NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — While attending the 2025 North American Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism in New Orleans on Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams announced an executive order than bars New York City from divesting from Israel, or from following business moves laid out by the BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement for Palestinian rights.
"Executive Order 60 makes it clear: BDS has no place in our city," Adams wrote on social media. "The movement is antisemitic in nature and discriminatory in practice. NYC contracts and pensions must serve the public good. Discrimination is illegal. Antisemitism is abhorrent."
The move directly challenges Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who has said he is pro-BDS practices, as discussed in a sit-down interview with 1010 WINS just before his election.
"I've said that I don't believe that we should be purchasing Israel bonds, and that we should continue the practice of the current comptroller, who allowed those bonds to lapse," Mamdani told 1010 WINS' Susan Richard in October.
The mayor-elect went on to say that the city has not only a fiduciary responsibility to the people of NYC, but also "as we've seen, a question of our values, of do we want to be supporting the actions of the Israeli state, and I don't think that that should take the form of purchasing bonds."
On Thursday, Adams insisted the move banning BDS practices from city government was not about Mamdani, noting that "we are connected."
"Who's benefitted from Israel development and technologies successes and advancements? Communities throughout New York City," he said. "So I'm making a smart decision, not an emotional decision."
The mayor did, however, criticize Mamdani's view on Israel, saying "we keep trying to separate the incoming mayor from the Democratic Socialists of America; watching him celebrate Oct. 7, leading the charge of divesting in Israel."
Adams signed a second order that he said allows the NYPD to review proposals that "limit protest activity that intimidates worshippers at houses of worship." Proposals limiting protest activity outside synagogues, mosques and churches were spotlighted in the public discourse after Nov. 19, when pro-Palestinian demonstrators clashed with Israel supporters outside the Park East Synagogue as Nefesh B’Nefesh—a group that helps Jewish immigration to Israel—met inside.
“He believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation,” a Mamdani spokesperson said of the protests, “and that these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.”
Mamdani has been criticized by some over his lack of unequivocal condemnation of the protest, during which attendees yelled phrases like "death to the IDF" and "globalize the intifada," though his statement said that he "discouraged the language" used during the demonstration.
The mayor-elect has said throughout his campaign that he is committed to combatting antisemitism, and once in office will take action like increasing police presence outside city synagogues during the Jewish High Holidays.
Neither Mamdani nor his transition team have yet to respond to the mayor's executive orders, though he will have the power to reverse the moves when he is inaugurated come Jan. 1.
1010 WINS has reached out to Mamdani for comment.