Israel is playing an outsized role in a heated New York City mayoral race. Will it matter?

The race has turned into an Israel-Palestine proxy war of sorts, even as voters on both sides wish the focus remained on local issues

Speaking from a Jerusalem bomb shelter last week as Iran and Israel exchanged fire, a New York state senator posted a video message to New York City voters: There is a mayoral primary coming up this week where one of the candidates does not believe the Jewish state has a right to exist," said Sam Sutton, the senator from Brooklyn. We don't want to be in a situation like this in America."

Sutton called on New Yorkers to elect a great friend of the Jewish people": Andrew Cuomo, New York's former governor.