New York state Assemblymember Alex Bores’ father, a former union president, has worked to advance his son’s ambition to succeed retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) in a heavily Jewish Manhattan House seat. But William Bores has spent campaign season raging online against Israel and Jewish people more broadly, even cheerleading the killings of Israeli civilians and soldiers.

The elder Bores served as president of a Communication Workers of America local union representing the broadcast industry from 2023 until April of this year. Both the larger district council for New York City and Alex Bores cited William’s long involvement in the labor organization when the union endorsed the state lawmaker’s congressional bid last month. William Bores and his wife have also lent their names and personal attestations to a mailer, produced by a supportive political action committee, backing the Alex Bores campaign.

William Bores, a veteran ABC technical director, has also taken to boosting his son’s bid on social media, including on his Threads account. 

But elsewhere on that account, William Bores — who did not respond to repeated outreach for this story — has in recent weeks equated support for a Jewish national homeland with the ideology of Adolf Hitler, declaring on different occasions: “Zionists are Nazis!,” “Zionism=Nazism” and “Zionists and Nazis, one and the same.” 

When an account called “officialmuslimblog” posted a celebratory announcement of a Hezbollah ambush upon IDF troops in early April, William Bores replied with an excited note of his own.

“Nazis and Zionists, both better when dead,” he wrote.

He also replied to a post about the death of a 19-year-old IDF soldier in Lebanon with “one less murderer,” and the report of the death of another young Israeli sergeant with “Another murderer gone!”

William Bores also reacted to a piece of viral disinformation, claiming the killing of 11 female Israeli soldiers was “Karma.”

Bores has reacted similarly to reports of the killing of Israeli civilians. also reacted to an alert about a 52-year-old Tel Aviv security guard’s death from the shrapnel from an Iranian missile by writing, “What a shame, the world lost another supporter of genocide.”

Days later, in response to a post about an 11-year-old girl from Bnei Brak succumbing to injuries sustained during a separate Iranian strike last month, the elder Bores wrote “FAFO” — an acronym for “f**k around and find out,” a popular Internet phrase indicating a person has received a deserved comeuppance. He has in recent days taken to routinely posting this shorthand in response to claims of Israeli casualties, on one occasion adding, “too bad Zionism only brings death to the Middle East.”

Although he has maintained that his aversion is to “Zionists [and] not Jews,” William Bores has also lashed out at various expressions of Jewish religion, history and identity. 

On April 23, in reaction to a video from a Hasidic wedding, William Bores wrote: “All men, in bizarre uniforms, dancing! So cult like.” A few days later, in response to a U.K.-based Jewish influencer who had posted a video expressing that his “wish for 2026 is simple. That Jewish people around the world face less hate, and can live proudly and peacefully without fear,”

William Bores wrote,“Start by ending the genocide in Gaza, and commit to pay for rebuilding.” 

In response to a video about a Mizrahi Shabbat dinner, the political paterfamilias wrote “Proud of genocide?”

When Rabbi Shmuley Boteach posted about Holocaust Remembrance Day, William Bores replied, “Do you remember the holocaust Israel is responsible for in Gaza? The victims, 80 years later, have become the victimizes [sic].”

William Bores has also raged against some of the congressional lawmakers with whom his son, if elected, could work in Washington, declaring last fall that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) are “bought and paid for by Israel.” 

Bores’ campaign did answer whether the candidate was aware of his father’s views, or of his Threads account. 

“I love my dad, value what I’ve learned from him, and disagree with many of the things he’s said,” the lawmaker said in a statement to JI. “His posts don’t reflect who I am or what I believe. It’s a dynamic a lot of families can recognize. I have my own record and my own views and those are what this campaign is built on.”

While Alex Bores is not Jewish, he has stressed his connection to the community via his wife and her family, and taken strongly supportive stances toward Israel. The liberal and heavily Jewish district has long elected pro-Israel Democrats to represent it.