On his first official visit since taking office, he also said ‘we’re going to go to important religious sites.’

(JNS) New York City Mayor Eric Adams posed in Jerusalem for photos with children, at one point putting his hand together with a young girl’s to make a heart symbol as both grinned.

Adams flew to the Jewish state on Monday with plans to sit down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai. Another official Adams already met not long after arriving was Jerusalem’s Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, who posted on X (formerly Twitter) that she was “looking forward to future collaborations with your great city.”

Adams said in a video posted on X before the trip began, as he prepared to board the plane, that “we’re also going to go to real important religious sites.”

In response to his trip, Israel Nitzan, Israel’s outgoing acting consul general in New York, replied on X, offering his appreciation to the mayor “for making this relationship a priority for your administration” and wishing him “Safe travels!”

Adams highlighted technology as a major theme of the trip. “Israel is known for having some of the best tech companies,” the mayor said in an interview after landing. He emphasized the broad range of potential municipal applications of Israeli innovations—“everything from building inspections to public safety to early detection of viruses.”

The Combat Antisemitism Movement organized one of Adams’s early stops—an interfaith and intercultural reception in Jerusalem accented by elegant, Mediterranean-style guitar music

Adams stated his plans to fly back home on Thursday. The trip was sponsored by the UJA Federation of New York.