NY Democratic leader says Israel hostility fueled far-left primary wins

New York State Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs says the issue of Israel helped fuel far-left wins in last week’s Congressional primaries.

Three far-left lawmakers who made criticism of Israel central to their campaigns won their Congressional primaries and are expected to win in the general election later this year and head to Congress.

“Yes, I do think the Israel-Palestinian issue had an impact in the election,” Jacobs tells The New York Post. “It hurt establishment Democrats.”

In the races, Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated incumbent Adriano Espaillat and Brad Lander bested incumbent Dan Goldman. Espaillat and Goldman were moderates on Israel, while criticizing the Gaza war and the Netanyahu government, while Avila Chevalier and Valdez took hardline anti-Israel positions.

“There are people who may have voted against Espaillat and Goldman because of it,” Jacobs says. “It was important to the activists who came out and voted.”

Jacobs adds that the anti-Israel rhetoric was a “more important issue for those who came out and voted.”

The primary elections had a relatively low turnout of around 17% of registered Democrats, he says.

Jacobs is aligned with more moderate Democrats.

“Saying Israel is committing genocide is wrong,” he says.