday, Adams was scheduled to visit the Beth Shalom Synagogue in Athens, lay a wreath at a Holocaust memorial and meet with the city’s Chief Rabbi, Gabriel Negrin.
During the first day of the conference, Adams was presented with the organizers’ Civic Leadership Award for “his dedicated commitment to fighting antisemitism and religious bigotry of all forms,” according to a press release.
His biggest success in that regard was also the most recent: On Nov. 10, following a tip from the Jewish-run Community Security Initiative, transit police arrested two men at Penn Station who were threatening to shoot up a synagogue. A representative of Flatbush Shomrim, a Jewish neighborhood watch group in Brooklyn, said at the time that the Jewish community of New York has “an unprecedented relationship” with the mayor.
Adams reflected on that relationship, telling the New York Jewish Week that he’s “not trying to tell them everything is alright when they don’t feel alright.”
“I notice the antisemitic acts that are happening,” Adams told the New York Jewish Week. “I’m clear that we must stop them. This is not something that started as mayor. This is how I’ve been as a state senator, as a borough president and now I’m continuing that as mayor.”
After Greece, the mayor will head to Qatar for the World Cup, which his team has described as a research trip ahead of 2026, when the global soccer tournament will include games at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
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Herzog Says Wellbeing of Israelis His Only Concern in Deal With Netanyahu’s ‘Extraordinary’ Pardon Request
Israeli President Isaac Herzog speaks during a press conference with Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics in Riga, Latvia, Aug. 5, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
i24 News – In an interview with Politico published on Saturday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog remained tight-lipped on whether he intended to grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “extraordinary” pardon request, saying that his decision will be motivated by what’s best for Israel.
“There is a process which goes through the Justice Ministry and my legal adviser and so on. This is certainly an extraordinary request and above all when dealing with it I will consider what is the best interest of the Israeli people,” Herzog said. “The well-being of the Israeli people is my first, second and third priority.”
Asked specifically about President Donald Trump’s request, Herzog said “I respect President Trump’s friendship and his opinion,” adding, “Israel, naturally, is a sovereign country.”
Herzog addressed a wide range of topics in the interview, including the US-Israel ties and the shifts in public opinion on Israel.
“One has to remember that the fountains of America, of American life, are based on biblical values, just like ours. And therefore, I believe that the underlying fountain that we all drink from is the same,” he said. “However, I am following very closely the trends that I see in the American public eye and the attitude, especially of young people, on Israel.”
“It comes from TikTok,” he said of the torrent of hostility toward Israel that has engulf swathes of U.S. opinion since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, “from a very shallow discourse of the current situation, pictures or viewpoints, and doesn’t judge from the big picture, which is, is Israel a strategic ally? Yes. Is Israel contributing to American national interests, security interests? Absolutely yes. Is Israel a beacon of democracy in the Middle East? Absolutely yes.”
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Syria’s Sharaa Charges Israel ‘Exports Its Crises to Other Countries’
FILE PHOTO: Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Saturday escalated his messaging against Israel at the Doha forum.
“Israel is working to export its own crises to other countries and escape accountability for the massacres it committed in the Gaza Strip, justifying everything with security concerns,” he said.
“Meanwhile, Syria, since its liberation, has sent positive messages aimed at establishing the foundations of regional stability.
“Israel has responded to Syria with extreme violence, launching over 1,000 airstrikes and carrying out 400 incursions into its territory. The latest of these attacks was the massacre it perpetrated in the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside, which claimed dozens of lives.
“We are working with influential countries worldwide to pressure Israel to withdraw from the territories it occupied after December 8, 2014, and all countries support this demand.
“Syria insists on Israel’s adherence to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement. The demand for a demilitarized zone raises many questions. Who will protect this zone if there is no Syrian army presence?
“Any agreement must guarantee Syria’s interests, as it is Syria that is subjected to Israeli attacks. So, who should be demanding a buffer zone and withdrawal?”
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Turkey’s Fidan: Gaza Governance Must Precede Hamas Disarmament in Ceasefire Deal
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, May 27, 2025. Photo: Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via REUTERS
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Reuters on Saturday that not advancing the US-backed Gaza ceasefire plan to its next stage would be a “huge failure” for the world and Washington, noting that President Donald Trump had personally led the push.
In an interview on the sidelines of the Doha Forum, Fidan said a credible Palestinian civil administration and a vetted, trained police force needed to be in place to allow Hamas to disarm, and that the group was prepared to hand over control of the enclave.
“First of all, we need to see that the Palestinian committee of technical people are taking over the administration of Gaza, then we need to see that the police force is being formed to police Gaza – again, by the Palestinians, not Hamas.”
NATO member Turkey has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel’s assault on Gaza. It played a key role in brokering the ceasefire deal, signing the agreement as a guarantor. It has repeatedly expressed its willingness to join efforts to monitor the accord’s implementation, a move Israel strongly opposes.
Talks to advance the next phase of President Trump’s plan to end the two-year conflict in Gaza are continuing.
The plan envisages an interim technocratic Palestinian administration in the enclave, overseen by an international “board of peace” and supported by a multinational security force. Negotiations over the composition and mandate of that force have proven particularly difficult.
Fidan said the Gaza police force would be backed by the international stabilisation force. He added that Washington was pressing Israel over Turkey’s bid to join the force, to which it has voiced readiness to deploy troops if needed.
FIDAN SAYS KURDISH SDF IN SYRIA NOT WILLING TO INTEGRATE
Asked about a landmark deal in March in which the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and Damascus agreed that the SDF would be integrated into Syria’s state structures, Fidan said signals from the SDF showed it had “no intention” of honouring the accord, and was instead seeking to sidestep it.
Ankara, which considers the SDF a terrorist organisation, has threatened military action if it does not comply, setting a deadline of the end of the year.
“I think they (SDF) should understand that the command and control should come from one place,” Fidan added. “There can be no two armies in any given country. So there can only be one army, one command structure … But in local administration, they can reach a different settlement and different understandings.”
Almost a year after the fall of president Bashar al-Assad, Fidan said some issues of minority rights were unresolved, insisting that Turkey’s backing of the new Syrian government was not a “blank cheque” to oppress any groups.
He said Damascus was taking steps toward national unity, but that Israeli “destabilisation policies” were the chief obstacle.
Israel has frequently struck southwestern Syria this year, citing threats from militant groups and the need to protect the Druze community near the frontier. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he expected Syria to establish a demilitarised buffer zone from Damascus to the border.
TURKEY: U.S. COULD REMOVE SANCTIONS ‘VERY SOON’
Fidan also said Washington’s initial 28-point plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war was just a “starting point,” and that it was now evolving in a new format. He said mediation by US officials was “on the right path.”
“I just hope that nobody leaves the table and the Americans are not frustrated, because sometimes the mediators can be frustrated if they don’t see enough encouragement from both sides.”
Asked about efforts to lift US sanctions imposed in 2020 over Ankara’s purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems, he said both sides were working on it, adding: “I believe we’ll soon find a way to remove that obstacle.”