Johnny Punish: Major American Zionist and US Veteran! 1

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch dies at 88. Koch often wrote in defense of Israel and, also, against the AIPAC definition of anti Semitism. He was a contributor to Newsmax, a conservative magazine. He also appeared in the documentary FahrenHype 9/11, defending President Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and blasting Michael Moore. Koch was quoted in the film, saying of Moore's film, Fahrenheit 9/11, "It's not a documentary, it's a lie." His brashness and thumbs up confidence, and "How'm I doing?" greeting became symbols of Gotham chutzpah, over his three terms at the city's helm, and while New Yorkers did not always answer Hizzoner's trademark question in the affirmative, Koch couldn't have cared less, as he tried to govern a city that many thought was ungovernable. He finally left City Hall in 1989. "I'm the sort of person who will never get ulcers," he told reporters in 1978. "Why? Because I say exactly what I think. I'm the sort of person who might give other people ulcers." Reverend Al Sharpton, who locked horns through his time as mayor, praised the man he criticized as forthright in a statement on his passing. "He would not patronize or deceive you," said Sharpton, an MSNBC host, remembering that his first arrest for civil disobedience was at a 1978 sit in protesting a Koch policy. He said what he meant. He meant what he said. He fought for what he believed in." Born in the Bronx in 1924, Koch and his family soon decamped to Newark, New Jersey, where he spent his childhood. After graduating from high school at the age of 16, Koch returned to the city he loved, and enrolled at the City College of New York, but his undergraduate studies were interrupted by World War II, when he was drafted in 1943. After serving as an infantryman in Europe, Koch enrolled at New York University Law School. He built up a law practice, before he entered politics, to support Adlai Stevenson's presidential campaign in 1952. Koch's own political career began in earnest in the early 1960s, organizing for the Democratic party in Greenwich Village on Manhattan's west side, In 1963, he ousted Tammany Hall chief Carmine DeSapio, winning a post as a district leader. From 1969 to 1977, Koch served as a congressman representing New York's 17th Congressional District. He mounted an unlikely run for mayor in 1977, ultimately defeating better known candidates, including incumbent Abraham Beame, and congress woman Bella Abzug.