{"id":192391,"date":"2026-04-10T16:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/192391\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T16:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:39:09","slug":"nyc-progressives-face-questions-about-defensive-aid-to-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/192391\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC progressives face questions about defensive aid to Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A version of this piece first ran as part of the New York Jewish Week\u2019s daily newsletter, rounding up the latest on politics, culture, food and what\u2019s new with Jews in the city. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jta.org\/subscribe-to-the-ny-jewish-week\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up here to get it in your inbox<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"1\">Progressive candidates in the city are facing questions about their positions on U.S. funding for defensive aid to Israel \u2014 and some are changing their minds.<\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"1\">Michael Blake, who is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jta.org\/2026\/01\/30\/politics\/ritchie-torres-challengers-are-testing-how-israel-plays-in-the-bronx-and-taking-aim-at-zionists-in-a-jewish-neighborhood\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">challenging Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres from the left<\/a>, said at a debate hosted by One NYC Action on Tuesday that he opposed all military aid to Israel, including defensive funding.<\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"1\">\u201cWe need to absolutely stop the aid that is happening. We need to stop sending money,\u201d Blake said. That marked a change from views that Blake expressed at an event in January, when he said that he would continue to support funding for Israel\u2019s Iron Dome missile defense system and considered it separate from other military aid,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/jewishinsider.com\/2026\/04\/michael-blake-oppose-missile-defense-funding-israel-flip-flop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Jewish Insider<\/a>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"1\">Meanwhile, Brad Lander, the progressive challenger to Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman, declined to comment on whether he supported Iron Dome funding to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/jewishinsider.com\/2026\/04\/brad-lander-no-comment-missile-defense-funding-goldman\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Jewish Insider<\/a>\u00a0this week. Lander told\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/03\/30\/us-news\/brad-lander-urged-biden-to-consider-yanking-4b-in-us-funding-to-ally-israel-just-several-months-before-oct-7\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The New York Post<\/a>\u00a0last year, while running for mayor, that the United States should continue to fund the Iron Dome and other defensive systems.<\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"1\">The Iron Dome until recently drew broad bipartisan support, but even defensive aid for Israel has increasingly divided Democrats as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jta.org\/2026\/04\/09\/united-states\/60-of-americans-have-an-unfavorable-view-of-israel-up-sharply-since-2022-survey-shows\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Israel grows more unpopular with Americans<\/a>. Goldman and Torres both continue to support the Iron Dome.<\/p>\n<p aria-level=\"1\">The question is becoming a litmus test for progressives, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez winning an endorsement from the Democratic Socialists of America this week after\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jta.org\/2026\/04\/01\/politics\/aoc-reportedly-shifts-on-us-aid-to-israel-saying-she-opposes-even-defensive-spending\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">pledging to vote against defensive aid<\/a>. Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is also a DSA member,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jta.org\/2026\/04\/06\/ny\/nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani-endorses-aocs-opposition-to-funding-israels-iron-dome\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">backed her position<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A version of this piece first ran as part of the New York Jewish Week\u2019s daily newsletter, rounding&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10],"class_list":{"0":"post-192391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-headlines","10":"tag-new-york-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}