‘I served you as mayor': Eric Adams’s taxpayer-funded Israel trip sparks backlash

New York City's outgoing mayor, Eric Adams, said during his taxpayer-funded visit to Israel that he “served” Israeli Jews as the mayor of the US city, which sparked backlash online this week and raised questions about “foreign interference in US politics”.

During a stop in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday, Adams told his audience, “I wanted to come back here to Israel and let you know that I served you as the mayor. I want to continue to have the title that’s more important to me than anything: I’m your brother.”

His office said he departed New York City on Saturday for a “multi-day trip” to meet Israeli government officials and visit religious and historic sites.

Many online criticised his words and said that such actions do not gain anything but increase the actual antisemitism that Jewish people face. 

Pretty sure that comments and behavior like this do more to inflame antisemitism and boost antisemites and antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jewish power than anything Mamdani has ever said or done.

An insane quote from the outgoing NYC mayor: https://t.co/K4bboWxcCN

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) November 17, 2025

The visit is also in sharp contrast to mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who was asked, along with other candidates earlier in the campaign season, what country he would visit first if elected. While every other candidate answered Israel, Mamdani said, “I would stay in New York City.”

For supporters, his answer underscored a commitment to remain at home and address the city’s crises rather than engage in symbolic foreign trips, a pointed counter-image to Adams boarding a flight to Israel in his final weeks in office.

Policing pro-Palestinians and donors

Adams’s tenure has been marked by an increasingly aggressive handling of pro-Palestinian protests, from the NYPD crackdown on Nakba-day demonstrators in Brooklyn to the police sweeps of student encampments at Columbia University. 

Rights groups say the pattern reflects a broader effort to criminalise pro-Palestinian organising, even as Adams repeatedly defends police conduct and labels student protesters as “co-opted by outside agitators”.

Adding another layer to the criticism, major pro-Israel business figures reportedly urged Adams to deploy the NYPD to crack down on campus protests. Leaked WhatsApp group conversations revealed that donors offered to back Adams politically and financially if he acted decisively.

Separately, earlier trips Adams made to Israel were organised in partnership with pro-Israel philanthropic organisations such as UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council.

'First stop Istanbul'

Adams was previously indicted by US federal prosecutors for receiving illegal campaign contributions and “valuable benefits” from Turkish nationals dating back to 2014 while he was Brooklyn Borough president and running for mayor. 

The 57-page indictment alleges that he accepted luxury travel, free hotel stays and other perks from wealthy Turkish businesspeople and a Turkish government official, in exchange for using his influence to expedite the opening of a Turkish consulate building in Manhattan, despite fire-safety concerns. 

Prosecutors said his campaign also engaged in straw donor schemes to hide foreign contributions to exploit New York City’s public matching funds programme. 

Adams denies wrongdoing, but the scandal significantly undermined his credibility and raised a fundamental question: whose interests does the mayor serve? This was a common question in many social media users’ minds, too, when Adams’ recent video about “serving Israel” came to light. 

Yep Eric Adams definitely served israel https://t.co/72JkZVfmsK pic.twitter.com/Mr1z8imroU

— Husam Kaid (@Husam_Khaled1) November 17, 2025

Many online shared screenshots of news articles about the crackdown of pro-Palestinian protesters in the city, mockingly suggesting that Adams did “serve Israel”. 

Domestic crises left behind

With record homelessness, a deepening housing crisis, and rising costs for basic city services, Adams’s decision to travel abroad during his final stretch in office has been criticised by constituents. 

His “I served you” remarks, delivered not to New Yorkers but to Israeli Jews in occupied East Jerusalem, have exacerbated these frustrations.

What other foreign country could a US mayor go to and declare that he served them without it being a scandal? https://t.co/4hOZQu6Wsv

— Zito (@_Zeets) November 17, 2025

Adams’s remarks in occupied East Jerusalem land within a broader pattern that many New Yorkers, especially Palestinian, Arab and Muslim communities, have long criticised: a mayor who aligns himself closely with Israel while treating pro-Palestinian voices at home with suspicion. 

Mamdani’s contrasting stance has amplified this divide. For many supporters, Mamdani’s “I’ll stay in NYC” moment crystallised a distinction between a leadership rooted in local accountability and one seeking symbolic alignment abroad, a distinction now thrown into clearer relief by Adams’s final trip to Israel as mayor of the "Big Apple".

Critics say the corruption scandal involving Turkish government-linked donors adds yet another layer. The federal indictment doesn’t just accuse Adams of accepting illicit benefits, it also raises concerns about whether foreign networks and wealthy political patrons may have shaped his decisions, from policing to international outreach.