After it was reported that the New York City Economic Development Corporation website removed a page promoting the city’s business ties to Israel, an EDC spokesperson told JNS that it was taken down as part of regular updating.
“There seems to be some misinformation out there,” Jeff Holmes, senior vice president of public affairs for the New York City Economic Development Corporation, told JNS.
“The page was taken down in March as part of regular updating to the choose.nyc site, consolidating our international engagement to choose.nyc/international,” he said. “A similar page that was made for Japan was also taken down on the same day the Israel page was.”
Holmes told JNS that “individual country pages have been established on an as-needed basis to support delegations to those locations and are removed following trips or with regularly scheduled updates. The consolidated international site is geared toward attracting international companies/organizations versus individual information about the countries themselves.”
“EDC continues to work with companies both founded in Israel as well as businesses founded in New York City by Israelis,” he said.
A quick search of the new website turns up no mention of Israel or Japan. Currently, the site mentions South Korea in connection with a partnership involving the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. It also references Latin America, Europe and Asia as regions engaged with New York City’s business ecosystem.
The removed website page highlighted business ties between New York and Israel, including the preponderance of Israeli startups and unicorns in the city, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
Mamdani stated during his campaign that he would seek to sever business ties between New York City and Israel. He revoked an executive order banning divestment from Israel on his first day as mayor.
