Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who has been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 1992, told the New York Times that he plans to retire next year.
“Watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party, and I think I want to respect that,” the Jewish 78-year-old told the paper. He added that a younger politician “can maybe do better, can maybe help us more.”
A former ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, Nadler states on his website that he “has consistently been recognized as one of Israel’s strongest supporters” in the House and that he has “often been a leader on the key issues of ever-strengthened U.S.-Israel cooperation and U.S. foreign aid.”
The congressman adds that “as representative of the largest and most diverse Jewish community in any congressional district in the United States,” he has been “an outspoken leader against antisemitism and continues to lead a variety of efforts to stymie the growing anti-Zionist, anti-Jewish rhetoric and campaigns which seek to delegitimize Israel on the world stage.”
He was, per his site, “one of the first members of Congress to directly challenge the so-called boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, when, in its nascent form, it hijacked the U.N. Conference on Racism in Durban for its own political purposes.”
He has also been a harsh critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he called “the worst leader in Jewish history since the Maccabean king who invited the Romans into Jerusalem over 2,100 years ago.”
He stated that Netanyahu put “the security of Israel, the lives of the hostages, the stability of the region and longstanding Israeli democratic norms in perilous jeopardy” just to “maintain the stability of his far-right coalition and absolve him of his own legal troubles.”
The Times called Nadler a “yeshiva-educated son of a chicken farmer,” who “fought his way into Manhattan politics with a group of Vietnam-era reformers known as the West Side Kids while still a student at Columbia University.”
“He has played a role in many of the biggest political and cultural debates since, including recently endorsing Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City,” it stated. A New York state representative, Mamdani has criticized Israel frequently and has said that as mayor, he would have Netanyahu arrested if the Israeli premier visits the Big Apple.
Nadler told the Times, “I can’t defend what Israel is doing.” The paper reported that he “does not agree with those who say Israel is carrying out genocide in Gaza” but said that under Netanyahu, “Israel was committing mass murder and war crimes in Gaza ‘without question.’”
Nadler, for the first time, “plans to join a growing number of Democratic lawmakers trying to use congressional authority to block the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel,” per the Times. “He said he will still vote to fund Israel’s missile defense systems.”
In late July, Ofir Akunis, Israeli consul general in New York, wrote to Nadler accusing the congressman of presenting a “distorted picture of the events of Oct. 7 and the realities of the ongoing conflict in Gaza” when Nadler took part in a July 28 “Jews cry out: Let food into Gaza” rally outside the Israeli consulate in Manhattan.
