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 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.”
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.
-Clarissa Sosin contributed to this story
