As Jack Schlossberg gains a foothold in his primary campaign for a coveted open House seat in the heart of Manhattan, his views on Israel policy are drawing closer scrutiny, as he begins to stake out a stance on the increasingly heated subject of Democratic debate. 

His decision to skip at least two upcoming Jewish community candidate forums occurring next month, meanwhile, is also raising some eyebrows among a key constituency in a district that has the largest Jewish voting population in the country. 

On Middle East policy, the 33-year-old Kennedy scion has embraced positions that place him to the left of the field on Israel, a potentially consequential issue in the 12th Congressional District, which favored former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the November mayoral election.

Schlossberg, like his some of his Democratic rivals, had backed Mamdani, despite disagreeing with the now-mayor’s controversial campaign vow to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and declining to call Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide, among other notable differences.

But as the fallout over Gaza and the war with Iran has stoked Democratic skepticism of the U.S. relationship with Israel, Schlossberg is now joining growing calls to oppose U.S. weapons sales to the Jewish state, though he has yet to clearly articulate his plans to enact such policies if elected to serve in the House.

During a candidate forum at 92NY last week, for example, Schlossberg, the grandson of former President John F. Kennedy, rejected continued U.S. funding for offensive weapons to Israel amid the war in Iran — even as he emphasized support for boosting the Iron Dome missile-defense system, which he described as a “critical” technology.

“I do not think the United States should back away from its ally completely and leave them hanging out to dry without any defenses,” he told the crowd, while saying Congress should hold a vote on funding for the war in Iran, including offensive weapons to Israel.

Schlossberg made no mention of Senate votes taking place that evening in which most Democrats favored resolutions led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) seeking to block arms sales to Israel — which were ultimately rejected.

Meanwhile, in a questionnaire recently solicited by the Working Families Party, Schlossberg confirmed that he would co-sponsor legislation introduced by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) “that would end U.S. military aid to Israel for any uses connected to the occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”

“Yes, I oppose the use of U.S. taxpayer dollars for abuse, illegal seizure and destruction of property and any violations of international humanitarian law anywhere,” he wrote.

For their part, two of his rivals in the race to succeed Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), state Assemblymen Micah Lasher and Alex Bores, both declined to back the legislation. Another top primary opponent, George Conway, a former Republican lawyer and activist who has become a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, did not submit a questionnaire to the party.

Previously, Schlossberg had said at a candidate forum in January that he “would want to have a full intelligence briefing before supporting any specific legislation” related to Israel.

Schlossberg, who identifies as Jewish on his father’s side despite being raised Catholic, has taken steps to court the district’s sizable Jewish constituency. In the first policy proposal of his campaign, for instance, he pledged to fast-track legislation that would nearly double security funding for synagogues and other Jewish institutions amid an uptick in antisemitic violence.

It is unclear whether his views will shape pro-Israel spending in the race. Democratic Majority for Israel did not respond to requests for comment, though one person familiar with internal discussions told Jewish Insider late last year it was unlikely to engage in the primary, barring any major developments.

A spokesperson for AIPAC likewise declined to comment on the primary when reached by JI.

J Street, the progressive Israel advocacy group that has recently begun calling for ending U.S. funding to bolster Iron Dome, told JI it has “primary approved” Bores, Lasher and Schlossberg, meaning its members are able to contribute to all three candidates through its online political portal.

Tali deGroot, J Street’s vice president of political and digital strategy, told JI in a statement that all three of the candidates “are aligned with J Street’s pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy positions.”

“Ultimately, it is up to the district to determine who they want to represent them in Congress, and we are glad to see three J Street-aligned voices in this race,” she added.

Some Jewish leaders say that they are interested in hearing more from Schlossberg as he emerges as a leading candidate in the race. He attended Shabbat services in March at the Conservative Park Avenue Synagogue on the Upper East Side, a day after the terrorist attack against Temple Israel in suburban Detroit.

But he is otherwise expected to be absent from two Jewish community forums next month in the district at The Jewish Center and West Side Institutional Synagogue, the latter of which will be moderated by JI’s editor-in-chief. 

Daniel Sherman, the rabbi of West Side Institutional Synagogue, said Schlossberg had been invited to the May 4 candidate forum “but his campaign responded that they had a scheduling conflict.” The event will be attended by Lasher, Bores and Conway, according to a flyer.

“As our goal is to engage with all of the candidates we would welcome his presence if the scheduling conflict can be resolved,” Sherman told JI. 

Mordechai Schwarz, a longtime Jewish Center member who organized its upcoming forum, told JI that Schlossberg’s team had declined to join due to a busy schedule, even when asked if an alternative date would work better, while Conway’s campaign had not responded to repeated email invitations.

In an email to The Jewish Center shared with JI by its rabbi, Yosie Levine, Schlossberg’s team gave its “sincerest apologies” for skipping the forum, adding that “May is a busy, everchanging month for us, so we do not have alternative times to offer right now.”

In a statement to JI on Monday, a spokesperson for Schlossberg said, “Jack Schlossberg knows that Israel is a critical democratic ally for America and does not believe we should abandon Israel. That includes funding for the Iron Dome — which he would support should he be elected to Congress, so that Israel can protect itself from the myriad of threats facing it from all directions — as well as his local plan to boost protections at Jewish places of worship, given the increase in antisemitism and hate crimes.”

