As the final days tick off before the general election for the open 46th Assembly District seat, Democratic Assembly Candidate Mathylde Frontus is increasingly disenfranchising Jewish voters in her district.
That after Southern Brooklyn sources say that Frontus has told individuals that she is inclined to be supportive of the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement against Israel because of her humanitarian background.
According to Wikipedia the BDS movement is a global campaign promoting various forms of boycott against Israel until it withdraws from the occupied territories, removes the separation barrier in the West Bank, grants full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel and promotes the right of return of Palestinian refugees.
Many Jews and Israel supporters maintain the BDS movement is inherently anti-Semitic as it disincentivizes the Palestinian leadership from negotiating with Israel at present and promotes the delegitimization of Israel.
KCP asked both Frontus and her Republican opponent, Steve Saperstein, if they support a state assembly resolution denouncing the BDS movement on the grounds it exacerbates the tension between Israel and Palestine and that:
That this Legislative Body is concerned that the international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement and its agenda are damaging to the causes of peace, justice, equality, democracy, and human rights for all peoples in the Middle East.
Neither Frontus nor her campaign answered the question at the deadline KCP instituted. Follow up emails were not returned.
Saperstein answered that the The BDS Movement is, and has always been, an anti-Semitic/anti-American attack on the Jewish community both here in America and in Israel.
“The BDS theme is simply a covert measure designed to propagate anti-Semitism. It negatively impacts not only Jews but also the Palestinians it supposedly aims to help by taking away the desirable jobs they value in Israel where they are paid great wages and benefits. The horrifying tragedy this past weekend in Pittsburgh and the recent attacks on a Brooklyn synagogue prove that anti-Semitism is sadly alive and well. We must stand strong in the face of bigotry of all kinds and not allow it to overshadow the goodness of our diverse community,” said Saperstein.
“The anti-Semitism Jews have been subjected to is shameful and appalling as it brings back painful memories of the Holocaust. The BDS movement, much like Jews recently being referred to as “termites” by the leader of the Nation of Islam without any meaningful public outcry, just seeks to normalize hate that we cannot tolerate under any circumstances,” he added, undoubtedly taking a political dig at Frontus, who at a Dyker Heights debate reportedly said she considers Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan a civil rights leader among the black community.
Either way, several Jewish Democratic sources and longtime Jewish voters from the Brighton Beach, Trump Village and Sea Gate area of the district are saying they will vote for Ethan Lustig-Elgrably, who Frontus beat in the primary, but who remains on the Working Families Party line.
“She [Frontus] is a very educated woman and talks about her education a lot, but I always feels like she is trying to spin me and I don’t appreciate it, and I’m very educated as well,” said one longtime Democratic source who is voting for Lutisg-Elgrably.
The voter added concerns that Frontus will not represent all of the constituents in the district fairly and equally. If this voter’s attitude is common with the large Jewish and Russian-Jewish vote on the Coney Island side of this district this could mean trouble for Frontus on Tueday.
On the other side, if indeed Frontus does support the BDS movement, it could galvanize the sizable Palestinian and Arab vote on the Bay Ridge end of the district.
A lot of the Arabs in Bay Ridge try to characterize the BDS movement not so much as anti-Semitic as it is pro-Palestinian, but at its essence core it is about anti-Semitism, said one Bay Ridge Arab Christian source.
The general election is Nov. 6. The district includes Coney Island, Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and a slice of Brighton Beach.
