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Why this congressional candidate is making attacks on AIPAC central to his campaign
As criticism of Israel increasingly becomes a litmus test for progressive candidates seeking to define themselves against establishment Democrats, a New York congressional hopeful is making an attack on AIPAC central to his campaign. In doing so, he’s brushed aside his past support for the group and reversed earlier positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Michael Blake, a former state legislator who ran for mayor in the Democratic primary, accused Rep. Ritchie Torres, a three-term pro-Israel progressive from the Bronx, of putting Israel’s military interests ahead of addressing his district’s affordability crisis; he also accuses Torres of being influenced by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s support. “Ritchie Torres cares more about Bibi than he cares about the Bronx, more about AIPAC than he does about your academics,” Blake said in his campaign launch video last week.
Polling shows AIPAC’s influence is increasingly unpopular among some mainstream Democrats. Last year, the group’s United Democracy Project super PAC spent $28 million in high-stakes Democratic primaries. That included more than $14 million, which contributed to the defeat of Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a strident critic of Israel, in an adjacent New York district. Congressional candidates, including some Jewish Democrats, have promised not to take contributions from AIPAC.
In an interview last week, Blake said he was emboldened by the victory of Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, in the mayoral election and the support he received from voters in his district. A plurality of New York City voters said that Mamdani’s criticism of Israel resonated with them. Nearly half of Mamdani voters, 49%, said his position on the Gaza conflict was a factor in their support, according to a CNN exit poll. A recent poll by the progressive Data for Progress found that three of 10 voters in New York’s 15th congressional district, which Torres represents, dislike AIPAC. However, a majority, 53%, didn’t have an opinion.
Critics ridiculed Blake, a former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and a former Obama administration official, for targeting AIPAC despite his own past support for the pro-Israel lobby, which included speaking at its events and annual policy conference and joining a 2010 trip to Israel. Blake has scrubbed most of his AIPAC and Israel-related content from his social media.
Some called the launch video — which included clips of social media influencers attacking Torres for his AIPAC support and defense of Israel — antisemitic. Noa Tishby, an author and activist who served as Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism and delegitimization of Israel, noted that the video featured Guy Christensen, an influencer who justified the murder of two Israeli Embassy staffers at the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., earlier this year.
Mark Treyger, head of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of New York, said Blake’s campaign “further inflames an already inflammatory climate” in New York. “Hurling a bus-load of antisemitic tropes and platforming bigots who cheer antisemitic violence in a launch video is not the pro-humanity flex one thinks it is.”
Torres, who is endorsed by AIPAC, has since his election to Congress in 2020 been a vocal defender of Israel. He faced rising criticism from the party’s left and progressives for his support of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, though his stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is nuanced. Torres called for an end to the war in Gaza in July and said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership was causing “irreparable damage” to the U.S.-Israel relationship. He has a 63% favorability rating in the district and has more than $14 million in his campaign chest, according to a recent FEC filing. He was listed as one of “25 young(ish) new Democrats to watch in 2026 by New York magazine.
Blake is among several primary challengers to Torres in next year’s election. Benny Stanislawski, a Torres campaign spokesperson, said Bronx voters appreciate their congressman’s “laser-focused” work on issues like public housing and affordability and standing up to President Donald Trump, concerns where most Democrats are aligned.
Buoyed by Mamdani’s victory
Blake, who also ran for mayor in the primary, cross-endorsed Mamdani days before the ranked-choice contest, while Torres withheld an endorsement, citing concerns of voters, including Jewish voters in the Riverdale part of the district, about Mamdani’s past statements and stance on Israel.
“Despite the constant negative barrage of information against Mamdani, he won the district,” Blake said.
Commenting on Mamdani’s victory, AIPAC PAC said in a fundraising email that his win “has galvanized the anti-Israel forces in America” and that the Jewish community “is being politically tested unlike ever before.”
By making AIPAC central to his challenge against Torres, Blake is betting that criticism about the lobby’s influence now resonates with a diverse, younger electorate.
