Here’s some news that won’t make you fall off your chair: former NY Assembly Member from the 48th district (Borough Park and Midwood, in Brooklyn) Dov Hikind, 73, on Thursday, renounced his membership in the Democratic Party and registered officially as a Republican.
Given that during his time in office, spanning from 1983 to 2019, Hikind endorsed George Pataki and Lee Zeldin for governor, G.W. Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Donald Trump for president, and Michael Bloomberg (when he was a Republican), folks assumed he had been a Republican all along, or, as the kids say it these days, Hikind was a dyed-in-the-wool DINO (Democrat in Name Only).
IT’S OFFICIAL: My wife and I have switched our party affiliation from Democrat to Republican!
Ppl have long been asking, “Dov, when are you gonna leave the Democratic Party?”
Well, the time has come bc the Dems have turned their back on Jews & Israel, so it’s officially done! pic.twitter.com/VAlGaaALDO
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) July 20, 2023
Hikind tweeted on Thursday (which is why our headline suggests he woke up a Republican on Friday): “IT’S OFFICIAL (sic.): My wife and I have switched our party affiliation from Democrat to Republican! People have long been asking, ‘Dov, when are you gonna leave the Democratic Party?’ Well, the time has come because the Dems have turned their back on Jews & Israel, so it’s officially done!”
But even before he slammed the door on the Democratic Party for good, Hikind was no stranger to Republican politics. He ran in the Republican primary election for the Assembly in 2016, and in the general election, he ran on the Democratic, Conservative, and Republican tickets to win his seat for the last time.
In 2014, Hikind trounced the Republican candidate Nachman Caller, running on the Democratic and Conservative tickets.
A year after leaving office, Hikind sued Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for blocking him on Twitter, and she apologized. So, also not something a Democratic statesman would be happy to do, sue a major force in the party.
In Thursday’s tweet, Hikind stated that he was leaving the Dems over their treatment of Jews and Israel, so, I asked ChatGPT to describe his record on these two issues. Here goes:
As of my last update in September 2021, Dov Hikind is a prominent American politician and activist known for his strong advocacy for the Jewish community and Israel. He served as a New York State Assemblyman representing the Borough Park, Brooklyn area for over three decades before retiring in 2019. During his time in office, Hikind was considered one of the most influential Jewish politicians in New York.
Dov Hikind’s views on Jews and Israel are deeply rooted in his identity as an Orthodox Jew. He has been a vocal and unwavering supporter of Israel and its right to exist as a Jewish state. Throughout his political career, Hikind consistently defended Israel’s security policies and its position in the Middle East.
As an advocate for the Jewish community, Hikind has been involved in various initiatives to combat anti-Semitism and promote Jewish culture and heritage. He has been known for speaking out against instances of anti-Semitism, both within the United States and internationally.
It is important to note that public figures’ views can evolve or change over time, and there may have been developments or changes in Hikind’s stance on certain issues since my last update. For the most up-to-date information on Dov Hikind’s views, I recommend checking reliable news sources and his official statements.
Wiki added this:
Hikind is a pro-Israel activist. In the 1980s he was a member of the Jewish Defense League and a follower of Meir Kahane. He was also friends with activist Chaim Ben Pesach. Hikind broke with Kahane after Kahane moved to Israel and became more aggressive in his views against Arabs. In an interview with Robert I. Friedman, Hikind stated that he supported forming a group of “intelligent professionals” to assassinate Nazis and Arab-American supporters of the Palestine Liberation Organization. In 2001, he argued that the Madame Tussauds New York wax museum should remove its wax statue of the Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat, saying that he was a terrorist whose image should not be in New York.
Here’s to you, new Brooklyn Republican Dov Hikind, let everyone reading this item mention this great friend of the Jews and Israel tonight and include a blessing for him in your kiddush, and may he have nothing but joy in his political and all other choices.
