Michael Blake, the anti-Israel candidate challenging Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) in a Democratic primary in the Bronx, accepted an endorsement on Wednesday from a small progressive group that, in its announcement, attacked Torres for his relationship with “Jewish donors.”

The group, Progressive Voters Network, also maintains an active endorsement of Maureen Galindo, the antisemitic Texas Democratic primary candidate who faced condemnation from across the party and was repudiated even by other far-left groups.

Blake’s campaign shared the Progressive Voters Network endorsement announcement attacking Torres on Blake’s Instagram account.

“This AIPAC puppet has raked in millions from the zionist lobby while our people struggle with rent, groceries, and crumbling NYCHA buildings,” the announcement reads. “Torres prioritizes his Jewish donors over his own Black and Brown constituents, cheerleading genocide and shielding war criminals instead of fighting for affordability and justice.”

The group said Torres “must be crushed” and the Democratic Party must be “purge[d] … of these corporate zionists who value zionist interests and fat checks over our community’s survival.”

In its endorsement of Galindo, posted in February, long before Galindo gained nationwide attention, the group obliquely acknowledged her long-standing controversial rhetoric, saying “her calls for systemic overhaul may scare the faint-hearted, but they rally the bold to action.” 

After Galindo, who lost the Tuesday primary, made further extreme comments, including calling for the imprisonment and castration of American Zionists, other groups like TrackAIPAC pulled their endorsements.

The Progressive Voter Network has endorsed a slew of challengers to incumbent Democrats and Republicans, as well as a handful of sitting progressive Democratic lawmakers.

Blake’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Michael Blake, a far-left challenger to Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), said at a debate  on Tuesday hosted by One NYC Action that he would oppose missile defense aid for the Jewish state — the latest flip-flop on Israel policy issues by a candidate who has reversed numerous of his past stances on the subject over the course of his campaign.

Blake was once a close ally of AIPAC and a champion of the U.S.-Israel relationship, but has repositioned himself as a harsh critic of the Jewish state — and has continued to move left during the course of his campaign.

Blake said this week that he would oppose all aid, including defensive aid, to Israel.

“We need a permanent ceasefire, full stop. We need to absolutely stop the aid that is happening. We need to stop sending money,” Blake said. 

Blake expressed the opposite view just months ago in a January event with the Ben Franklin Club, saying that he viewed protecting and supporting Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system as a separate issue than blocking other military aid, and indicated that he would continue to support Iron Dome.

In that same event, Blake asserted his continued support for anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions legislation he helped pass in the state assembly — before going on to reverse that stance in late March.

Blake reiterated his new opposition to the anti-BDS legislation in the debate this week, saying he lacked the proper information about the bill at the time of his previous support.

On Thursday, Blake picked up an endorsement from TrackAIPAC, the virulently anti-Israel group that has attracted accusations of antisemitism from other Democrats, and which requires endorsees to adopt a host of anti-Israel stances, including a full arms embargo on Israel.

He also argued that the war in Iran, and efforts to stop Trump from launching an all-out assault on the country, were proof of why Torres needed to be defeated, without fully explaining that argument. Torres has also opposed the war, condemned Trump’s comments threatening the destruction of Iranian civilization and said the president needs to be removed from office.

“It was reported today that Trump went into [the war] because Netanyahu and the Israeli government lied to him consistently in a February meeting and prior to that,” Blake continued, again asserting that as an “indication on why Ritchie Torres has to go,” without explaining further.

The campaign website home page for Michael Blake, a progressive challenger to Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) who has made his criticism of Israel a centerpiece of his campaign, features a picture of Blake in Israel.

Blake was once a strong supporter of the Jewish state, and traveled there with the AIPAC-backed American Israel Education Foundation and with the New York Jewish Community Relations Council.

In the photo, part of a gallery on the campaign home page, Blake poses, holding a Bible, in front of signage for the White Synagogue, one of the oldest synagogues in Israel located in the ancient village of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. 

Capernaum holds particular significance for Christians given that it is thought to be where Jesus lived and taught, and the home of Saint Peter.

Blake’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Michael Blake, a far-left primary challenger to Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) who has grounded his challenge largely in criticism of Torres’ pro-Israel stance, flipped his view on the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement during his campaign.

In January, at a candidate forum, Blake affirmed his opposition to the BDS movement and highlighted anti-BDS legislation he helped sponsor as a state assemblyman. But in an X post on Friday, he reversed his position on the issue.

“I oppose efforts that punish [BDS movement] participation,” Blake said on X. “My previous support of NY bills was wrong b/c I didn’t understand the harm incl. the ‘Palestine exception’ on speech & academic freedom for Palestinian rights. Gov’t must protect Free speech & reject retaliation & fear.”

