(JTA) — Twelve members of the New York City Council’s 14-member Jewish caucus have endorsed Hillary Clinton for president.
The City Council members signed a joint statement on Tuesday, Jewish Insider reported.
The signers are David Greenfield, Stephen Levin, Alan Maisel and Mark Treyger from Brooklyn; Barry Grodenchick, Daniel Garodnick, Karen Koslowitz and Rory Lancman from Queens; Ben Kallos, Helen Rosenthal and Mark Levine from Manhattan, and Andrew Cohen from The Bronx.
“Hillary Clinton has delivered time and time again for New York, for the Jewish Community, and for Israel,” wrote Levine, who is chairman of the Jewish Caucus. “Whether winning funds to rebuild New York after 9/11 or exposing anti-Semitism in the Middle East and around the world, Hillary Clinton has been there for us.”
Brad Lander and Chaim Deutsch of Brooklyn were the only Jewish caucus members who did not sign the statement.
The statement did not mention Bernie Sanders, the only Jewish candidate in the presidential race.
“This is not a time for learning on the job — especially when it comes to the challenges facing Israel,” the statement reads.
Sanders has been criticized for misstating the amount of Palestinian casualties incurred in the 2014 Gaza war in an interview with the New York Daily News editorial board last week. The Anti-Defamation League urged him to correct his comments, and his campaign spokesman called “the idea that Sen. Sanders stated definitely that 10,000 Palestinians were killed” a “distortion.”
Greenfield told the Jewish Insider that Sanders has “made it clear that he doesn’t value the pro-Israel community.”
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