De Blasio No Longer Supports AIPAC, Whose Endorsement He Would Not Accept, If Offered

By Yehudit Garmaise

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is now running to represent NYC residents from Brooklyn and Manhattan in the state’s newly redrawn 10th district, which is the most heavily Jewish congressional district in the country, has said he no longer supports the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

In New York’s 10th district, 270,000 Jews reside, comprising 37.6% of the constituency’s open seat: for which up to 19 candidates are running.

AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group that educates, endorses, and supports bipartisan politicians about Israel’s defense needs, according to de Blasio, has “changed in a way that he finds unacceptable,” after AIPAC’s affiliated PAC and other pro-Israel political action committees contributed heavily to the opponent of the former mayor’s friend: progressive candidate Nina Turner, who was running for a seat in the US House of Representatives in Cleveland.

Turner had expressed solidarity with a Jewish group that accuses Israel of “apartheid,” or segregation on account on race, in its treatment of Palestinians.

“I thought the attack on [Turner] was horribly unjustified,” de Blasio said last Wednesday during a virtual candidate forum hosted by Our Revolution and the New York Progressive Network. 

De Blasio added that he believes in a two-state solution in the Middle East, which “needs to be put back on the agenda,” without seeming to understand that since 1948, Israel has been offering a “two-state solution,” which has been rejected countless times by Palestinian leaders.

“It’s the only path forward to peace in the region for both Israeli and Palestinian people to have their own states,” he said. “I would fight for that, and I would certainly fight against any organization that attacks my fellow progressives.”

In a discussion about AIPAC’s campaign spending, de Blasio was asked whether he supports the organization that ensures the Iron Dome is funded and Israel is safe from its many enemies that would like to see its destruction.

“No, I don’t,” de Blasio said. “I am not seeking their endorsement and would not accept it even if it were offered.

While trying to please everyone, the former mayor later told the Jewish Insider he has “a tremendous sense of personal loyalty to the State of Israel and to the Jewish community.”