That stance is at odds with the position he staked out just two months ago in a forum with the Ben Franklin Club. 

Asked whether he supports New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s efforts to divest the city from investments in Israel, Blake said during the forum, in audio obtained by Jewish Insider, “I have repeatedly — as it relates to the BDS movement itself — have not been in that same position. … As you’ve seen, when I was in the Assembly, I was one of the co-sponsors,” adding that “there is a broader variance.”

The longtime local political organization ultimately endorsed Torres.

In a position paper for a previous congressional campaign obtained by JI, Blake proudly touted his support for anti-BDS legislation. He said he was “pleased to see” bipartisan opposition to the BDS movement, as well as pledged to support anti-BDS legislation in Congress and described the movement as antisemitic.

Blake’s flip-flop on the issue is emblematic of his broader repositioning on Israel-related issues as part of his congressional campaign. Blake was once a close ally of AIPAC and a strong supporter of Israel, but has staked out a strongly anti-Israel line in the campaign.

Blake’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

In the same Ben Franklin Club event, asked initially about Mamdani’s divestment efforts, Blake focused his response on aid to Israel, saying that he supports “divestment” from the Israeli government while also suggesting he would protect funding for Iron Dome — a position unlikely to satisfy the far left.

“I’m not going to give a blanket answer on everything because obviously there’s variance to that question, but when we talk about what’s happening around the war itself, I think there definitely should be a divestment in place to what’s going on in the war,” Blake said in another clip obtained by JI. “I think it’s very different as it relates to the protection of the Iron Dome — I think there’s a different distinction that’s there but I’m giving that clarity of that position, because I think saying just holistically can be ambiguous there.”

Blake has also sought to simultaneously capitalize on the insurgent energy of Mamdani’s rise, and to draw support from the democratic socialist’s detractors. Earlier this month, he joined a rally of public housing advocates that attacked Mamdani’s decision to exclude tenants of city-run apartments from hearings on poor living conditions.

Blake has also repeatedly touted the support of local advocacy group Veteran Action Now and its founder Kevin Meggett, who has vocally criticized the mayor and his allies in the Democratic Socialists of America.

Michael Blake, who is mounting a primary challenge to Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), praised Joe Kent, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who resigned on Tuesday with a conspiratorial statement that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have characterized as antisemitic.

Kent has a history of affiliations with far-right and antisemitic extremists and, on Tuesday, issued a statement announcing he would leave his post in opposition to the war in Iran, which Kent claimed Israel and pro-Israel advocates had tricked the U.S. into joining. 

Kent also, falsely, blamed Israel for the Iraq war and the U.S. operations against ISIS in Syria, and asserted in the letter that there was no immediate threat to the U.S. necessitating an operation in Iran.

“An absolutely breathtaking, courageous and bold resignation letter stating that Iran posed NO IMMINENT THREAT to us and Trump made this decision due to the Israeli government and its American Lobby,” Blake said on X on Wednesday. “This is the person who led COUNTERTERRORISM.”

Blake has made criticism of Israel and AIPAC a centerpiece of his campaign, despite himself being a onetime ally of AIPAC and vocal supporter of Israel. He also faced criticism for featuring an antisemitic activist who supported the murder of two Israeli Embassy staffers in his campaign launch video.

“Michael Blake just called a neo-Nazi-adjacent, Proud Boy-affiliated, January 6th conspiracy theorist ‘breathtaking, courageous and bold,’” Benny Stanislawski, a Torres spokesperson, said. “It should be possible to oppose the war without praising antisemites and bigots in the process.”

In a position paper shared with AIPAC in 2020 and obtained by Jewish Insider, Michael Blake, who is challenging Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) in the Democratic primary in New York’s 15th Congressional District, vowed to offer strong support for Israel and to fight against anti-Israel sentiment, and emphasized the connections he feels as a Black person to the Israeli people and the Jewish community.

At the time, Blake — who had been an AIPAC affiliate for years — was seeking the group’s support for his 2020 run for the district. But now, in his second campaign against Torres, Blake is making criticism of Israel and strident opposition to AIPAC a central theme of his campaign.

Blake had expressed similar views in support of Israel in an interview with JI at the time of his 2020 campaign, but his pursuit of AIPAC’s support five years ago highlights the extent to which Blake has flipped on the issue in his latest campaign.

“The State of Israel is a beacon of hope in the Middle East. I understand the absolute priority in ensuring Israel remain that beacon, not just for the Middle East, but for the world,” Blake said in his 2020 position paper, obtained by JI and verified by an informed source. 

