The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. declined to renew the lease of Easy Aerial, a New York City drone manufacturer that supplies Israel's military, notifying the company in January that it was out. The decision landed roughly six weeks after Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office, and critics wasted no time connecting the dots.

BNYDC's board members serve at the pleasure of the mayor. The board made its decision in December, just before Mamdani was sworn in on New Year's Day, Fox News reported. His office has not commented on whether he played any role.

A BNYDC spokesperson offered the kind of explanation that sounds engineered to say nothing:

"BNYDC notified Easy Aerial at the beginning of the year that it would not renew its lease agreement for business reasons related to operational and campus compliance matters. Like any landlord, we evaluate renewals based on adherence to lease terms and campus policies. There were no other factors in our decision."

No other factors. Just a coincidence that anti-Israel protesters had been demanding exactly this outcome, targeting both Easy Aerial and another tenant, Crye Precision, dating back to last year.

The Celebration Was Immediate

NYC Democratic Councilman Lincoln Restler took to X to cheer the decision, making clear he saw it as something more than a routine landlord compliance matter:

"Easy Aerial is leaving the Brooklyn Navy Yard. @BklynNavyYard leadership made the right decision last month to not renew their lease. This public asset should not be leasing space to companies producing drones that are being transformed into weapons of war."

So which is it? A dry business decision based on "campus compliance matters," or a righteous act ensuring public assets aren't used by companies Restler considers arms dealers? The BNYDC and its cheerleaders can't seem to agree on the story, which tells you everything about which version is true.

Restler's framing is worth pausing on. Easy Aerial is a New York City company, employing New Yorkers, paying New York taxes, and manufacturing technology in a facility designed to foster exactly that kind of enterprise. The Brooklyn Navy Yard exists to support businesses. Restler is celebrating the eviction of one because he disapproves of its customers.

Mamdani's Record Speaks for Itself

The mayor's history on Israel is not ambiguous. Mamdani founded his school's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter in college. He has supported the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israel. In a 2023 video that resurfaced last October, he called to "end New York state subsidy of settler crimes." He was widely criticized on the campaign trail for anti-Israel statements and positions.

None of this proves he personally picked up the phone and ordered Easy Aerial's lease terminated. But it strains belief to suggest that a board whose members serve at the mayor's pleasure made a politically charged decision, one that perfectly aligns with his publicly stated ideology and the demands of his activist base, without any awareness of his preferences.

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani's office for comment on his role. The silence was its own answer.

The Cost Nobody Wants to Discuss

One Israel Fund Executive Vice President Scott Feltman cut through the diplomatic fog:

"At a time when terrorists from Hamas are continually violating the ceasefire agreement and attempting to penetrate the buffer zone between Gaza and Israel, the mayor of New York has decided that a company which enables Israel to prevent such incursions is a threat to peace. It is ludicrous on every level and, in the end, New York loses out on another tax-paying company providing good, quality jobs for its residents."

Feltman's point about jobs deserves more attention than it will get. New York City has spent years hemorrhaging businesses to lower-tax, friendlier jurisdictions. Every company that leaves takes revenue, employment, and institutional knowledge with it. Easy Aerial didn't get poached by Texas or Florida. It got pushed out by its own city's governing apparatus, on grounds that have nothing to do with business and everything to do with ideology.

This is the BDS movement in action, not as campus protest but as municipal policy. The progression is worth watching:

• Activists identify companies with Israeli ties
• Protests target those companies at publicly controlled facilities
• A sympathetic mayor takes office
• A board he controls declines to renew leases
• A councilman celebrates the outcome publicly while the board insists it was routine

Every step is deniable. The pattern is not.

What Comes Next

Crye Precision, the second company protesters targeted at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, should be watching closely. If a drone manufacturer supplying an American ally can lose its lease under a vague compliance rationale, the precedent is set for anyone whose business relationships offend the right activists.

New York City didn't just lose a tenant. It told every defense and technology company in the five boroughs that their lease depends on whether protesters approve of their client list. That message will travel faster than any BNYDC press release can contain it.