obituaries
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How'd I Do?
Ron Kampeas and Uriel Heilman
J TA
Ed Koch
New York
0
ne of the proudest moments of
Ed Koch's life came during a trip
to Israel in 1990, in the midst of
the first Palestinian intifada.
Koch had recently left City Hall after 12
years as mayor of New York City and was
touring Jerusalem when a Palestinian threw
a rock at his group, striking Koch in the
head. A moment, he would say, when "I
shed a little blood for the people of Israel."
It was reflective of the pugnacity of the
man who served three terms as mayor of
New York, spent nine years in Congress,
earned two battle stars as an infantryman
in Europe during World War II, wrote 17
books and spent the last two decades of
his life as a lawyer, talk show host, profes-
sor and even restaurant critic — working
almost to his last day.
Koch, 88, died of congestive heart fail-
ure Feb. 1, 2013, the same day as Koch,
a documentary about his life, opened in
theaters nationwide.
Famous for greeting constituents with
"How'm I doin?," the Jewish mayor pre-
sided over some of the city's most difficult
years, 1978-1989, and helped spur the
recovery that would flourish under one of
his successors, Rudy Giuliani.
Koch got his start in politics as a
Democratic district leader in Greenwich
Village, then worked his way up to City
Council, and in 1968 beat incumbent
Whitney North Seymour Jr., a Republican,
in a race for Congress. In 1977, Koch ran
for mayor, upsetting Abraham Beame,
another Jewish mayor.
Koch won a third term with 78 percent
of the vote, but became the target of black
ire for closing a hospital in Harlem and
for saying that Jews would be "crazy" to
vote for the Rev. Jesse Jackson in the 1988
presidential primary, given Jackson's sup-
port for Palestinians and his 1984 refer-
ence to New York as "Hymietown."
After losing his bid for election to a
fourth term in 1989 when David Dinkins
bested him in the Democratic primary,
Koch retired into a happy existence as a
Jewish "Yoda," blessing or cursing politi-
cal figures as he saw fit.
In later years, Koch seemed to swing
like a pendulum between Democrats and
Republicans and his political imprimatur
was eagerly sought by both sides.
He endorsed Giuliani, a Republican, in
a successful mayoral bid in 1993 against
Dinkins. He often shared — and some-
times took over — the stage at endorse-
ments for other Republicans, including
New York Gov. George Pataki, Sen. Al
D'Amato and New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg.
Koch stumped hard for George W. Bush's
presidential reelection in 2004 and was
not afraid to tell baffled Jewish Democrats
why: Bush had Israel's back, Koch said.
Four years later, he supported Barack
Obama but soon became one of his big-
gest Jewish detractors over the president's
perceived coolness to Israel.
"I believe we are seeing a dramatic
change in the relationship between the
United States and the State of Israel that
adversely affects the State of Israel and it
is being orchestrated by President Barack
Obama," Koch said in early 2010, after
a cool meeting between the president
and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu. "The president, when he
invited the prime minister of Israel,
Netanyahu, to the White House, was
extremely rude to him, treated him as
though he were a Third World tyrant."
In 2011, Koch endorsed Republican
Bob Turner for a special election to fill a
vacant congressional seat in New York.
When Obama subsequently retreated
from criticism of Israel's settlement poli-
cies, Koch claimed credit.
Last year, Koch enthusiastically
endorsed Obama, but in recent weeks he
turned on Obama again, making no secret
of his disappointment in Obama's choice
of Chuck Hagel for secretary of defense.
"Frankly, I thought that there would
come a time when he would renege on
what he conveyed on his support of
Israel," Koch said of Obama in a Jan. 7
interview with the Algemeiner, a Jewish
publication. "It comes a little earlier than
I thought it would."
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