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New York City Mayor Eric Adams, top brass of the New York Police Department, and other city officials have attended numerous events hosted by the Israel Heritage Foundation (IHF), a nonprofit organization linked to Israel’s far right. The events have raised concerns among some civil rights and pro-Palestine advocates surrounding a police department that has used extraordinary violence to curtail anti-genocide protests throughout New York City.
The increased scrutiny comes after Prism revealed comments by a speaker at an IHF event who advocated for killing more civilians in Gaza. Prism also previously uncovered IHF connections to a New York congressional representative who has pushed for pro-Israel policies in Congress.
“If any other type of organization had the types of relationships that the NYPD leadership has to the Israel Heritage Foundation, this would be viewed as an egregious, dangerous conflict of interest,” said Chenjerai Kumanyika, an assistant professor of journalism at New York University and the host of “Empire City,” a podcast chronicling the history of the NYPD. Kumanyika said the NYPD arrested him, his students, and his colleagues during anti-genocide protests on campus last year.
The NYPD did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
According to Prism’s analysis of publicly available photos, videos, and press releases, IHF leadership has also taken several trips to Israel, which have included shooting weapons on secure Israeli military training sites and hosting parties for Israeli soldiers.
The organization has also published an endorsement of the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, which would constitute the forcible transfer of a population and be considered a crime against humanity, according to multiple human rights organizations. Another article published by the IHF advocates for criminal charges, deportation, and punishment of pro-Palestine protesters on college campuses.
While New York City is known to have the largest Jewish community anywhere in the world outside of Israel, not all American Jewish organizations align politically with the IHF’s agenda. Jewish independent news outlet The Forward referred to the IHF as a “hardline Zionist group,” and while the IHF is highly supportive of President Donald Trump, hundreds of other Jewish groups are not. Almost 80% of Jewish voters voted Democrat in the November 2024 presidential election.
If any other type of organization had the types of relationships that the NYPD leadership has to the Israel Heritage Foundation, this would be viewed as an egregious, dangerous conflict of interest.
Chenjerai Kumanyika, New York University professor
Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ), a 6,000-member New York grassroots organization that has advocated for democracy and racial justice for more than 30 years, told Prism neither the NYPD nor Adams has ever asked to meet with them.
JFREJ said in a statement that it is no surprise that the NYPD, whose officers’ union endorsed Trump for president in 2020, is “choosing to align with the far-right abroad.”
“This reporting could shed additional light on the particular brutality the NYPD has inflicted over the past year and a half on activists protesting in solidarity with Palestinians,” the statement said.
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“NYPD leadership and the rank-and-file view rule of law not as something they also have to adhere to, but as a weapon they can wield against everyday people,” JFREJ, the Jewish racial justice group, told Prism.
Click here to read the full article in Prism