NYC lawmaker: Being ‘Republican in New York’ like being IDF in Six Day War

Nicole Malliotakis, who represents Staten Island in State Assembly, tells Jewish audience at Jerusalem Day event she knows how it must have felt to be outnumbered by five armies

By JTA 25 May 2020, 1:28 am

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Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, Republican of Staten Island, questions New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio during a joint legislative budget hearing on local government February 11, 2019, in Albany, NY (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)

A New York City lawmaker told a Jewish audience that she knows what it was like for Israeli soldiers to fight in the Six Day War because she’s “a Republican in New York City.”

Nicole Malliotakis, who represents Staten Island in New York’s State Assembly, made the comments on Thursday night during a Zoom meeting hosted by the Staten Island Jewish Community Center to celebrate Jerusalem Day, the Daily News reported.

“When you think about the small army at the time that Israel had and that they were confronted with five armies — I mean, I’m a Republican in New York City so I can kind of understand what they may have been going through or thinking,” Malliotakis said, according to the report, which included a link to the recorded Zoom call.

Malliotakis is working to unseat Democratic Rep. Max Rose in the November congressional election. Rose, who is Jewish and is a US Army combat veteran of the war in Afghanistan, spoke before Malliotakis. “She owes the Jewish community an apology,” he told the newspaper.

An Israeli paratrooper unit advances through an alleyway in Jerusalem’s Old City during the Six Day War. (Government Press Office)

Another unnamed participant told the newspaper that the comparison was offensive and “stupid.” But a Malliotakis spokesman told the newspaper that three participants on the Zoom event, including Israeli US consul general Dani Dayan, reached out afterward to compliment her.