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De Blasio Gave A 'Secret' AIPAC Speech Promising To Stand By Israel
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jan 24, 2014
Modified Jan 24, 2014
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Courtesy nycmayorsoffice's flickr
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jan 24, 2014
Modified Jan 24, 2014
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First Mayor de Blasio's begging the Upper East Side to forgive him for leaving a little snow on the ground, and now he's holding covert meet-and-greets with major lobbying groups: the mayor reportedly gave an off-schedule speech at a private American Israel Public Affairs Committee event in Manhattan yesterday, pledging City Hall's allegiance to Israel.
The super-secret speech was crashed by Capital NY reporter Azi Paybarah. He reportedly got kicked out after security caught him, but managed to sneak an audio recording of the speech, in which the mayor promised to fight for AIPAC in Washington, if need be. "There is a philosophical grounding to my belief in Israel and it is my belief, it is our obligation, to defend Israel, but it is also something that is elemental to being an American because there is no greater ally on earth, and that's something we can say proudly," he said. "City Hall will always be open to AIPAC. When you need me to stand by you in Washington or anywhere, I will answer the call and I'll answer it happily 'cause that's my job."
Not that any of this is news: de Blasio, who says he's visited Israel several times with his family, has been a vocal supporter of Israel, and as Public Advocate he criticized the Saudi Arabian consulate after the kingdom's airline discriminated against one of his staff members posing as an Israeli; de Blasio also had a private meeting with former Israeli president Shimon Peres after he was elected mayor. And the activism's gone both ways—in 2004, de Blasio advocated for a teacher at his daughter's school who was arrested during a protest against Israel’s policies in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
At least he's not trying to cull AIPAC supporters by claiming Jewish heritage. From which sad political mouth have we heard that one before? Oh, right.
Tagged
aipac
bill de blasio
israel
Rebecca Fishbein
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