Lander, who is Jewish and has described himself as a Zionist, has increasingly aligned himself with the party’s progressive wing on Israel.

By Corey Walker, The Algemeiner

Brad Lander, the New York Democrat who recently toppled US Rep. Dan Goldman in a closely watched House primary, is drawing scrutiny after endorsing Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive whose comments about Israel have elicited outrage from the Jewish community.

Lander announced his endorsement as El-Sayed battles Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in one of the nation’s most consequential Senate primaries — a race increasingly viewed as a proxy fight over the future of the Democratic Party’s foreign policy, particularly its relationship with Israel.

“We need Abdul in the Senate to end the reign of billionaires and special interests, so Congress can deliver for working people,” Lander wrote on X.

“Abdul and I will also be partners in resetting US foreign policy to achieve a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis, beginning by ending US military aid to Israel while it violates international law and Palestinian human rights. We share the belief that the rights and safety of Jewish and Muslim people are inextricably intertwined, from the Midwest to Midtown to the Middle East.”

The endorsement comes days after El-Sayed, in an interview, agreed with the suggestion that Democratic politicians who support Israel do so because of money, saying such support is incompatible “if you’re a Democrat and you believe in human rights.”

Critics said the comments echoed longstanding antisemitic tropes attributing pro-Israel positions among elected officials to financial influence.

Jewish advocacy groups and pro-Israel Democrats have argued that such rhetoric dismisses decades of bipartisan backing for Israel rooted in shared democratic values, security cooperation, and US strategic interests in the Middle East, and risks reinforcing harmful stereotypes.

Lander, who is Jewish and has described himself as a Zionist, has increasingly aligned himself with the party’s progressive wing on Israel.

While affirming Israel’s existence, he has opposed continued US military aid under current conditions and accused the Jewish state of “genocide” during the war in Gaza — a position many analysts believe helped him defeat Goldman, a staunchly pro-Israel incumbent, in their primary.

El-Sayed has gone further, establishing himself as one of the party’s most strident critics of Israel.

Beyond his own “genocide” accusations, he has questioned whether progressive politics and Zionism are compatible, telling CNN in a recent interview:

“Every definition of a Jewish state ends up in some articulation of illiberal values, every single one.”

El-Sayed also sparked outrage in March after hesitating to condemn a terrorist attack at a Michigan synagogue that included an attempted mass killing of Jewish children.

According to reports, he expressed concern in private meetings that condemning the attack would offend potential voters sympathetic to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terrorist group.

He also reportedly hesitated to comment on the US-Israeli strikes that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in February, citing support for Khamenei among some of his prospective constituents.

Stevens, by contrast, has maintained strong support for the US-Israel alliance, arguing Democrats can back both Israel’s right to defend itself and humanitarian assistance for Palestinians.

The primary is widely seen as a national test of whether the party’s traditional pro-Israel coalition can withstand mounting pressure from its progressive base.

For many Jewish Democrats, Lander’s endorsement represents another sign of the party’s shifting internal politics.

While Democratic support for Israel has historically been broad and bipartisan, recent election cycles have exposed widening divisions over military aid, the Gaza conflict, and the role of progressive activists in shaping the party’s foreign policy agenda — divisions expected to remain a defining fault line, with implications for both the party’s electoral coalition and the future of the US-Israel relationship.

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Lander ran for New York City mayor last fall and cross-endorsed with Mamdani in an effort to thwart former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

By Jackie Hajdenberg, JTA

Brad Lander has ousted incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in New York City’s 10th Congressional District in a Democratic primary Tuesday night where the candidates’ views on Israel were a key issue, according an NBC News projection.

Lander, a former city comptroller backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, had 55,060 votes, or 65.8 percent, and Goldman had 28,445 votes, or 34 percent, with 92 percent of the ballots counted.

NBC News projected Lander the winner four minutes after the polls closed at 9 p.m.

Lander, 56, perched his campaign on a refusal to take money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying group.

Goldman, an attorney who led the first impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, was hailed for his efforts on that front, but his more supportive views on Israel have proven increasingly unpopular in his lower Manhattan and Brooklyn district in recent years.

“Democrats are painfully divided by our differences over the U.S. relationship to Israel and Palestine, and we have to face up to it squarely,” Lander said in his victory speech.

“Our party needs to admit that Joe Biden’s ‘hug Bibi strategy’ was a catastrophic failure.”

He invoked the famous words of Rabbi Hillel in Pirkei Avot: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am for myself only, what am I? And if not now, when?”

“I will be one of the Jewish members of Congress most willing to stand up loud for Palestinian human rights,” Lander added.

