Micah Lasher
Asked in a questionnaire whether he would vote to halt arms sales to Israel, Lasher refused to indicate. He would vote to enforce the Leahy Law, and demurred on a bill withholding aid for the West Bank pending review.
Lasher is a New York State Assembly member from Manhattan, a former policy director for Governor Hochul, and the Democratic nominee in New York’s 12th District, running to succeed the retiring Jerry Nadler.
His fullest answers came in a left-leaning campaign questionnaire in January 2026, reported in detail and read in full. On the central question he did not commit either way: he "refused to indicate whether he would vote to halt arms sales to Israel". He said he would be willing to vote to enforce "the Leahy Law and the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961", the statutes barring U.S. military assistance to units credibly implicated in gross human rights violations. He demurred on Rep. Betty McCollum’s bill on Palestinian children under Israeli military occupation, citing "reluctance to commit to a complete withholding of aid for purposes in the West Bank" and saying he needed more time to "closely review" the allegations. He also said he would not back a resolution recognising a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, writing that "definitional" debates do not help secure stability and peace.
The first search reports two further positions from June 2026: that he supports funding Israel’s Iron Dome and opposes conditioning aid in ways that single out Israel, and that at a televised debate he said he did not support the Block the Bombs Act because it would not improve the lives or security of Israelis or Palestinians. Neither was confirmed in the sources opened, so both are on the research page rather than the card.
In March 2024 he told the Columbia Spectator: "I want a lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians, I want the hostages to be returned, I want the war to end, and I would like to see Hamas out of Gaza and Netanyahu out of the Knesset." In June 2026 he said he was "exhausted by the obsession on a plot of land the size of New Jersey".
Research
U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel
- 2026-01 [Current position; card-leading; VERIFIED]: In a campaign questionnaire, per The Algemeiner: he "refused to indicate whether he would vote to halt arms sales to Israel"; "he would be willing to vote in favor of enforcing the 'Leahy Law and the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961'"; and he "demurred" on Rep. Betty McCollum's Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act, showing "reluctance to commit to a complete withholding of aid for purposes in the West Bank" and saying he needed more time to "closely review" the allegations. Read on the page. Also carried by the Jewish Post and News on 2026-01-26.
⚠ **"REFUSED TO INDICATE" IS NOT "OPPOSED".** The first search rendered this as declining to support halting arms sales, which reads as a position against. The source says he would not say either way. The card uses the source's wording, because the difference between declining to answer and answering no is exactly the kind of thing a card must not decide for a candidate.
- 2026-01 [Current position; NOT CONFIRMED]: The first search reports he stated support for funding Israel's Iron Dome and opposition to aid restrictions that single out Israel, and that he would co-sponsor Rep. Nadler's West Bank Violence Prevention Act and reinstate Biden-era sanctions on West Bank settlement activity. Those specific items were not located in the report read. Recorded here as the first search’s.
- 2026-06-08 [Current position; NOT CONFIRMED]: The first search reports that at a candidate forum at B'nai Jeshurun synagogue he reiterated support for funding Iron Dome and opposition to conditioning aid in ways that single out Israel. The two source pages offered, Jewish Insider and JTA, both published 2026-06-09; the JTA piece was opened and carries his "exhausted" remark rather than his aid positions.
- 2026-06-09 [Current position; SOURCE DID NOT OPEN]: The first search reports that at a televised NY-12 primary debate he said he did not support the Block the Bombs Act, arguing it would not improve the lives or security of Israelis or Palestinians. Its only source page is an NY1 Facebook post, which would not open. This is a specific position on a named bill and it is unsourceable, which is the most consequential gap on this record.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
- 2026-01 [Current position; VERIFIED]: The McCollum demurral above is his one located statement bearing on U.S. aid conditioned on Palestinian rights, and it is a reluctance to commit rather than a position.
Characterization of the conflict
- 2024-03-28 [Current position]: Statement to the Columbia Spectator, published 2024-03-31: "I feel a deep, personal connection to Israel and to New York's Jewish community, and am deeply concerned about rising anti-Semitism. I want a lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians, I want the hostages to be returned, I want the war to end, and I would like to see Hamas out of Gaza and Netanyahu out of the Knesset."
- 2026-01 [Current position; VERIFIED]: He "passed on accusing the Jewish state of committing a 'genocide' in Gaza" and said he would not support Rep. Tlaib's resolution recognising one, writing that he does not believe "definitional" debates are helpful or serve stability and peace in the region.
- 2026-06-08 [Current position]: At the synagogue forum, per the first search: "I care about the survival of Israel as a Jewish state. I am heartbroken by the killing of Palestinians. I will look at every policy question through those lenses", and that he spends a "great deal of time wrestling with the challenges, and the horrors, of what is going on in Israel."
- 2026-08-05 [Current position]: A Times of Israel blog post among the sources; an opinion blog rather than reporting.
Rhetoric and lobbying
- 2024-03-28 [Current position]: He welcomed an endorsement from Solidarity PAC, a state-level pro-Israel committee, on the express condition that it do no independent outside spending in his race (Columbia Spectator). A condition on outside money, not a position on weapons or funding.
- 2026-06-08 [Current position; VERIFIED IN PART]: JTA confirms he said he is "exhausted" by the amount of focus given to Israel in the race. The first search’s fuller quotes, "exhausted by the obsession on a plot of land the size of New Jersey" and "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", were not located verbatim in the text as read.
- 2026-06-10 [Current position]: JTA on his outreach to Jewish voters before the primary.
- His Assembly biography and Wikipedia page carry nothing in scope.
Safety and antisemitism
[Context only, never the answer to what America sends. Campus measures are named out of scope by the content rule.]
- 2025-02-10 [Current position; out of scope]: As an Assembly member he co-introduced the ACCESS Act, requiring higher standards of colleges and universities on harassment and discrimination, citing the rise in antisemitic incidents after October 2023.
- 2025 to 2026 [Current position]: He authored Assembly legislation creating buffer zones around houses of worship.
- 2026-08 [Current position]: After a stabbing of a Jewish man outside a Jewish centre on the Upper West Side he urged city leaders including Mayor Mamdani to "take the temperature down".
- A Forward opinion piece among the sources would not open and does not name him.
What came back empty or unusable
- The Block the Bombs Act position, his most specific stated view on a named bill, has no source page that opens.
- The Iron Dome and single-out-Israel positions were not confirmed in any source opened, though they are reported twice by the first search from two different occasions.
- Two YouTube shorts carry no retrievable text; one Forward piece would not open; one NY1 Facebook post would not open.
Also in this race: Caroline Shinkle (Republican) · All New York candidates.
See the full record →But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. Every claim on this page goes through at least two verification steps. Open the interactive card for votes, funding and contact details.