Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio met with Israel’s president, Shimon Peres, in his Manhattan hotel Monday. De Blasio, who takes office Jan. 1, sent out a photo of the meeting Tuesday via Twitter.
“Had the honor of meeting @PresidentPeres today and discussing the close ties between New York City and Israel,” de Blasio tweeted.
De Blasio’s spokeswoman, Lis Smith, later told The Jewish Week “Mayor-elect de Blasio met with President Peres and the Consul General [Ido Aharoni] yesterday afternoon for a private and informal meeting.”
Peres, 91, was in New York briefly to present a Medal of Distinction to Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. He was then to make an official visit to Mexico.
De Blasio has been a strong supporter of Israel as Council member and public advocate. He has visited the Jewish state twice as a public official with the Jewish Community Reations Council, most recently August, 2011.
His Tweet generated some vitriol from anti-Israel followers of his Twitter feed.
“Self-respecting #ArabAmericans & Muslims in NY should immediately condemn @BilldeBlasio for meeting w/racist war criminal @PresidentPeres,” tweeted @ikhras.
“GODDAMNIT BILL I TAKE MY VOTE BACK,” said @portrait1916.
“Shameless sycophancy,” @Octopod18 wrote.
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