More than 700 pro-Israel rabbis have signed onto an open letter published on Friday calling on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to retract his comments likening the pro-Israel lobbying group Aipac to “monsters”.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is among the most powerful advocacy groups working on foreign policy in the US, spending millions to oust political candidates who are critical of Israel.

The letter was organised by the relatively new advocacy group The Jewish Majority, founded by an Aipac veteran of nearly two decades, Jonathan Schulman.