Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, has distanced himself from anti-Semitic remarks made by New York politician Lenora Fulani. Bloomberg said that he found the remarks by Fulani, who recently affirmed comments that Jews “had to sell their souls” for the State of Israel and had become “mass murderers of people of color” to keep it, to be “phenomenally offensive.” Fulani also has been accused of labeling Zionism as “Jewish corporate nationalism.” Fulani is one of the leaders of New York’s Independence Party, which backed Bloomberg when he was elected mayor in 2001. Bloomberg, who is Jewish, is running for re-election this year.