Just across town from an anti-Israel protest the night before, Democratic candidates for Congress gathered in an Upper West Side synagogue were grappling with the connection between antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
“I think there is a very real connection between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. They are not precisely the same thing but often when you see one you see the other,” said Micah Lasher, one of several candidates in New York’s 12th Congressional District to participate in a forum held Wednesday at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue.
“I don’t want antisemitism and anti-Zionism to be so linked. I don’t want people assuming that, because I am Jewish, that I hold a whole host of values and set principles that I don’t,” said Jack Schlossberg, the Kennedy scion who has been leading in the polls. “And that is exactly what is happening in our politics — I have witnessed it myself.”
George Conway, too, said the connection existed, whether or not it should. “I think anti-Zionism and antisemitism are inextricably linked here in the United States and elsewhere in the world today,” he said. He added, “I don’t think all criticism of Israel is antisemitic, far from that.”
And Nina Schwalbe, a Jewish candidate who has trailed in polls and also was the only candidate at the forum to say Israel has committed “genocide” in Gaza, said her own family had been affected by the issue. “The other day, my son was coming up to visit me and somebody yelled at him, ‘F–ing Zionist, go back to f–ing Israel,’” she said. “He’s a kid.”
The candidates were responding to a question posed by Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, Stephen Wise’s leader and a prominent Zionist activist who has led rabbinic opposition to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, an anti-Zionist, in the lead-up to his election.
They were also asked about how they would have voted on Bernie Sanders’ recent resolutions to block certain weapons sales to Israel, which drew support from significantly more Senate Democrats than similar ones in past years.
Schlossberg and Schwalbe said they would have voted in favor of the resolutions, while Conway and Lasher said no.
“I don’t believe it would have actually improved the lives of people on the ground, and it would have contributed to the status of Israel as a pariah state — and I will not do that in Congress,” Lasher said.
Lasher said that he would support universal application of the existing Leahy Law, which bars the U.S. from providing military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity. Conway, the anti-Trump former Republican, said he doesn’t support withholding aid from Israel, and criticized people — including Mamdani — for singling out Israel among “many, many, worse bad actors.”
In an interview after the event, Schwalbe said she would oppose providing funding for both offensive and defensive weapons in Israel.
Schlossberg reaffirmed that he would support funding for the Iron Dome, Israel’s missile defense system that an increasing number of progressives say the United States should not continue to fund
Much of the debate did not focus on Israel or other Jewish issues, instead covering the gamut of topics facing the 12th district, which spans both the Upper East and Upper West sides and is currently represented by Jerry Nadler, Congress’ senior-most Jewish Democrat who is retiring this year.
The conversation did get testy at times, as Lasher, the Jewish State Assembly member who has garnered a slew of politicians’ endorsements, traded barbs with Schlossberg over campaign funding and even made an accusation against him.
Schlossberg called out Lasher for benefiting from a super PAC formed by Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City. Lasher shot back at Schlossberg, whose campaign emphasizes his own lack of super PAC funding.
“Neither you or I are clean on this — not a day goes by that I don’t get an email from a super PAC fundraising on your behalf,” Lasher said, adding, “I can forward them to you if you’re pleading ignorance.”
Schlossberg responded by saying he would, in fact, like to see the emails, because “having a super PAC is a big deal and we don’t have one, unless your campaign set one up just for this.”
He added, “Which I wouldn’t put past you,” eliciting a chorus of shocked reactions from the packed sanctuary.
The two candidates had a few other back-and-forths throughout the night. While calling the war in Iran “reckless,” Lasher said, “Jack, I have to correct something you’ve said in other contexts: I have said that since day one.”
At another point, Lasher questioned the math behind Schlossberg’s plan to have Donald Trump pay for the security perimeter around Trump Tower in Manhattan.
“I’m just going to watch the boys fight,” joked Schwalbe, who also called out the media for focusing only on the men in the race.
The fiery exchanges during Wednesday’s forum were a stark contrast to the highly amicable one on Monday, which was held at another Upper West Side synagogue, and featured only Lasher and Assembly member Alex Bores. The latest polling data put Schlossberg in the lead, with Lasher 8 percentage points down in third place, and Bores in second.
Schlossberg reportedly turned down an invitation to Monday’s forum, while Bores missed Wednesday’s after initially accepting his invitation.
On stage, Schlossberg also proudly pointed out that he is the grandson of two former presidents: one a president of the United States, and the other, Alfred Schlossberg, who was president of Park East Synagogue in the 12th Congressional District.
The forum came the night after protesters, for the second time in six months, targeted Park East while it was hosting an Israeli immigration event that included information about immigrating to West Bank settlements.
In an interview, Schlossberg condemned “the protest and its violent or antisemic rhetoric,” while calling the “Great Israeli Real Estate Event” happening inside the synagogue “unfortunate.”
“I don’t think a land sale for real estate that is in violation of international law should be happening in a house of worship,” Schlossberg said.
Asked the same question, Lasher acknowledged that “part of what was going on in the synagogue involved marketing for a community in the West Bank, and I am deeply opposed to the expansion of settlements in the West Bank,” though he stopped short of saying the synagogue should not have held the event.
He emphasized, however, that he believes the protest was not specifically about West Bank settlement expansion, but rather about immigration to Israel altogether.
“I believe that the protest was, in the main, about framing Israel and the idea of making aliyah to Israel, as illegitimate,” Lasher said.
Schlossberg has led in almost all polls for the primary, which will be held on June 23, though the latest data was collected back in March. Lasher, despite endorsements from big-name politicians including Nadler and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, has trailed in third and fourth place.
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