Appointed NY official resigns after old tweets criticizing ‘Israel’

A newly appointed official in Queens borough, New York, stepped down on Monday after tweets from his past criticizing ‘Israel’ circulated social media, local news reported.
Michael Hurwitz was supposed to start his new position as Queens Borough President Donovan Richards’ deputy in February.
However, several tweets written by Hurwitz in the past couple of years were shared online and drew enough attention to make him step down.
Hurwitz’s Twitter account has since been made private.
On Monday night, Richards said in a statement that “for professional and personal reasons” Hurwitz wouldn’t be moving forward in the post as originally announced.
“For professional and personal reasons, Michael Hurwitz will not be moving forward at this time with the Queens Borough President’s Office as Deputy Borough President as originally announced.”
Hurwitz told Queens Daily Eagle that he and Richards “agreed that now is not the best time personally and professionally for me to join as was announced.”
“I’m excited to do good work in Queens and will continue to do that,” he added.
A few of Hurwitz’s tweets focused on denouncing illegal Israeli settlements, while others included criticism of Israeli politicians and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
“#IlanOmar (sic) speaks the truth, that AIPAC $$ influences votes in Cngrss-nuthn 2debate-why I support J st and others promoting a progressive view, condemning settlements and racism but loving the core values. Took no time to apologize and sit with Jews to discuss pain caused,” said one of Hurwitz’s old tweets.
Another tweet said, ““J st” refers to J Street, a liberal, pro-Israel political organization that supports a negotiated resolution between Israel and Palestine.”
In another tweet, Hurwitz, who is Jewish, called right-wing Israeli politician Naftali Bennett a “cancer to Judaism.”
He said to the Eagle that Twitter is not a suitable platform for discussing complex issues like Israel-Palestine or Israel-U.S. relations.
“This is one of the most complex issues out there,” he said. “To try to put it into 250 characters or less was naive.”