On Israel, Latimer Represents a Return to Sanity

By Andrew Vitelli

Since beating longtime congressman and stalwart Israel supporter Eliot Engel in the 2020 Democratic primary, Congressman Jamaal Bowman has used his position as one of Westchester’s two congressmen to repeatedly bash and delegitimize the Jewish state.

Despite being one of only two congressional representatives in a county that has one of the highest percentages of Jewish population in the U.S., Bowman has made hostility toward Israel a trademark of his time in office. A former member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a group that cheered the Oct. 7 attacks (though after the congressman had parted ways from the organization), Bowman voted against a resolution declaring that Israel is not a racist nation, but co-sponsored a bill declaring Israel’s founding a disaster, or “Nakba.”

Now, Bowman has a credible primary threat in County Executive George Latimer, and the two candidates could hardly differ more in their views of Israel. With the ongoing war in Gaza, the issue could not be more relevant.

I lived in Israel during two wars, in 2012 and 2014, first as a media fellow for the Government Press Office in Jerusalem and later while earning a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Tel Aviv University. I sat down last month with Latimer to specifically discuss Israel.

“Israel is a democracy. Every democracy is flawed,” Latimer said.

“Can you compare that to societies like Iran and Yemen, that absolutely have a closed society, don’t treat women properly, don’t treat gays properly?” he continued. “But you’re going to say that Israel is racist?”

Latimer traveled to Israel a month after the Oct. 7 attacks and saw firsthand the devastation in southern Israel, including Kfar Aza, where more than 60 of the kibbutz’s residents were murdered or taken hostage. It was his third trip to the country.

“I believe Israel is a legitimate state and it has a legitimate right to exist,” Latimer said. “Many in the Arab world do not believe that, do not recognize Israel and do not accept its presence there.”

Latimer, 70, is old enough to remember the 1967 Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War of 1973, and understands how this longstanding rejection of Israel has perpetuated the conflict. And unlike Bowman, Latimer recognizes how Hamas causes the suffering of its own population.

“The leaders of Hamas do not care about the Palestinian people. That’s clear to me. They are using them as human shields,” he said. “I don’t think Hamas wants to negotiate. I think Hamas would rather have a bloodbath.”

Bowman’s antics had already alienated his district’s Jewish community before Hamas’s barbaric attacks, in which the terror group murdered some 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and took 253 hostages.

Bowman has since doubled down, absurdly calling Israel’s response to Oct. 7 “genocide” and launching a joint fundraising effort with Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only voting member of Congress to refuse to condemn Hamas’s rape of Israeli women. Even J Street, a leftwing group highly critical of Israeli policy, has had enough of Bowman and pulled its endorsement.

“Usually when there is a politician that doesn’t reflect one’s communal viewpoint, you try to have overtures to that office holder and at least bring them along part of the way,” said Rabbi Evan Hoffman, the president of the Westchester Board of Rabbis. “In the case of Jamaal Bowman, it has been the complete opposite. In every possible case he has, with great relish, jumped in the opposite direction.”

Bowman failed to respond to multiple attempts by The Examiner to speak to him about Israel and the Middle East.

Bowman’s hostility for Israel is far from the only reason that Latimer decided to mount a challenge; he calls Bowman’s record “too much performance art and not enough performance,” and views the incumbent as overly divisive. But Israel was a major factor. Latimer said he was leaning against a run until the attacks, and Bowman’s reaction changed his calculation.

Westchester has historically been represented by pro-Israel Democrats like Engel and Rep. Nita Lowey; even Lowey’s immediate successor, progressive Mondaire Jones, was a defender of the Jewish state. Latimer, who is endorsed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), would likely return to that tradition. He supports aid to Israel without legislative conditions and recognizes the importance of missile defense systems like the Iron Dome.

Latimer’s views on Israel reflect a broader understanding of the threat facing the American-led world order. He takes seriously threats from Russia, China and North Korea and believes backing down from the threat posed by Hamas and its Iranian sponsors would empower thuggish regimes across the globe.

Like many pro-Israel Democrats, the county executive is not without criticism of the Israeli government. He backs a two-state solution, and acknowledges Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes such a plan. Latimer also called the presence of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including in areas envisioned as part of a future Palestinian state, a challenge.

“Because I support the State of Israel does not mean I support everything Netanyahu does,” Latimer said. “He is a political leader with his opinions.”

Last week, Latimer came out in support of President Biden’s push for a temporary ceasefire to bring home the Israeli hostages and bring humanitarian aid into Gaza.

When it comes to U.S. policy toward Israel, including ceasefire negotiations, Latimer is generally deferential to the president.

“I don’t want, as one congressman or potential congressman, to start pretending I am the secretary of state,” he said.

Latimer’s position here is reasonable on its face, but ignores the reality of the role congressional pressure, especially from within the president’s party, can play in policy decisions. Democrats less understanding of Israel’s reality have not been shy about calling on Biden to apply pressure to Israel; if elected, Latimer should use his bully pulpit when appropriate to counter these voices.

In his relationship with Westchester’s Jewish community, there’s again no comparison between the two candidates, said Hoffman, who leads Congregation Anshe Sholom in New Rochelle.

“George and I were in synagogue together this morning,” Hoffman said when I spoke to him on Saturday evening, Mar. 2. “Our congregants know of him as a friend, as a loyal public servant and as a good public servant. We would feel that way about him even if the Jewish and Israel angle was not so prominent.”

Andrew Vitelli is the former editor of The White Plains Examiner and The Putnam Examiner.