“When I become a member of Congress from the 15th Congressional District in New York, representing the most diverse county in America, I will continue the commitment I have shown as a community leader, lay minister, Assemblymember and national Democratic official in ensuring that the U.S.-Israel relationship remains strong and bipartisan for generations to come,” Blake continued.

He argued that he’s “uniquely positioned” to ensure that America and Israel remain close allies.

Blake had visited Israel twice, which he said “channeled my core values I developed here in the U.S., and allowed me to further internalize the remarkable bond between our two countries; that bond must continue to be strengthened.”

Blake now says that AIPAC’s treatment of the Black community was a key reason he broke with the group at some point prior to the start of the war in Gaza. But he struck a different note in his 2020 AIPAC paper, emphasizing the need for continued unity and solidarity between the Black and Jewish communities and the common experiences of the two communities.

“While circumstances may vary, I can understand the emotional, mental and physical duress that occurs when you don’t feel safe in your own land,” Blake said, referring to his visits to Israel. “The very idea of Israel demonstrates that the promise can be realized, and serves as an inspiration for all those who have kept the faith in the face of oppression and persecution. …  I feel strongly that Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people — a group who fled persecution across the world, to achieve a dream that they held onto for more than 2,000 years.”

He added in the position paper that he takes care to speak out in the district and across the country to emphasize that “anti-Israel rhetoric has no place anywhere.” He vowed to work to strengthen the ties between the Black and Jewish communities, and between Americans and Israelis.

“As a Black man in this country, after what we have endured for centuries and what I have personally endured via police brutality, I will not be silent while divisive language and actions are taken against the Israel people, the Jewish people, or anyone from anywhere,” Blake said at the time.

In the paper, Blake highlighted his work to support anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions legislation in New York and vowed to support similar efforts to fight anti-Israel activity in Congress.

“As a member of Congress, a son of immigrants, and as an American citizen, I will oppose all efforts that seek to delegitimize Israel,” Blake said. “Because anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism are so closely linked, we must not tolerate the actions of the BDS movement, just as we do not tolerate racism and other forms of prejudice.”

And he promised to support continued military assistance with Israel, which he described as a mutually beneficial relationship, saying he “strongly support[s]” the 10-year memorandum of understanding for military aid between the United States and Israel.

The position paper also further undercuts Blake’s claims as a candidate, in public fora, that he walked away from AIPAC eight years ago, after coming to realize at AIPAC’s 2017 policy conference — where he was a speaker — that the group disdained President Barack Obama and other Black leaders.

Instead, Blake continued to attend AIPAC events through at least 2019, as previously reported by JI, and as the position paper demonstrates, unreservedly sought the group’s support in his 2020 campaign.

Blake’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Major New York Jewish groups criticized former Assemblyman Michael Blake, who is running in the Democratic primary against Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), for featuring a clip of an influencer who supported the shooting of two Israeli Embassy employees at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington in his campaign launch video.

Blake’s video features a short clip from a social media video posted by Guy Christensen, an anti-Israel activist, accusing Torres of “investing in genocide,” one of the first clips in the video. 

Christensen praised the alleged D.C. shooter, Elias Rodriguez, urging his followers to support Rodriguez and describing his “act of resistance” as “justified” and to respond with “greater resistance and escalation” in the face of a potential crackdown against the anti-Israel movement.

“I do not condemn the elimination of those two Zionist officials,” Christensen said on social media at the time of the shooting. “[Rodriguez] is not a terrorist. He’s a resistance fighter. And the fact is that the fight against Israel’s war machine, against their genocide machine, against their criminality, includes their foreign diplomats in this country and internationally.”

Christensen was expelled from The Ohio State University for the video, which was taken down by TikTok.

In a statement, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York condemned Blake’s video, both for featuring Christensen and for its use of other antisemitic tropes.

“Hurling a bus load of antisemitic tropes and platforming bigots who cheer antisemitic violence in a launch video is not the pro-humanity flex one thinks it is. In the backdrop of rising hate, this only deepens division, further inflames an already inflammatory climate in New York, and makes us all less safe,” the group said in a statement.

The Anti-Defamation League of New York and New Jersey focused its criticism specifically on the Christensen clip.

“No matter what your views are on the candidates or the issues, we can all agree that Michael Blake’s platforming of anti-Zionist influencer Guy Christensen should be roundly condemned,” the group said. “Christensen is an activist who regularly touts Hamas and promotes antisemitic ideas, and he defended the shooter that left two dead at the Jewish Museum this past spring.”

