Politics

‘Your Antisemitism Is Showing’: New York City Council Members Refuse To Vote For ‘End Jewish Hatred’ Resolution 

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Two members of the New York City Council refused to vote in favor of a resolution Thursday that would recognize April 29 as “End Jew Hatred Day,” claiming that the Jewish community did not support transgender, Muslim and Palestinian communities enough, according to the Forward.

The resolution was introduced by Republican council member Inna Vernikov, who is also Jewish, but four council members refrained from voting, and two refused to support the measure, according to the Forward. Shahana Hanif and Charles Barron voted against the resolution Thursday blaming the “right-wing organizations” and the Jewish community for their support of Israel and not the trans or Palestinian communities.

“They have not stood up for Muslims,” Hanif said, according to the Forward. “They have not stood up for trans New Yorkers or anybody. And I’ve not seen my colleagues step up those who introduced this legislation to support our trans siblings.”

6 elected officials in NYC refused to vote for a resolution to #EndJewHatred.

Antisemitism has a long and ugly history. It has seen a resurgence in NYC with a record # of hate crimes. How can anyone vote against a resolution to end Antisemitism?

— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) April 28, 2023

Barron, who has a history of making anti-Israel remarks, said he would not vote for the resolution because of the Jewish community’s “hatred of the Palestinian people, like the state of Israel murdering Palestinian women and children and stealing the land of people in Palestine … [and] leaders in the Jewish community even supported apartheid and racist South Africa and said nothing about African people dying.”

Vernikov introduced the resolution in response to reports that antisemitic incidents had increased significantly over the past several years. Annual hate crime statistics from the FBI found that there had been over 800 incidents in 2021 and that antisemitic assaults had increased by 16% from 2020 to 2021.

Vernikov told the Forward that Hanif and Barron’s refusal to support the proposal and their allegations about Israel and the Jewish community were “sickening.”

“Your antisemitism is showing,” she told the six who opposed the resolution, according to the Forward.

Hanif and Barron did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.