Six NYC Council Members Taken to Task for Failing to Support Resolution on Establishment of “End Jew Hatred Day”

Six NYC Council Members Taken to Task for Failing to Support Resolution on Establishment of “End Jew Hatred Day”

Edited by: Fern Sidman

While anti-Semitism continues to soar at frightening levels in New York City and throughout the United States, it would appear that in such a populous city that is known for its racial and religious diversity, that there would no one who would oppose a resolution calling for the condemnation of Jew hatred. Time to think again.

On Thursday, the New York City Council passed a resolution declaring April 29th as “End Jew Hatred Day,” but the decision of six council members, one of whom represents a predominantly Jewish neighborhood, to oppose or abstain from voting on the measure has drawn a chorus of outrage from federal legislators, city lawmakers, and local Jewish community leaders, as was reported by Algemeiner.com.

Brooklyn council members Shahana Hanif (D), who represents Borough Park and Park Slope, and Sandra Nurse (D), who represents Bushwick, each voted “no,” while Charles Barron (D), democratic socialist Alexa Viles (D), Rita Joseph (D), and Jennifer Gutiérrez (D) all abstained from Thursday’s vote, the report indicated.

Sponsoring the resolution was Inna Vernikov, a Republican city council member who represents the predominantly Jewish 48^th city council district in Brooklyn. Having crafted a sterling record of championing the rights of Jews and fighting discrimination since her election to office, Vernikov did not back down in her quest to spotlight the egregious scourge of visceral Jew hatred that has gripped this city.

Speaking to the New York Post, Ms. Vernikov said: “After speaking on the floor about the atrocities of the Holocaust, I was sick to my stomach listening to the explanations on the NO votes and abstentions on a simple resolution asking to proclaim a day to End Jew Hatred.”

She added that, “It is unacceptable and deeply hurtful to hear elected officials say NO to ending anti-Semitism. To those who escaped gas chambers and horrors of the Holocaust, I am ashamed.”

In his explanation for not voting, Barron insisted it was not due to anti-Semitic beliefs – but then shockingly went on to blast Jewish people for doing “nothing about African people dying,” the Post reported.

“Leaders in the Jewish community even supported apartheid in racist South Africa and said nothing about African people dying,” he said during the Thursday hearing, according to the Post report.

He added that, “So it was difficult for us to get up here and I’m not afraid to say it because of what people might think. But if we read history, and if we read all of the dynamics of what’s going on around race in this city, you will see people are resenting that — you’ll see that when people are not pro-anti-Semitic, they’re  just anti- the inconsistency of the Jewish community.”

The Algemeiner reported that Barron, who has asserted that “the Semites are black” and has compared Israel’s military actions to the Holocaust, describing Gaza as a “death camp,” has been accused for years of being anti-Semitic by organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Last June, he disrupted a city council hearing on anti-Semitism, shouting that Israel is a “terrorist state.”

The Post reported that Barron has allegedly been linked to the radical New Black Panther Party. In 2003, he refused to support a resolution denouncing anti-Semitic remarks made by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed, the paper reported.

“I will be voting against any resolution pro-Israel in this council until this council has the heart to be fair with the Palestinian cause and come up with a similar resolution,” Barron said at the time, as was reported by the Post.

Shahana Hanif, who is the first the first Muslim woman elected to the city council, denied on the floor of the council that voting against the measure makes her anti-Semitic and called the accusation “extremely disrespectful” while insisting, “I continue to show up for our Jewish colleagues and communities,” as was reported by the Algemeiner.com.

The Post reported that Hanif, who co-chairs the progressive caucus in the city council said she opposed the End Jew Hatred movement because of partisan issues. She asserted that the resolution was produced by what she called “far-right” Republicans, with whom she refused to collaborate.

“They have not stood up for Muslims. They have not stood up for trans New Yorkers, or anybody,” she told the floor, in reference to the conservatives, as was reported by the Post.

She added that, “I’ve not seen my colleagues step up — those who introduced this legislation — to support our trans siblings.”

In a statement sent to the media, Hanif’s office said: “The Council Member does not believe that supporting resolutions sponsored by far-right Republican politicians, who invoke persecution in one breath and then turn around and support Republican governors who are demonizing trans youth, will further efforts to address hate crimes in our City.”

One of the council members who abstained in the resolution vote was Jennifer Gutiérrez. The Algemeiner.com reported that in a 2021 questionnaire by New York Jewish Agenda, which is part of the left-wing Progressive Israel Network, she did not answer a question about her position on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

Gutiérrez claimed nonetheless that she was committed to “fighting anti-Semitism wherever we see it,” as was reported by the Algemeiner.com.

Joining Vernikov in her outrage over those council members who failed to support the resolution was New York Congressman Ritchie Torres, a progressive Democrat. The Alegemeiner.com reported that he expressed his criticism of those who did not support the resolution by writing on Twitter that “anti-Semitism has a long and ugly history. How can anyone vote against a resolution to end anti-Semitism?”

Also taking to Twitter to express his views on this matter was Simcha Eichenstein, a New York State Assembly member who lives in Hanif’s district. He said, ““With all due respect Shahana Hanif, as a proud Orthodox Jew and a constituent of yours, I’m appalled by your NO vote on today’s New York City Council resolution to End Jew Hatred. Does my council member want Jew hatred to continue?”

In a statement released to the media, NY Republican party chairman Ed Cox said, “Jewish New Yorkers have increasingly been targets of anti-Semitic violence. Radical Democrats’ refusal to even acknowledge this reality and to express support for this historically victimized community demonstrates their abandonment of decency and takeover by the socialist, anti-Semitic far left.”

The bill’s language focused mostly on anti-Semitism and cited a recent Anti-Defamation League’s audit report that found anti-Jewish attacks were on the rise, the Post reported.

Specifically, the resolution noted that a record high of 2,717 anti-Semitic attacks had been reported across the US in 2021 — including 416 in New York State alone. The Post reported that the bill also relied on data from the Americans Against Anti-Semitism non-profit, founded in 2019 by former Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind. It that said nearly 200 cases of anti-Jewish hate crime assaults had taken place in the Big Apple between April 2018 and August of last year. The data also shows that Hasidic and Orthodox Jews in New York City are overwhelmingly represented in the area’s hate crime statistics, being targeted in 94 percent of all cases reported, according to the Algemeiner.com.

New York State and Long Island’s Nassau County have already declared April 29 End Jew Hatred Day.

The Algemeiner.com reported that Brooke Goldstein, the co-founder of End Jew Hatred, a nonprofit that proposed “End Jew Hatred Day” to create “a nonpartisan day of pride, unity, and solidarity with the Jewish community,” said opposition to the resolution is “shocking,” adding that “there are people today who would literally vote no to ending hatred against Jews.”