UJA-Federation of New York said in a statement, “We strongly condemn any use of antisemitic vitriol and those who promote it to attack opponents.”

“Regardless of beliefs, actively platforming Guy Christensen, who regularly shares antisemitic ideas and pro-Hamas rhetoric — in addition to defending the heinous antisemitic shooting in Washington, DC, this spring — is absolutely unacceptable,” UJA continued.

Blake apologized in a statement, issued late Monday after a group of local rabbis also joined the chorus of criticism.

“I unequivocally denounce the murder and celebration of the two young Israeli embassy staffers, as stated in my May 22nd, 2025 post on X, and I apologize for any pain our campaign video caused any member of the Jewish community by including someone who condoned this horrific event,” Blake said. “Just as I would for anyone targeted for the color of their skin, faith, or identity, I stand firmly against all acts of hate and violence. I am focused on the Cost of Living and Affordability crisis impacting all of the district, where Ritchie Torres’ actions have failed, along with continuing to address Antisemitism, Anti-Muslim hate, Housing and Immigration. We deserve better than Ritchie Torres.”

Michael Blake, a former New York state assemblyman and eighth-place-finishing New York City mayoral candidate, announced a primary challenge to Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) on Wednesday focused squarely on Torres’ support for Israel and ties to AIPAC.

But Blake himself has an extensive history with AIPAC and was, at least through 2020, a vocal supporter of the Jewish state.

In his campaign announcement on X, Blake said, “I am ready to fight for you and lower your cost of living while Ritchie fights for a Genocide. I will focus on Affordable Housing and Books as Ritchie will only focus on AIPAC and Bibi,” a reference to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I will invest in the community. Ritchie invests in Bombs.”

Blake attached a video that focuses heavily on attacking Torres’ support for Israel and the backing he has received from AIPAC, with clips accusing Torres of being “bought” by supporters of Israel and of focusing more on Israel than his own district. At one point, the video shows Torres with dollar signs over his eyes.

“In 2025, Ritchie has nearly $15 million on hand, largely from AIPAC, while many of his constituents barely have $15 to get by,” Blake states in the video. “Ritchie Torres cares more about Bibi than he cares about the Bronx. More about AIPAC than he does about your academics.”

Social media posts by Blake and others show that he was for years a frequent attendee at AIPAC events, having attended no less than 10 of the organization’s events between 2014 and 2019, and was a featured speaker at least once.

“From entrepreneurship, to political organizing, to deepening my faith as a Christian, AIPAC and AIEF [AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation] changed my life forever,” Blake said as a speaker at AIPAC’s 2017 policy conference. “Traveling to Israel made me a better legislator, better activist, and helped me to understand that as a leader within my community and the Democratic Party, I have a responsibility to support America’s friend and ally, Israel.”

Blake traveled to Israel with AIEF and with the New York Jewish Community Relations Council.

As recently as 2020, as a Democratic National Committee vice chair, Blake insisted that the Democratic Party would continue to support Israel, saying of the party platform, “We have been attentive to the previous conversations that have happened in terms of making sure there’s not language in there that would be anti-Israel.”

In a 2020 interview with Jewish Insider, Blake — who posted a photo of Netanyahu speaking at a 2014 AIPAC event — declined to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) characterization of Netanyahu as a “reactionary racist.” And he drew parallels between his experience as a Black man in the Bronx and the experience of Israeli Jews facing terrorism.

Blake also met on various occasions with Israeli officials and diplomats and attended the 2018 Israel Day Parade in Manhattan.

The former state lawmaker made a sharp turn on Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, accusing Israel of “genocide” weeks after Oct. 7 and calling for a ceasefire while making no mention of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. 

He also opposed congressional legislation aimed at combating antisemitism and the censure of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) for antisemitic and anti-Israel comments, and backed former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), who denied Hamas atrocities on Oct. 7.

A pro-Israel activist who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly told JI, “The pro-Israel community is surprised by his 180-degree reversal. Blake spoke at pro-Israel events and received considerable financial support from the community. Once he proclaimed to be a pro-Israel stalwart and now he has joined the ranks of the detractors.”

Blake’s campaign did not respond to questions from JI but he faced criticism and questions on X over his past AIPAC ties. In response, he claimed that he walked away from the group “before the Genocide” and after “seeing how they treated Black leaders including Pres. Obama.”

But Blake’s appearance at an AIPAC conference, and other contacts with the group, continued well after Obama’s time in office and the former president’s public clashes with the group over issues like the Iran nuclear deal.

Blake also downplayed his speech at the 2017 policy conference as having happened eight years ago, even as he continued to attend AIPAC events for years afterward.