De Blasio Applauded At Israel Conference Other Dems Shunned

NEW YORK — Mayor Bill de Blasio got a warm welcome Monday at a pro-Israel summit that several high-profile Democrats snubbed. De Blasio appeared to get a standing ovation at the end of his roughly 10-minute speech making a "progressive case for the state of Israel" at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual policy conference in Washington, D.C.

Speaking shortly before Republican Vice President Mike Pence, the Demoratic mayor called Israel a "shelter" for an oppressed people and said the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement protesting the nation's treatment of Palestinians could undermine a two-state solution.

"The Jewish people have faced thousands of years of exclusion and expulsion and violence, and that history didn’t end in 1945. It didn’t end in 1948," de Blasio told the crowd. "Those anti-Semitic forces never went away."

De Blasio attended AIPAC's annual conference as he considers running for president even though several Democratic candidates, including U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, reportedly skipped the event.

The advocacy group MoveOn called on 2020 contenders to shun the conference because AIPAC has used "anti-Muslim and anti-Arab rhetoric" and fought the nuclear deal with Iran, according to the Associated Press.

But the mayor said it is important for progressives to recognize the threats to Jews and to make their case to AIPAC, which is an influential lobbiying group on American-Israeli policy.

"I’ve been called to neighborhoods whose menorahs were smashed. I’ve spoken at shuls defaced with swastikas. I’ve sat with a mother whose son was attacked just for wearing a kippah," de Blasio said. "I know that anti-Semitism is dangerous and I know it leads to violence."

De Blasio said he has some "real disagreements" with Israel's current government, which is led by the right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also slated to speak at AIPAC's conference.

But he said the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, movement backed by some of his fellow progressives "affronts the very notion of Israel as a guaranteed refuge for the Jewish people."

"I believe BDS is contrary to the progressive imperative to protect all oppressed people everywhere and always," he said.

De Blasio's remarks followed charges of anti-Semitism last month against U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a BDS-supporting Minnesota Democrat who suggested that money from AIPAC influences Republican backing for Israel. Omar apologized but then drew more fire for saying that pro-Israeli forces "push for allegiance to a foreign country."

Some of Omar's progressive colleagues, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bronx), reportedly jumped to her defense. But de Blasio said he thinks few progressives actually support the BDS movement.

"I think it’s important for Democrats to be here," the mayor told reporters after his speech. "Chuck Schumer, Steny Hoyer, Nancy Pelosi — there are definitely Democrats and progressives standing up and being counted. I think it’s the right thing to do."