Dov Hikind, a politician and activist in Brooklyn for decades, announced on Thursday that he has left the Democratic Party and joined the Republican Party.
According to Fox News, Hikind represented his Brooklyn neighborhood for 36 years in the New York State Assembly before founding Americans Against Antisemitism.
Twitter-posted video of Hikind announcing his change of party.
“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!” he wrote.
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
“It took a long time, but I am delighted to join the Republican Party. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party has become so radicalized, so radical, run by the radicals, that people who are moderates or conservative are not welcome in the Democratic Party,” he said in a video with his wife, Shani.
“I’ve had enough,” he added.
Hikind, a devoted supporter of Israel, remarked that the Democrats’ anti-Israel discourse has soured him on the party he once supported.
“The Democratic Party has turned its back on its friends, like Israel,” he said, as has “the Biden administration, right now, in policy after policy.”
According to Fox News, Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington recently referred to Israel as a “racist state,” and Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a leader of the House “squad” of progressives, led a boycott of an address to Congress by Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
The Democratic party is dead. The radical Progressives are in full control. Its time to jump Ship. @POTUS you are responsible. https://t.co/RdFtCjVdvO
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) July 16, 2023
Shani Hikind referred to the change as “the right move” for “all of us who feel the Democratic Party no longer represents our interests, what we stand for, and our values” in a Twitter video.
Hikind said their departure was a “message to the Biden administration, a message to the Democratic Party.”
She added: “We’re losing the American people because you are not representing our values. You are not representing … the Democratic Party that my parents were so proud of.”
House minus 9 reps passes resolution supporting Israel & stating "Israel is not a racist or apartheid state." The following members showed their true antisemitic colors:@AOC @RepRashida @IlhanMN @JamaalBowmanNY @repdeliaramirez @CoriBush @RepSummerLee @RepAndreCarson @RepPressley… pic.twitter.com/4OeyfqQCf7
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) July 19, 2023
Fox News reports that over one million Americans have shifted their party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in the past year.
Hikin has been an outspoken leader in the struggle against Jewish persecution.
“Things now are worse than ever in my lifetime. There is something different right now,” he said in a recent interview with the Jewish News Syndicate.
According to Hikind, the media does little to aid.
“Most media don’t want to talk about where the hate is coming from and why it’s there,” he said. “They prefer to talk about white supremacy instead of what is happening in New York, that has nothing to do with white supremacy.”