‘Bye Bye Barron’: Virulently anti-Israel NYC lawmaker to lose primary reelection bid

News of Barron’s likely defeat was received enthusiastically by Jewish civil rights groups and activists.

By Dion J. Pierre, The Algemeiner

Charles Barron (D-NY), who for years has been accused by lawmakers and advocacy groups from across the political spectrum of promoting antisemitism and associating with antisemitic hate groups, is projected to lose his Democratic primary race for New York City Council.

The self-described Black socialist trails his opponent, Chris Banks, by seven points — 51 to 45 percent with 95 percent of results reported — according to unofficial results reported by the NYC Board of Elections (BOE), and is set to become the only losing incumbent council lawmaker member in the city.

Banks is a local community organizer and nonprofit worker.

In June, Barron was one of just six New York City Council members who voted against a resolution establishing April 29 as “End Jew Hatred Day.” In justifying his opposition to the measure, he accused Israel of “murdering Palestinian women and children and stealing the land of people in Palestine” and charged that Jewish leaders “supported apartheid and racist South Africa and said nothing about African people dying.”

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Barron, who represented over 160,000 residents of East New York and East Flatbush in Brooklyn for over two decades, has said that Israel should never have been created, called the Gaza strip a “death camp,” and asserted that the Jewish people are not genuine Jews, arguing, as Kanye West did late last year, that African Americans are.

Additionally Barron has close ties to the Nation of Islam (NOI), a notorious purveyor of antisemitism going back decades. The group’s New York chapter honored him as “Man of the Year,” the ADL said in a report on the lawmaker.

News of Barron’s likely defeat was received enthusiastically by Jewish civil rights groups and activists, with StopAntisemitism, a group which tracks antisemitic incidents across the world, tweeting, “Great news — antisemitic NYC council member Charles Barron lost his primary last night to challenger Chris Banks!” Another group, SAFE CUNY, which formed to raise awareness of rising antisemitism at City University of New York campuses, tweeted, “Bye bye, Barron…You lost because you hate.”

Former New York State Assemblyman and founder of Americans Against Antisemitism (AAA) Dovid Hikind said, “Barron, for decades, has been a malicious and vicious Jew hater, a friend of the enemies of America and people of Israel. What a beautiful moment and a wonderful message to other Jews haters.”

Prior to the race, Barron was endorsed by City University of New York’s (CUNY) faculty union, which came amid mounting concern that it is a hotbed of antisemitism and fosters an environment that is hostile to Jewish and non-Jewish faculty who support Israel.

New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (R), who represents the 48th District which comprises the neighborhoods of Brighton Beach, Homecrest, Midwood, Sheepshead Bay, and Midwood, cruised to victory, winning her Republican primary race by 70 points to defeat challenger, Igor Kazatsker.

Vernikov, a staunchly pro-Israel voice in the City Council, has made combatting antisemitism a cornerstone of her electoral agenda.