The ongoing feud between U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres and anti-war progressives over his staunch support of Israel shows no signs of slowing.
The Bronx congress member has been an outspoken supporter of Israel since Hamas launched a bloody terrorist attack on Oct. 7 that killed more than 1,500 people, and thrust the region into conflict. Torres also slammed the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) the day after when the left-wing organization promoted a pro-Palestine rally in Midtown.
DSA members have, in turn, denounced Torres, and have seemingly launched a campaign in the Bronx to garner public support for their side. On Saturday, Oct. 28, a group of DSA members went to the Bronx where they criticized Torres on his pro-Israel stance and claimed Bronx residents want a cease fire in Gaza.
But, as Torres and social media users pointed out, the rally occurred at a location that’s not even in his district. Rather, it took place at a Chase bank on 5581 Broadway, which is in U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat’s realm.
Still, the DSA’s protest came just days after more than 70 protesters held a rally outside Torres’ district office on East Fordham Road, where they chastised him for backing the Jewish state and his support of U.S. weapons being used by Israel.
The crowd, holding signs such as “Resistance is justified when people are occupied,” walked from his office to the U.S. Army recruitment center on Fordham Road. They shouted at the Oct. 24 rally: “Ritchie Torres what do you say? How many kids have you killed today,” and “Ritchie Torres you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide.”
Torres fired back at the DSA and progressives on social media Saturday, stating that the DSA “promoted a rally [held Oct. 8] glorifying the terrorism of Hamas.”
He wrote the DSA is “radioactive” in New York politics and described the political organization as “a bunch of trust-fund babies and hipsters that knows nothing about the Bronx” and the “appeal of DSA is confined to white gentrifiers. Communities of color have no use for it.”
The DSA is organizing against me—in the wrong Congressional District!
The Chase Bank at 5581 Broadway is in the neighboring district, not mine.The DSA is a bunch of trust-fund babies and hipsters that knows nothing about the Bronx and has never won a race in the Bronx… https://t.co/v5FI6v9rHo
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) October 29, 2023
However, the Oct. 24 rally outside Torres’ district office — organized by the Bronx Anti-War Coalition — did include a diverse crowd of people of various races and ages, with some likening the Palestinian cause to the U.S. takeover of Puerto Rico.
The protesters slapped posters on Torres’ office gate, which was closed at the time, that read “Free Palestine” among the many messages.
Rallygoers also held signs “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free,” which many say is an antisemitic call for the destruction of Israel.
One protester, Alex Wolf, a biology professor at Bronx Community College, told the Bronx Times he turned out to criticize Torres since the congress member “sat down with [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu.”
Wolf’s statement seemed to echo similar remarks from the DSA, which blamed “the far-right Netanyahu government’s escalating human rights violations and explicitly genocidal rhetoric, and the dehumanization of the Palestinian people” as “the root causes of violence in the region.”
Support for both Torres and Israel
But many of Torres’ supporters argue that he is merely standing up against Hamas, which killed more than 1,400 Israelis and seek to destroy the Jewish state.
In fact, on the day rallygoers marched outside Torres’ office, as many as 500 people gathered in Riverdale — the pockets within his congressional district that boasts the largest Jewish population — to praise Torres and to voice their support for Israel.
The attendees, many of them students at Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy, donned Israeli flags as capes and chanted Torres’ name in between impassioned speeches by local politicians and rabbis calling for unwavering support of Israel in its quest to “eradicate Hamas” and secure Israel as the Jewish homeland.
“We have got to stand up, stand tall and stand together in support of Israel, especially now and more than ever,” said state Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz. “We have to demand the release of hostages now, and we have to stand with our Congressman Ritchie Torres as he fights for us and fights for Israel and fights against antisemitism.”
The assemblymember was joined by Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson and City Council Member Eric Dinowitz, his son.
“Ritchie Torres, keep doing the work,” said Gibson. “We cannot falter in the face of hatred and antisemitism and bigotry and discrimination and violence.”
Torres, who received more $140,000 in campaign donations from members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in his last election cycle, has called for Hamas to “have the same fate as Al-Qaeda”. He has made several public statements affirming his support for Israel and backing its military response.
“Those calling for a ceasefire in the name of ‘love’ have no love for Israel,” Torres posted on X. “Calling for a ceasefire without calling for the release of hostages. Is that an act of love? With love like this, who needs ‘hate’?”
Correction: This article was updated on Oct. 31 at 6:48 p.m. to reflect that the district in the Bronx visited on Saturday by members of the DSA, was actually the congressional district of U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, not Jamaal Bowman.
For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
