De Blasio snub of pro-Israel group under attack — in Long Island congressional race

Former Mayor Invoice de Blasio has drawn the criticism of Lengthy Island congressional candidate Jon Kaiman for reducing ties with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Photograph by Jennifer Graylock/Sipa USA

Ex-Mayor Invoice de Blasio is beneath fireplace in a high-stakes congressional race for reducing ties with a pro-Israel lobbying group – and it’s not even the race he’s competing in.

Jon Kaiman, a centrist Democrat working in subsequent month’s main for a congressional seat representing Lengthy Island’s northern shore, accused de Blasio of not too long ago flip-flopping politically to attain factors with Democratic socialists and different far lefties by asserting he not helps American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

“Invoice De Blasio’s disparaging and disturbing assault on AIPAC to be able to curry favor with the anti-Democratic and excessive left exhibits that he, in actual fact, is a part of the issue,” Kaiman, who's Jewish, instructed The Put up.

De Blasio, who's working for Congress within the newly mapped, left-leaning tenth District, representing a part of Brooklyn and Decrease Manhattan, had been a longtime defender of AIPAC.

Nevertheless, throughout a marketing campaign discussion board two weeks in the past, de Blasio ripped AIPAC for “focusing on fellow progressives” with “unjustified” assaults to affect current elections — together with utilizing its political muscle to assist thwart the 2021 Ohio congressional marketing campaign of Bernie Sanders-backed candidate Nina Turner.

Kaiman stated that de Blasio’s assault on AIPAC exhibits that he's “a part of the issue.”

Photograph by John Paraskevas/Newsday RM through Getty Photos

De Blasio additionally instructed the discussion board he’s so incensed with AIPAC that he bluntly let the group know he has little interest in its endorsement.

When contacted by The Put up, the ex-mayor insisted he nonetheless has great “help” for the state of Israel, however has soured on AIPAC for endorsing candidates within the final yr or so “who don’t consider within the legitimacy of the 2020 election and the Biden presidency.”

“Kaiman’s determined want for relevancy apart, I've an incredible sense of private loyalty to the Jewish group, which is underscored by actual relationships with actual individuals and leaders,” he stated.