Ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio is under fire in a high-stakes congressional race for cutting ties with a pro-Israel lobbying group – and it’s not even the race he’s competing in.
Jon Kaiman, a centrist Democrat running in next month’s primary for a congressional seat representing Long Island’s northern shore, accused de Blasio of recently flip-flopping politically to score points with Democratic socialists and other far lefties by announcing he no longer supports American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
“Bill De Blasio’s disparaging and disturbing attack on AIPAC in order to curry favor with the anti-Democratic and extreme left shows that he, in fact, is part of the problem,” Kaiman, who is Jewish, told The Post.
De Blasio, who is running for Congress in the newly mapped, left-leaning 10th District, representing part of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, had been a longtime defender of AIPAC.
However, during a campaign forum two weeks ago, de Blasio ripped AIPAC for “targeting fellow progressives” with “unjustified” attacks to influence recent elections — including using its political muscle to help thwart the 2021 Ohio congressional campaign of Bernie Sanders-backed candidate Nina Turner.
De Blasio also told the forum he’s so incensed with AIPAC that he bluntly let the group know he has no interest in its endorsement.
When contacted by The Post, the ex-mayor insisted he still has tremendous “support” for the state of Israel, but has soured on AIPAC for endorsing candidates in the last year or so “who don’t believe in the legitimacy of the 2020 election and the Biden presidency.”
“Kaiman’s desperate desire for relevancy aside, I have a tremendous sense of personal loyalty to the Jewish community, which is underscored by real relationships with real people and leaders,” he said.