Ed Koch was, of course, an outspoken supporter of Israel before, during and after his mayoralty. As mayor, he criticized both President Carter and President Reagan for what he saw as their betrayals of Israel.
David Dinkins, New York’s first black mayor (and de Blasio’s former boss), continued the mayoral tradition of participating in pro-Israel rallies and visiting the Jewish state, though he was critical of Israel’s ties with apartheid South Africa.
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 1995 had Yasir Arafat booted from a city-sponsored concert, even as the PLO leader was meeting with American Jewish leaders on the same visit.
De Blasio’s predecessor, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, also spoke up for Israel. On a 2009 solidarity visit to Sderot, the rocket-battered southern Israeli town that de Blasio has also visited, Bloomberg experienced the town’s plight firsthand: He was rushed to a protected room after a rocket was fired from Gaza.
“I think intellectually I understood what the people of Sderot were going through, but this time it’s more etched in my memory and more personal than reading about it or seeing it on television,” Bloomberg said.