At an intimate dinner in 2023, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman received a special gift from the Israeli government.
asserted
Blakeman → receive → government
Israeli Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu had traveled all the way to Cedarhurst, New York, to present the Long Island Republican with an enlarged replica of an ancient coin.
asserted
Eliyahu → travel → coin
“I graciously accept this on behalf of all the people of Nassau County and the people of the United States of America who love Israel,” he said to Eliyahu, in a video of the event that has since been deleted from YouTube.
asserted
that → accept → YouTube
Blakeman, who is now running for governor of New York, is a staunch supporter of the Israeli government.
asserted
who → run → government
At a time when Americans across the political spectrum are becoming increasingly critical of Israel, Blakeman’s record stands out.
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record → become → Israel
He has a long history of embracing far-right figures associated with the Israeli settler movement, which, since 1967, has been encroaching on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.
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which → have → Bank
Last year, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion stating that “Israel must immediately cease all new settlement activity” and return all West Bank land and property.
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Israel → issue → land
But since then, violent settler attacks on Palestinians and settlement construction backed by the Israeli government have continued.
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attacks → back → government
Yossi Dagan, an influential Israeli official who has lobbied US lawmakers in support of settler interests, told the Hebrew-language news outlet Arutz Sheva in 2021 that Blakeman is a “strategic asset” not only for his New York constituents, but also for “the State of Israel and Samaria.”
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Blakeman → lobby → Israel
Blakeman’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for an interview or a detailed email outlining this story.
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campaign → respond → story
On the campaign trail, Blakeman has touted himself as the candidate who can bring safety and security to New York’s Jewish community.
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who → tout → community
He has said that if elected, he could “stop” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whom Blakeman has frequently—and baselessly—called an antisemite.
uncertain
Blakeman → say → whom
Blakeman has seized on Mamdani’s alliance with the incumbent governor he’s hoping to defeat: Democrat Kathy Hochul.
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he → seize → governor
Mamdani has drawn the ire of right-wing Israel supporters for his consistent public remarks accusing Israel of genocide and his release of a video calling for the arrest and trial of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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Mamdani → draw → Netanyahu
Many leading experts say Israel’s attacks on Gaza amount to genocide, and the International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest on war crimes charges.
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Court → say → charges
Beyond his criticism of Mamdani, Blakeman has been a vocal antagonist of the pro-Palestine protest movement across New York, even visiting Columbia University in 2024 amidst a burgeoning student protest encampment.
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Blakeman → visit → encampment
“These people that are protesting are professional protesters, they are anti-American,” Blakeman said at Columbia.
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Blakeman → protest → Columbia
Months later, he signed into law a mask-ban prohibiting the use of facial coverings to conceal one’s identity in public in Nassau County.
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he → sign → County
According to the Long Island Press, the measure was introduced by another Republican, who “argued for the law’s necessity in the wake of pro-Palestine protests across the country.”
uncertain
who → accord → country
Protesters have often covered their faces to protect themselves from pro-Israel groups that publicly identify activists.
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that → cover → activists
If elected governor, Blakeman has said he would push for a mask-ban statewide.
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he → elect → ban
As a congressional candidate in 2014, he traveled to Israel and met with Dagan and numerous other government officials, according to Arutz Sheva.
uncertain
he → travel → Sheva
On that trip, Blakeman visited East Jerusalem on a tour hosted by Ateret Cohanim, a group that has worked to methodically take over real estate in the area and evict Palestinian residents.
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that → visit → residents
As a Hempstead town councilman and later as Nassau County executive, Blakeman has worked explicitly to link Long Island’s municipal governments with the Israeli settlement enterprise in the occupied territories.
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Blakeman → work → territories
He signed partnership agreements, in 2016 and 2022, with Dagan’s Shomron Regional Council and the Binyamin Regional Council—Israeli governmental entities that oversee settler communities in the West Bank.
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that → sign → Bank
In November 2025, Blakeman signed a cooperative agreement with the Har Hevron Regional Council, which recently hosted a conference featuring US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
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which → sign → Huckabee
“I love Judea and Samaria,” Blakeman said at the signing of the agreement.
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Blakeman → love → agreement
“I love the spirit of the people there.”
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I → love → people
The Har Hevron council administers Israeli settlements around Hebron, where Israel’s ultra-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir lives in an enclave called Kiryat Arba.
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Gvir → administer → enclave
The Guardian has reported that “Ben-Gvir hung a portrait of the mass murderer Baruch Goldstein on the wall of his living room for years.”
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Gvir → report → years
In 1994, Goldstein, an American settler living in Kiryat Arba, entered Hebron’s Ibrahimi mosque and killed 29 Palestinians in a mass shooting.
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Goldstein → live → shooting
The killing led Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to designate the Kach party—to which Goldstein belonged—as a terrorist organization.
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Goldstein → lead → organization
In 1995, as a 19-year old, Ben-Gvir appeared on television brandishing a Cadillac emblem he said was stolen from Rabin’s car, while stating: “We got to his car, and we’ll get to him, too.”
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we → appear → him
Weeks later, Rabin was shot dead by Jewish extremist Yigal Amir.
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Rabin → shoot → Amir
In 2019, even AIPAC denounced Ben-Gvir’s Oztma Yehudit—or Jewish Power—party as “racist and reprehensible,” and in recent years, 10 countries have banned him from entering their territory.
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countries → denounce → territory
But since 2023, Ben-Gvir has served in Netanyahu’s cabinet, a perch from which he’s called for the “voluntary emigration” of nearly 2 million Palestinians from Gaza and a campaign of targeted assassinations there killing 30 to 40 people “every night.”
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he → serve → people
Eliyahu—the Israeli official who gave Blakeman the replica coin—is also a member of Ben-Gvir’s party.
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who → give → party
Months after meeting with Blakeman in 2023, Eliyahu expressed openness to using a nuclear bomb in Gaza.
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Eliyahu → meet → Gaza
He later claimed the comment had been “metaphorical,” but Netanyahu suspended him from the Israeli cabinet.
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Netanyahu → claim → cabinet
Blakeman met directly with Ben-Gvir in April 2025, welcoming him to Nassau County with a police honor guard.
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Blakeman → meet → guard
…and 22 more, not listed.
The Aporia
