New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been praised by Benjamin Netanyahu for being ‘a great friend to Israel.’

The Israeli prime minister made the comments to Adams during an official meeting yesterday as the mayor’s trip to Israel came to an end. 

During the three-day trip, Adams sought to perform a delicate balancing act between appealing to Israel's supporters at home and angering fellow Democrats for meeting a prime minister embroiled in controversy over a planned overhaul of the country's judiciary.

The Democratic mayor met with Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Tuesday, but sidestepped commenting publicly on his judicial overhaul plans.

Instead, Adams said his focus was strengthening ties with Israel and combatting antisemitism. 

He said: "The people of Israel will make the determination on how they want to move forward.

"I have lots of challenges in my city, and I wouldn't want someone to come in and interfere with how I'm running things."

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The Prime Minister and the Mayor tried various food products including cultured steak, cultured honey and vegetarian kebabs and hamburgers (Photo: Israeli Prime Ministers Office)

Meeting with the mayor, Netanyahu called Adams a "great friend to Israel." The Israeli Prime Minister's Office said they discussed collaboration between New York and Israel in technology and tourism.

Adams also met with leaders of the protest movement but his office did not specify with whom he met. It was also unclear whether Adams would visit the occupied West Bank.

Adams also toured Jerusalem's Old City heading first to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected, before visiting the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray.

Adams said that he visited the wall to show "respect for the rich culture, faith and belief that surrounds this amazing, amazing country."

But Brad Lander, New York City's comptroller and its highest elected Jewish official, said he hoped Adams would seek out voices beyond Netanyahu's.

He said: "With Israeli democracy in peril, the Mayor cannot only listen to the person doing the most to undermine it. 

“I hope he's also meeting with some of the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have been out every week protesting Netanyahu's judicial coup.”

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Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Israeli Prime Ministers Office)

New York City is home to the largest Jewish community in the world outside Israel, and visiting the country is seen as a rite of passage for the city's mayors. Every mayor of the city has visited Israel since it became an independent state in 1948.

Adams, 62, enjoys a close relationship with New York's ultra-Orthodox community - a voting base that helped him secure the mayoralty.