The pinnacle of a drone-manufacturing firm whose purchasers embody the Israel Protection Forces stated his enterprise is being booted from the city-run Brooklyn Navy Yard due to NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “pro-Palestine” agenda.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard Growth Corp. — whose board members serve on the pleasure of the mayor and handle the 300-acre industrial park — introduced final week it was not renewing the corporate’s lease, citing “enterprise causes.”
Shahar Abuhazira, CEO of Simple Aerial, advised The Put up Thursday he has since realized by “non-public conversations” with Navy Yard board members that Mamdani – who was sworn in as mayor Jan. 1 — is behind the ouster that ends the corporate’s seven-year relationship with NYC.
“They advised me there undoubtedly was stress from the mayor’s workplace and really helpful not combating it,” he stated.
The corporate has lengthy been the goal of protests at the previous Navy shipyard since Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and initiated a struggle in Gaza, primarily from a bunch referred to as “Demilitarize Brooklyn Navy Yard” that has demanded the board evict tenants that help Israel.
Safety immediately over Simple Aerial on the Navy Yard “immediately” turned extra lax as soon as Mamdani turned mayor, claimed Abuhazira, citing a sequence of latest break-in makes an attempt he stated led to damaged home windows and different injury on the industrial park.
Throughout a Feb. 11 rally, the anti-Israel protestors gained entry into the foyer of the constructing Simple Aerial rents for six hours. At one level, they freely taunted the corporate’s co-founder Ivan Stamatovski as NYPD cops escorted him to elevators, video posted by the protesters on Instagram reveals.
Simple Aerial assists the Israel Protection Forces by supplying surveillance drones for reconnaissance missions and monitoring borders alongside the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, however most of its work is with the US Air Power and different federal businesses.
Its spies-in-the-sky have been used to monitor suspicious exercise alongside the Mexican border, and its high-profile work additionally contains Tremendous Bowl safety.
Abuhazira stated the 100-employee firm has acquired presents to relocate out of the Huge Apple since The Put up broke the information of its ouster however is attempting to stay in NYC as a result of its workers is usually Brooklyn-based. He additionally stated the corporate — which should depart the economic park by the tip of June — is contemplating authorized motion.
”5 months in the past, we doubled the scale of our house, they usually had no points with that,” he stated. “However because the new mayor acquired elected [in November], every little thing has modified.”
“That is one thing that’s going to trigger us plenty of injury,” he continued. “It isn’t simple to maneuver an organization on such brief discover.”
The Mayor’s Workplace didn’t return messages, however Navy Yard spokesperson Claire Holmes insisted the choice was made earlier than Mamdani took workplace.
“BNYDC declined to resume Simple Aerial’s lease in December 2025 after repeated compliance points courting again to 2023, which embody flying drones in unauthorized areas and improper utilization of utility sources,” she stated.
“BNYDC communicated with Simple Aerial about these points by cellphone, electronic mail, and in-person over the past three years. There have been no different elements in our resolution.”
She additionally stated the Navy Yard “related” Simple Aerial with the state’s financial improvement arm, Empire State Growth Corp., to assist it find one other New York house “in a bigger, much less dense setting with ample FAA-approved drone flight areas and quick access to utility sources.”
