By MIKE WAGENHEIM
Candidates’ positions on Israeli-Palestinian violence are scrutinized in campaign otherwise dominated by COVID, recovery and crime
(THE MEDIA LINE) The old adage is that all politics are local. Not so in New York City, where political happenings in the Middle East are playing an outsized role in this year’s mayoral election.
Last month’s outbreak of violence between Israel and Hamas laid bare a new paradigm in New York: toeing a pro-Israel line – once standard among the city’s mainstream Democrat politicians – is now subject to much greater scrutiny.
The city is home to the nation’s largest Jewish population, along with a significant Palestinian presence in Brooklyn and Staten Island. Its liberal politicians have historically held pro-Israel leanings, including New York Democratic stalwarts like US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and US House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries.
Even current Mayor Bill de Blasio, once billed as a progressive hope, criticized other Democrats for shunning the 2019 AIPAC conference at which he spoke.
De Blasio, whose second term as mayor will end on Dec. 31, 2021, is barred from running again by term limits.
Two of this year’s Democratic front-runners – one who conceded after Tuesday’s preliminary primary results came in and one who currently holds the pole position – heavily courted the city’s weighty Orthodox Jewish vote. Entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams secured almost all of the city’s Orthodox Jewish endorsements, with most of those factions supporting Israel, so the pro-Israel positions of Yang and Adams came as little surprise. Republican primary winner Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, is staunchly pro-Israel and made a well-publicized solidarity trip there during the Second Intifada. The Orthodox Jewish vote in the city turned heavily Republican during the Donald Trump era, but, for practical purposes, the community is endorsing Democrats, as a Republican stands little to no chance of winning a citywide election there.
As the latest round of conflict between Israel and Hamas flared up in May, Yang and Adams both issued statements in strong support of Israel. Yang tweeted, “I’m standing with the people of Israel who are coming under bombardment attacks, and condemn the Hamas terrorists,” while Adams said, “Israelis live under the constant threat of terrorism and war and New York City’s bond with Israel remains unbreakable.”