NEW YORK — A candidate in a New York City congressional campaign lamented the “obsession” with Israel in US politics during an event on Monday, reflecting frustration among American Jews with how issues related to Israel have become pervasive in politics.

New York State Assemblymember Micah Lasher was asked about the Democratic Party’s increasing antagonism toward Israel and the question of US aid to Israel during the forum at the B’nai Jeshurun Synagogue on the Upper West Side.

Lasher, a Jewish centrist, is one of the leading candidates in the race for New York’s 12th Congressional District.

“I spend a great deal of time wrestling with the challenges and the horrors of what is going on in Israel. I am not obsessed with Israel, and I worry, sometimes, that our political dialogue and the political dialogue in this race is obsessed with Israel,” Lasher said.

The moderator, New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg, interjected, saying, “Well, we’re in a synagogue.”

“As the leading proponents of the idea that antisemitism is different from anti-Zionism will tell you, being in a........

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