New York mayor candidate condemns Israel as 'apartheid' state

Morales, a former non-profit CEO, said Israel was an "apartheid state" in a conversation with Jewish high school students in December, The Forward reported on Saturday.

"I cannot advocate for equity and justice in New York City and turn a blind eye to the challenges around those issues in Israel and with the folks living in Gaza and in Palestine," Morales was heard saying.

"I think everybody has a right to live in dignity, everybody has a right to a home, everybody has a right to their land. No one has the right to do that at the expense of someone else, someone else's freedom in particular. And that’s problematic to me," she added.

Morales also spoke out against sponsored trips to Israel for elected politicians and business leaders.

She described as a "propaganda trip" a tour she went on in 2015 that was arranged by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York.

The former public school teacher said she would not rule out future trips to occupied territoreis of Palestine but implied she would not participate in such "propaganda trips".

Morales joins several other progressive Democrats who have in recent years expressed fierce condemnation of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Florida Democrat William Byatt, Georgia politician Raphael Warnock and Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib have also referred to Israel as an apartheid state.