Blake argued that AIPAC and Netanyahu no longer represent where most people stand and accused the incumbent of neglecting his own constituents. Speaking with reporters at the annual SOMOS conference of New York politicians in Puerto Rico on Friday, Blake claimed that Torres “has spoken about the governmental decisions in Israel 300% more than he has talked about poverty in the Bronx.”
An AIPAC spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Inconsistent about Israel
Blake traveled to Israel twice, once in 2014 with the JCRC and in 2017 with the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation. Both visits, he said, were eye-opening experiences. He told Jewish Insider during his congressional bid in 2020 that he saw parallels between his experience as an African American in the Bronx and the plight of the Jewish people in Israel.
Blake attended more than a dozen AIPAC events in the past decade, according to his now-deleted social media posts.
Since the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, he has accused the Israeli military of spreading a “horrible and disrespectful lie” regarding the killing of aid workers in Gaza last April, and criticized a bipartisan House bill aimed at federally monitoring the rise in antisemitism on college campuses.
During his campaign for mayor, Blake also flip-flopped on whether Israel was committing genocide. In an interview with the Forward in May, Blake said that his genocide accusation in Oct. 2023 was the “wrong language to use.” He said his campaign had clarified that “the intent was never to state that the State of Israel was doing that.” In another phone interview after the Mamdani endorsement, Blake said he doesn’t agree with everything Mamdani has said on Israel. “I’ve always stated that Israel has a right to defend itself,” he said. In September, Blake reversed his position and posted on X, “Genocide is happening in Gaza.”
Last week, Blake insisted he never changed his position. “The question that gets asked to me, ‘Why did we state differently in the mayoral campaign?’” he said. “The only reason I said that is that people couldn’t hear you in these conversations. But we can’t ignore the pain.”
Assemblymember Simcha Eichenstein, an Orthodox Democrat from Brooklyn, said in a post on X that Blake presented himself to him during the mayoral campaign as “the most pro-Israel candidate.” Blake dismissed that characterization as “factually inaccurate.”
Blake said he supports an arms embargo on Israel, but would still support funding for the Iron Dome defense system. “I think we have to be attentive to the moment that we’re in right now,” he said. “That does not at all mean that you don’t believe in the security of Israel. But it just means we have to have a shift in some of the funding decisions.”
Asked if he’d seek the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America, Blake said he would, although the DSA had asked candidates seeking their support to pledge not to travel to Israel. In 2021, he called the local DSA chapter’s questionnaire about the issue “outrageous and antisemitic.”
“I am not determined on where I’m not going to travel,” Blake said. His spokesperson intervened and added, “There are plenty of DSA members who do not line up with the platform of DSA.”
Blake also demurred when asked whether, like the new mayor-elect, he supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. In 2016, Blake co-sponsored a resolution that rejects BDS. “There have to be actions that are being taken” against funding to Israel, he said. “And as people are considering what has to happen around funding, around BDS or anti-BDS, that is for them to make that own determination.”
The post Why this congressional candidate is making attacks on AIPAC central to his campaign appeared first on The Forward.
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Chair of Britain’s largest arts center to step down amid antisemitism scrutiny
(JTA) — The chair of the United Kingdom’s largest arts institution will step down this fall following months of controversy over allegations of antisemitism and his social media activity related to Israel.
Misan Harriman, 48, the chair of the publicly funded Southbank Centre in central London that hosts millions of visitors per year, publicly stated earlier this week that he would not seek another term.
In a since-deleted social media post, Harriman stated on Monday that his departure had long been planned. “It’s semi-public knowledge that my term is coming to an end anyway,” he said, according to The Guardian. “I had decided way before this madness that I was going to do two terms.” He added, “I came on just after Covid, two terms, then handing the baton to whoever the next chairman will be. We will find out in due course, and of course, I am going to support that.”
The Southbank Centre said that it had been informed earlier in the year of Harriman’s decision.
In May, more than 64 MPs and peers wrote to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy asking the government to open an investigation into Harriman’s behavior, expressing concern that his public comments “have not been treated with sufficient scrutiny, particularly given their implications for public trust and community confidence,” in a publicly funded institution.
Nandy later confirmed that the Charity Commission and Arts Council England were examining complaints, alongside an internal review by the Southbank Centre.