“I will stand firmly against bigotry aimed at Jews as well. That’s not two different jobs — that’s the same job. That’s the same job Rabbi Hillel gave us 2000 years ago.”

Lander continued, “We cannot keep paying for Netanyahu’s wars with our tax dollars. Democratic voters across the country are saying this loud and clear. What we need instead is a politics of shared safety: one that sees Palestinian kids in Gaza and the West Bank as created Betzelem Elohim — in the image of God just as much as Rosa and Marek,” he said, referring to his two children.

Mamdani introduced Lander at the victory party and called him a friend and a coworker. “Brad brings a kindness to this world,” the mayor said.

The primary result was not a surprise: polling by Emerson College last month indicated a lead of more than 30 points for Lander.

In his speech, Lander thanked Goldman for a “hard-fought campaign” and “and for his service to this community and to our country.”

“I want to specifically praise him for how he responded to some of the toxic rhetoric that he and his staff faced over the past couple of days with grace and with gratitude, that is something we need,” Lander added, referring to a an incident this week at a Brooklyn cafe  in which Goldman was refunded his payment a cup of coffee due to his views on Israel, and an online harassment from right-wing commentator Cam Higby targeting his chief of staff.

“And I want to say to those who cast their votes for Dan, though we have some differences, I do feel strongly that we actually have so much more in common.”

Lander’s win in Tuesday’s primary in the heavily Democratic district, which runs from roughly below 14th Street in Manhattan to Brownstone Brooklyn and parts of Borough Park and Bay Ridge, is tantamount to winning the general election in November.

Both candidates identify as Zionists — Goldman said he is “unabashedly pro-Israel” — but Lander qualified his views as that of a “liberal Zionist.”

He is also a former member of the Democratic Socialists of America. But he left the group following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel, disappointed by the DSA’s participation in a pro-Palestinian rally on Oct. 8.

He says he had been a member since his freshman year of college.

“On October 8th, they advertised a rally that I thought was heinous, that spoke about Hamas in ways that I just thought were vile and I could not continue to be a member,” Lander said during a June 1 debate with Spectrum NY1.

Lander ran for New York City mayor last fall and cross-endorsed with Mamdani in an effort to thwart former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Mamdani then encouraged Lander to run for Congress and endorsed him in February in a video calling out AIPAC.

He was also endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New York City Councilmember Shahana Hanif, former Manhattan Borough President and activist Ruth Messinger, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, IfNotNow, the Sunrise Movement, United Auto Workers and other progressive groups.

Lander has used the word “genocide” to refer to Israel’s actions against Palestinians in Gaza.

He has also long criticized AIPAC and what he says are the group’s contributions to Goldman’s campaign. But Goldman’s team said AIPAC was uninvolved in his campaign.

“Israel is not the most important issue in this district,” Goldman said during the June 1 debate.

Goldman had outspent Lander more than 7-to-1 on the airwaves, according to data from political advertising tracker AdImpact.

A multimillionaire and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, Goldman had also pledged to personally match each dollar donated to his campaign.

Lander was also backed by a new super PAC called American Priorities, which has put forward $2 million into the primaries to fight AIPAC.

American Priorities is also backing New York State Assembly member and congressional candidate Claire Valdez, a Democrat in New York’s 7th Congressional District, and Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier in the 13th District. Both women are members of the DSA.

Lander appeared with Mamdani, Valdez and Chevalier in a post-Knicks game ad, where he passes a basketball to Chevalier, who also was at the Oct. 8 rally that he and Mamdani condemned. Mamdani, Valdez and Chevalier have been outspoken Israel critics.

In a 2025 interview with Zeteo, Lander said he would vote to recognize a Palestinian state and oppose the sale of weapons to Israel.

As comptroller, Lander maintained the city’s pension investments in Israeli military technology company Elbit Systems, which earned criticism from left-wing activists, but he defended the decision.

Goldman did not endorse Mamdani because he felt he “never fully got there,” he told The New York Editorial Board in late February.

Goldman has been endorsed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine, and various public housing advocates and local unions.

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Former NYC Comptroller and congressional candidate Brad Lander spoke at a New York mosque, called Israel’s war in Lebanon a genocide, and vowed to partner with antisemitic Rep. Rashida Tlaib to push anti-Israel legislation through Congress.

NY Democratic Congressional Candidate Brad Lander Recites Quran Verse at Queens Mosque, Says He Hopes to Partner in Congress with Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib; Imam Prays for Mahdi to Kill Infidels with His Sword pic.twitter.com/s4FWPLUaI5

— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) May 21, 2026

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