“With that said, Mr. Schlossberg is also the only NY-12 candidate fully opposed to the no-plan Iran war,” the spokesperson added. “That includes weapons to foreign countries, Donald Trump’s massive $200b supplemental request, and his record-breaking, bloated $1.5 trillion defense budget demands. No war means no funding for any part of the war. Schlossberg would vote accordingly.”

A spokesperson for Conway told JI on Friday he was unable to attend the forum because of a “scheduling conflict,” and said the campaign would be following up with The Jewish Center “to close the loop” on the pending matter.

Lasher and Bores are listed as attending The Jewish Center’s forum in a flyer.

The Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, a Reform congregation on the Upper West Side, is hosting a Democratic candidate forum scheduled for May 6, a representative confirmed to JI, but participants have not yet been finalized. Schlossberg’s team confirmed to JI after this story was published that he will be joining the Stephen Wise forum.

Most of the limited available polling conducted earlier this year shows Schlossberg narrowly leading the crowded primary field with a small plurality of the vote in the district that spans the Upper East and West Sides and stretches south to Union Square.

More recent private polling has indicated that Schlossberg continues to maintain a leading position in the race. According to a source briefed on an internal survey conducted for Schlossberg’s campaign in early April, who broadly described the results to JI on condition of anonymity, the Kennedy scion held a seven-point lead in the 20s — with his opponents all clustered in the high teens. The poll’s margin of error was three percentage points.

Jake Dilemani, a Democratic consultant who is not involved in the primary, suggested that Schlossberg’s favorable position most likely is “a function of name recognition,” saying that voters “are interested in his campaign because there’s a sexiness to a Kennedy running.”

Like other political observers, though, Dilemani told JI he expects the polling to shift as outside spending and other advertising influences the primary. 

A star-studded list of campaign donors reflects Schlossberg’s celebrity status in the race, featuring prominent names from politics, fashion, music and entertainment such as Tory Burch, John Goodman, Bette Midler, Paul Simon, Lorne Michaels, Richard Plepler, Damon Lindelof, Bryan Lourd, Peggy Siegal, Chrissy Teigen, Jay Carney and Jon Corzine — all of whom have shown up in recent campaign filings to the Federal Election Commission.

Schlossberg, who had built a sizable online following as a social media influencer before launching his bid in November, pulled in nearly $1.2 million in the first quarter of 2026, according to his latest filing released last week, with most of that money on hand, less than his rivals have banked in their accounts.

Credibly or not, Schlossberg’s fresh perspective as a relative newcomer has provided him some license — despite his well-known family name — to call himself an “outsider” in a field populated by more established opponents with extensive records in both politics and government.

“President Kennedy was the first Catholic and the youngest president. He challenged the status quo, and he was an outsider. And that’s what I am in this race, so I’m proud to continue that legacy here,” he recently told a local news outlet, saying he will bring “new energy” to Washington.

But some critics point to Schlossberg’s otherwise thin resume, lack of reported income last year and history of bizarre and performative social media stunts, such as imitating a Nazi salute in a controversial video that surfaced at the start of his campaign, as evidence that his recent political makeover remains unconvincing. 

While many of the district’s older constituents may still be unaware of Schlossberg’s unbalanced online record, Dilemani predicted that the other campaigns “will do their best to make it known” before the June primary. 

High campaign staff turnover since he entered the primary has also drawn scrutiny to his operation. And he has faced some recent scrutiny for pulling out of other upcoming candidate forums.

Chris Coffey, a Democratic strategist who is not involved in the race, expressed strong doubts over Schlossberg’s bid to represent what he described as a “really important seat” in “one of the most educated and affluent districts in the country,” airing concerns about his “erratic background” and “online persona.”

“I have no doubt he is a great guy to go and have a Diet Coke with,” Coffey explained of Schlossberg. “But in an era where Democrats will hopefully be in an oversight position and needing to use all the tools they can to hopefully go after the president, he’ll be the guy making videos and doing press conferences.”

He also questioned the sincerity of Schlossberg’s comments on Israel as the party has shifted to the left, claiming he had not yet seen him “take a tough position” on any issue in the race.

“I honestly think Jack would say and do anything to get elected,” he told JI, citing Schlossberg’s recent opposition to a redevelopment project in Chelsea that some of his rivals have backed. “If he thinks today that it’s better to say, ‘I’m never going to give Israel a weapon again,’ he’ll say that,” Coffey added.

In Coffey’s assessment, “this race will test whether we’re in a moment where resumes don’t matter and nothing actually matters.”

Still, Schlossberg has managed to win some notable mainstream support, claiming a major endorsement in February from retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who said in a statement that he “represents the best of his generation” and “possesses a unique ability to navigate the digital and the classical political worlds in a way that can get things done for people.”

He has also garnered praise from Al Sharpton, joining the Democratic commentator for a “power breakfast” reported in Page Six this month and days later taking the stage at his National Action Network convention in New York, a closely watched annual political event.