GOP governor nominee calls Jewish rival a Nazi collaborator over Israel views

Bruce Blakeman called Brad Lander a “collaborator” with the Nazis after the New York City progressive won a Democratic primary for Congress, pushing an Israel fight into one of the sharpest Jewish political clashes of the 2026 cycle. Both men are Jewish.

Blakeman, the Republican nominee for governor of New York and Nassau County executive, made the comments during a June 25 interview on Newsmax. He said Lander “would be a camp guard in the concentration camp if he could” because of Lander’s views on Israel, then later softened but did not retract the charge, saying, “Maybe camp guard was too strong, but certainly collaborator.”

The attack came one day after Lander defeated Rep. Dan Goldman in the Democratic primary for New York’s 10th Congressional District, a race that centered heavily on disputes over Israel and the Gaza war. The district covers lower Manhattan and part of Brooklyn and is considered safely Democratic in the general election. Lander, a former New York City comptroller and longtime progressive city politician, has aligned himself with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and has criticized U.S. military aid to Israel, positions that have made him a target for intraparty opponents.

Jewish groups and Democratic officials moved quickly to condemn Blakeman’s remarks, and Lander called for an apology. The criticism underscored how quickly Holocaust language can escalate from campaign insult to political red line when it is aimed at a Jewish candidate in a race already defined by disputes over Israel.

The episode also exposed the brittle state of Jewish politics in New York, where party lines and identity lines no longer map cleanly onto each other. Blakeman’s comments placed him, a Republican seeking statewide office, against a Jewish rival whose own activism on Israel has helped drive his rise within the city’s left wing. The reaction now puts pressure on both campaigns to answer whether condemnation alone is enough, or whether language invoking Nazi collaboration will carry any real political consequences.