A former Israel Protection Drive officer simply turned the primary Republican elected to a state meeting seat in northern Hempstead, LI, in additional than 50 years.
Daniel Norber, a 45-year-old twin US-Israeli citizen, will occupy the Nassau County seat bordering Queens that was as soon as represented by Democratic state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.
Norber acquired a giant help from President-elect Donald Trump on the prime of the ticket. Trump carried the sixteenth Meeting District by greater than 2,000 votes over Vice President Kamala Harris.
Norber narrowly defeated two-term Democratic incumbent Gina Silitti in a district that features a substantial Jewish inhabitants, together with Nice Neck.
Different communities within the district embrace Manhasset, Port Washington, Roslyn, Merrick, Backyard Metropolis, New Hyde Park, Searingtown and Williston Park.
Antisemitism was a giant problem within the race, one thing Norber, who’s Jewish, particularly takes to coronary heart.
Norber was in Israel final yr on Oct. 7 when the Palestinian terror group Hamas invaded the Jewish state. He talked to The Put up from a bomb shelter whereas together with his spouse, Inbal, and their 4 children: Michelle, 15, Idan, 14, Karin, 10, and Jonathan, 8.
“It was the worst atrocity to Jews because the Holocaust. Israel will not be the identical anymore,” he mentioned, noting its fixed wartime footing.
“I noticed what occurred in Israel. I ought to do no matter I can to stop that from occurring right here.”
He recalled an act of vandalism Aug. 30 on the Shelter Rock Jewish Heart in Searingtown in the district, the place thugs threw crimson paint over a banner that learn, “We stand with Israel, carry them dwelling now,” referring to hostages in Gaza.
Silitti suffered blowback when one among her staffers bashed Israel on social media, Norber added.
“She wasn’t delicate to what was occurring. I felt she was out of contact,” Norber mentioned.
His grandparents survived the Holocaust, and his mom fled communism within the former Soviet Union.
He mentioned his mother and father raised him to grasp service, sacrifice and the significance of freedom.
Born in the US and raised in Israel, Daniel was drafted when he was 17 into the IDF, the place he served as a workers sergeant within the navy police.
He mentioned the MTA’s congestion-pricing plan and an argument over intercourse training within the state had been different burning points that aided his marketing campaign.
Norber will serve within the 150-seat state Meeting, the place Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1.
He mentioned his priorities are repealing cashless bail, reducing taxes and imposing a state masks ban aimed toward stopping lawbreakers from shielding themselves throughout protests.
Nassau County authorized such a ban, “and we have to try this on the state stage,” Norber mentioned.
“It’s about conserving minorities secure. It was in place for the Ku Klux Klan,” he mentioned of the ban.
He mentioned he can work with Democrats and discover frequent floor.
“I can cross celebration strains for the nice of the folks,” Norber mentioned.
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