MESSAGE
| DATE | 2020-08-15 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Brooklyn Politics getting heavy
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https://www.kingscountypolitics.com/bklyn-officials-rip-dsa-for-targeting-israel-in-questionnaire/
Comments
Most, but not all Brooklyn officials – both Jewish and non-Jewish – were
quick to condemn news that the New York City branch of the Democratic
Socialists of America (DSA) has been asking candidates seeking their
support to run for city council seats next year if they will “pledge not
to travel to Israel if elected to City Council in solidarity with
Palestinians living under occupation?”
The questionnaire also asked the candidates if they supported the
controversial Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement (BDA) movement
against Israel for it’s policies towards Palestinians and if they did
not, to explain why.
While the news of this new questionnaire was first reported in a Tweet
by NY1’s Zack Fink today, it came after KCP reported last week in an
interview with NYC DSA Co-Chair Sumathy Kumar that the political
organization supported the BDS movement, which many consider being
antisemitic for singling out Israel on a complex issue. In the KCP
interview, Kumar also refuses to answer if the DSA supports the
existence of the state of Israel.
“This is rank antisemitism, and has no place in our city, which has the
largest Jewish population in the world outside of Israel,” members of
the New York City Council’s Jewish Caucus said in a statement on Friday.
“It exceeds even the demands of the notorious Boycott, Divestment, and
Sanctions (BDS) movement against the Jewish people, which every
mainstream Jewish organization in the United States has appropriately
labeled antisemitic.”
City Councilman Chaim Deutsch
City Council Member Brad Lander
City Councilmember and Jewish Caucus chair Chaim Deutsch (D-Sheepshead
Bay, Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach, Homecrest, Midwood) and City
Councilmember Rory Lancman (D-Queens) spearheaded the statement which 10
city councilmembers signed including Brooklyn City Councilmembers, Alan
Maisel and Mark Treyger.
Sources said that fellow caucus member City Councilmembers Brad Lander
and Stephen Levin were also asked to sign on to the statement. Lander
did not respond to the Caucus call while Levin outright said no to
signing it.
Lander (D-Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Gowanus, Kensington) who is
running for city comptroller, told Jewish Insider that he will continue
traveling to Israel notwithstanding his views on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
Lander told the publication each time he took a trip to Israel he met
with both Israelis and Palestinians. “I have seen so much rich history
and diverse culture that I loved, and also traveled to the West Bank to
get a glimpse of the horrors of life under occupation and the struggle
against it,” Lander said. “If DSA wants to know what candidates will do
to end the occupation and support the human rights and
self-determination of Palestinians, that’s what they should ask.”
Borough President Eric Adams
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams
Also denouncing the DSA questions were Brooklyn Borough President Eric
Adams and City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who are considered leading
contenders for next year’s Democratic mayoral primary.
“As Borough President of Brooklyn, I have made it a point to visit
places vital to understanding the history of my constituents, including
Israel. Just as I was moved by places like Goree Island in Senegal, I
was moved by the homeland of the Jewish people. I encourage every New
Yorker to visit Israel and other places important to understanding the
cultures essential to the history of people of our great city,” said Adams.
The NYC DSA clarified in a statement released Friday that they only
opposed the official expenses-paid trips offered to city councilmembers,
referring to the annual trips sponsored by the Jewish Community
Relations Council (JCRC) for local lawmakers and business people.
They called those trips “political junket which fosters ties between
local officials and the Israeli state,” and noted that Israel is the
only country that councilmembers are taken to regularly.
“Given that there has been an explicit call from Palestinians to not go
on such government junkets, and to put pressure on Israel to end the
occupation and discrimination through boycott, divestment and sanctions
we asked prospective candidates whether they would respect that call,”
the statement read.
They are not opposed to trips to Israel for personal reasons or to visit
family, they said.
The questionnaire controversy comes as the NYC DSA, a 501(c)4 nonprofit
organization, is growing in political clout both locally and nationally
starting with U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez‘s Congressional win in
Queens two years ago.
While many in the Jewish community are alleging the DSA is antisemitic,
a growing number of Black elected officials are casting a wary eye at
the organization as well.
Recently, DSA-backed candidates swept several statewide elections in
Brooklyn including Phara Suffrant Forrest beating incumbent
Assemblymember Walter Mosley (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect
Heights, Crown Heights) and newcomer Jabari Brisport beating
Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright for the open 25 District State Senate seat
which stretches from Bedford-Stuyvesant across the borough’s brownstone
belt into Sunset Park.
However, in winning those elections, the DSA ran against longtime
established Black political clubs that have fought since the 1960s Civil
Rights days for Black empowerment. This has led to allegations among a
number of Black elected officials that the DSA is a white and white
Latino-led organization that puts up token Black candidates in an effort
to politically gentrify Black communities.
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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