Bruce Blakeman, the Republican nominee for governor of New York, on Thursday largely stood by his comments this week that Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander would have been a camp guard in a Nazi concentration camp.Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscriptionGet exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.In a Newsmax interview Wednesday, Blakeman called Lander, who won Tuesday’s Democratic primary in New York’s 10th Congressional District, antisemitic.“Even though he’s Jewish, this guy would be a camp guard in the concentration camp if he could,” Blakeman said of Lander, New York City’s former comptroller.Both Blakeman and Lander are Jewish.“I don’t know where Bruce Blakeman went to Hebrew school, but I was taught that ‘Never Again!’ means never again to anyone,” Lander said in a statement.“Standing up for Palestinian human rights doesn’t make me any less proud to be Jewish, or any less serious about fighting antisemitism.”Lander added that he thinks New Yorkers “will resoundingly reject Blakeman’s far-right MAGA bigotry this November.”President Donald Trump endorsed Blakeman last year.
New York Gov.Kathy Hochul, Blakeman’s Democratic opponent in the November election, told NY1 that Blakeman’s remark “disqualifies him from public office.”“Every single time Bruce Blakeman opens up his mouth, he’s simply auditioning for his next role in the Trump administration after he loses the election,” she said.Blakeman’s remarks were also condemned by J Street, a liberal pro-Israel group, which called his words “corrosive and wrong.”“No amount of vitriolic language from Blakeman or others will erase the fact that a growing number of American Jews reject the false choice that fighting for Israel’s future means abandoning the Palestinian people,” the organization wrote on X.Blakeman said in a statement Thursday, “Maybe camp guard was too strong, but certainly collaborator as Brad Lander turn...