Harriman, a photographer and self-described social activist, came to prominence in 2020, photographing a Black Lives Matter protest in London. He has overseen the Southbank Centre since 2021, but it’s only in recent months that he has faced increasing scrutiny over his public and social media comments, including referring to Israel as an “occupying power” and accusing the country of genocide.
In April, when two Jewish men were stabbed in the heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Golders Green in London, Harriman posted on social media about an alleged third victim who was Muslim. He wrote, “Wait, so there was a 3rd victim on the SAME DAY who was Muslim?! And our press isn’t reporting it? Even the Met Police didn’t mention the Muslim victim in its X post?! What is going on @metpolice_uk ?”
The Muslim victim did in fact receive coverage, and the focus on the Jewish victims stemmed from the alleged attacker’s anti-Jewish animus.
Then, following Reform UK’s gains in the May 7 local elections, Harriman shared a post that critics said compared the party’s success to the events that led to the Holocaust.
The post prompted Reform MP Robert Jenrick to respond on X, “Comparing the millions who voted Reform on Thursday to the Nazis is disgusting.”
Harriman received support from many prominent activists and artists who signed a petition in May organized by The Good Law Project. The petition accused right-wing media of running a smear campaign against Harriman.
Those who signed included activist Greta Thunberg, actors Aimee Lou Wood, Mark Ruffalo, and Susan Sarandon, director Yorgos Lanthimos and journalist Mehdi Hassan.
Following Harriman’s announcement, the Campaign Against Antisemitism praised the decision, posting on X, “Mr Harriman’s decision to step down – supposedly always his intention – is welcome. This saga has exposed a rot in the arts world. We hope that his successor will be more worthy of the post.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Chair of Britain’s largest arts center to step down amid antisemitism scrutiny appeared first on The Forward.
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Mamdani touts ‘Babies not Bombs’ messaging after flexing political muscle in the New York primaries
(New York Jewish Week) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani celebrated the victories of the progressive candidates he endorsed in New York’s Democratic primaries describing their success as a “shift in the balance of power.”
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, the morning after the primaries, Mamdani touted the triumphs as a shift in the balance of power between “working people” and “special interests.”
Mamdani-endorsed candidates Brad Lander, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez won Democratic nominations for Congress. During the press conference, the mayor repeatedly highlighted their calls to restrict U.S. military aid to Israel and redirect federal funding to domestic priorities.
Following Mamdani’s election night sweep in New York, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that “America the Beautiful will NEVER be a Communist Country!!!”
The victories offered an early demonstration of Mamdani’s political influence beyond City Hall, as several Democratic Socialist candidates he backed, including Chevalier, defeated established Democratic incumbents in their districts.
“The working person is struggling in our city to afford basic needs,” Mamdani said, adding that Avila Chevalier’s oft-repeated slogan of investing in “Babies not Bombs,” is “the kind of conscience, the kind of clarity, the kind of conviction that has been missing in our politics for far too long.”
Mamdani responded to the president’s post on Wednesday, telling a reporter who asked whether his goal is to make America a “socialist” country that his “goal is to make America a place that every American can afford.”
When asked about federal policies that could be affected by Mamdani’s endorsed candidates, the mayor cited Valdez’s support for “foreign policy that understands human rights for all” and Lander’s commitment to co-sponsoring the Block the Bombs Act, which prohibits the sale of certain U.S.-made offensive weapons to Israel.
Mamdani also dismissed a question about whether he was concerned about how the victories would play out in November as Democrats try to win back the House.
“Every time the fight for working people takes a step forward, you will hear Republicans say that this is actually going to jeopardize the existence of that very fight,” he said.
When asked whether the election of Chevalier, who has faced scrutiny for past social media posts attacking Democrats and her appearance at an Oct. 8, 2023, pro-Palestinian rally in Times Square, could “complicate campaigns for Democrats as a whole,” Mamdani replied “No.”
“[Chevalier] often speaks about a politics of life. She speaks about ‘Babies not bombs,’” Mamdani continued. “What could be a better example of what the people of the district want to see versus what the people of the district have been forced to experience, which is tens of billions of dollars being spent at a national level to bomb children overseas, while children in our own districts are struggling.”
