ALBANY — The campaign manager for Bronx state Senate candidate Oliver Koppell — a former field director for the Working Families Party — was fired Wednesday after The Post questioned anti-Israel rants the aide had posted on his Facebook page.
“We live in the United States of Israel,” Robert Byrd Akleh wrote Sept. 21, 2011, the same day President Obama told the United Nations that America’s commitment to Israel was unshakable. A year later, Akleh was again railing against the Jewish state — this time for upsetting his outing to a Mets game.
“Just my luck. I go to Citi Field to watch the Mets game and it turns out to be celebrate Israel night smh!!!! [shaking my head]” he complained on May 30, 2012.
Israel wasn’t the only target of his social-media ire.
Akleh blasted Gov. Cuomo as a “s–tbird” just three months ago, when state budget negotiations were in full swing.
“Going up to Albany again to tell that s—tbird Cuomo to get his budget right and not to bite the hands that feed,” Akleh wrote on March 20.
When contacted by The Post, Wednesday and asked for comment, Akleh responded by saying, “Why should I?”
When asked about specific Facebook posts attacking Israel, he muttered, “No comment.”
Koppell, a former city councilman who served as state attorney general, is trying to unseat state Sen. Jeff Klein in a district that includes a large number of Jewish voters, including in his Riverdale base.
Koppell fired Akleh soon after The Post alerted him to the posts.
“They certainly do not represent my views or the views of this campaign,” Koppell said.
Not being proficient with social-media sites, Koppell said he did a background check on Akleh before hiring him May 19 but didn’t spot the posts targeting Israel and Cuomo.
Koppell has said publicly the chief reason he intended to challenge Klein was because Klein is part of the breakaway Independent Democratic Caucus, which shares power with Republicans in running the Senate.
But Wednesday night, the IDC announced it is committed to forming a new coalition with mainstream Democrats