NYC mayoral candidate: Israel is an ‘apartheid’ state

(INN) New York City mayoral candidate Dianne Morales called Israel an “apartheid state,” The Forward reported Saturday.

In a December recording obtained by The Forward, Morales can be heard speaking with Jewish high school students, saying that she “cannot advocate for equity and justice in New York City and turn a blind eye to the challenges around those issues in Israel and with the folks living in Gaza and in Palestine.”

“I think everybody has a right to live in dignity, everybody has a right to a home, everybody has a right to their land. No one has the right to do that at the expense of someone else, someone else’s freedom in particular. And that’s problematic to me.”

In addition to her claims of apartheid, she said that although she would not rule out future trips to Israel, she would also not participate in “propaganda trips,” such as the one she went on in 2015, which was arranged by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, The Forward added.

Morales, a former non-profit CEO and public school teacher, is currently polling at approximately three percent.