Ed Koch’s Jewishness and His First Trip to Israel
In a tweet Jeffrey Goldberg called Ed Koch “An utterly unique New Yorker, a charismatic leader, and an upstanding Jew.” Jonathan Soffer’s book Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City contains some interesting details about Koch’s relationship to Judaism and Israel. The first source is about some of Koch’s experiences in Congress as a Jew. (pp. 82-83)
Here is a description of Koch’s first trip to Israel. (p. 85)
There is also an interesting tidbit about Koch’s second trip to Israel that was soon after the Yom Kippur War. This includes a description about Congressman Charlie Wilson and his support for Israel.(p. 86)
Koch also had a close relationship with the former mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek. According to this article from the Israeli paper Maariv (Sept. 23, 1980), Koch even tried to push Kollek to run for the office of Prime Minister.
May his memory be for a blessing.