The post Mamdani touts ‘Babies not Bombs’ messaging after flexing political muscle in the New York primaries appeared first on The Forward.
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Jewish anti-Zionist David Orkin defeats incumbent in NY Assembly primary
(New York Jewish Week) — David Orkin, a Jewish anti-Zionist attorney and democratic socialist, defeated incumbent New York State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. Orkin won State Assembly District 38, which includes parts of Queens.
Orkin, an immigrant workers’ rights attorney and union organizer, received 58.8% of the vote, while Rajkumar, who has represented the district since 2021 and is the first South Asian woman ever elected to office in the state, received 40.9%. The district covers a swath of Queens, including parts of Ridgewood, Glendale, Ozone Park, Woodhaven and Richmond Hill.
“Pro-Palestine candidates are sweeping in NYC tonight,” Jewish Voice for Peace Action wrote in a post on Instagram celebrating Orkin’s win Tuesday. “Palestine was on the ballot — and won. David will be a champion for Palestinian freedom in Albany.”
The post from JVP Action echoed a message Orkin had highlighted throughout his campaign.
“It’s so incredibly meaningful to me to be running this race as an anti-Zionist Jew, to be one of the few anti-Zionist Jewish voices that is in an elected seat in the state government,” Orkin said in an Instagram reel posted by Jewish Voice for Peace Action earlier this month.
He added that, if elected, he would be able to go in front of the state legislature and assert that “criticizing Israel for genocide, demanding an end to the occupation, demanding an end to funding war abroad is not antisemitic.”
Orkin’s victory came amid a strong night for democratic socialist candidates across New York City, including left-wing congressional candidates Brad Lander, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, who also defeated establishment-backed opponents in their primaries.
While Orkin was not endorsed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whose winning endorsements of Lander, Chevalier and Valdez signaled a pro-Palestinian lurch for the party in the city with the world’s largest Jewish population outside of Israel. Nonetheless, his victory elevated a self-described anti-Zionist to the ranks of New York’s elected officials at a time when debates over Israel have become increasingly prominent within Democratic politics.
While Israel-related issues were not listed on Orkin’s platform, which centered on affordability and immigration, he repeatedly expressed his support for a “free Palestine” and attacked Rajkumar’s record of support for the Jewish state during his campaign.
“In the past several years my opponent AM Rajkumar has walked in the Israel day parade but has said NOTHING against the war in Gaza, occupation of Palestine, or Islamophobic attacks faced by the people of New York,” Orkin wrote in a May post on X.
Rajkumar, who was a close political ally of former New York City Mayor Eric Adams, in her campaign platform vowed to combat antisemitism.
After establishing a Jewish Voice for Peace chapter in Tucson, Arizona, in 2014, Orkin remained involved in pro-Palestinian activism as a member of the anti-Zionist activist group.
“I’ve been involved in the Jewish Palestine Solidarity Movement for 12, 13 years,” Orkin told Democratic Left last month. “I’ve dedicated part [of my] life to making sure that Jewish people are creating religious spaces outside of Zionism, and to making more space for Palestinian organizing to have an impact.”
On the campaign trail, Orkin received a host of endorsements from prominent progressive groups and lawmakers, including Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, JVP Action and NYC Democratic Socialists for America.
Rajkumar was endorsed by ActJew, the new nonprofit focused on combatting antisemitism, as well as the Queens Jewish Alliance and Assemblymembers Sam Berger, Kalman Yeger and Chuck Lavine.
Orkin received over $290,000 in campaign contributions for the election cycle, including over $156,000 from the office of the state comptroller, while Rajkumar received over $270,000, including $9,000 from health care executive Daniel Lowy.
“I have dedicated my life fighting for immigrants and workers, I am proud to have earned their support in this election, and I look forward to spending the rest of my life winning the beautiful and joyous lives we deserve,” Orkin said in a statement, according to QNS.
The post Jewish anti-Zionist David Orkin defeats incumbent in NY Assembly primary appeared first on The Forward.
