New York Politicians Defend Terrorism

It’s interesting to see anti-Semitism rear its obscene head in New York City. After all, New York City is the home to many Jews, but, alas, they are most often leftists before they are Jewish. And thus, when the see prejudice against one of their own in the New York City government, they are decidedly silent.

After all, fighting racism is more important than defending themselves. They had not problem putting Jeremiah Wright’s protégé in the White House. They have no problem with Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory. But, they refuse to defend Kalman Yeger.

The Daily Caller reports on the case of a Jewish New York City councilman named Kalman Yeger.

A Jewish New York City councilman was removed from the immigration committee Monday, days after he received backlash for tweeting, “Palestine does not exist.”

Kalman Yeger tweeted, “Palestine does not exist. There, I said it again. Also, Congresswoman Omar is an antisemite. Said that too. Thanks for following me,” last week, in response to Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar being critical of  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for focusing on her during his speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference. 

The result: Yeger was removed from the City Council’s immigration committee:

Yeger’s comments led to him being removed from the immigration committee by the City Council’s leadership team.

“I found Council Member Yeger’s comments completely unacceptable,” Corey Johnson, the Council’s speaker, said in a statement, according to The New York Times. “As I said before, they were dehumanizing to Palestinians and divisive, and have no place in New York City.”

Mr. Johnson added, “I do not believe that someone who engages in the type of rhetoric we heard from Council Member Yeger belongs on the immigration committee, which is supposed to welcome and support immigrants in our city.”

In his first public statement on his removal, Yeger tweeted, “I respect the Speaker’s right to run the Council as he sees fit. It’s unfortunate that political correctness takes precedence over objective fact. Of course, there are Palestinians. However, the fact remains there is no Palestinian state.”

And of course Comrade de Blasio stood up for the rights of terrorists:

On Friday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC: “I made very clear that the councilman was wrong. I made very clear that there has to be a Palestinian homeland,” said Mr. de Blasio, who went on to call Mr. Yeger’s comments “destructive and divisive.”

It’s new; it’s coming from the De Blasio administration. The New York Times reminds us of how past mayors dealt with the Palestinian issue, which is really a question of whether or not we should reward terrorism:

In 1966, Mayor John V. Lindsay canceled a dinner for a Saudi king who said that any friends of Israel were his enemies. Mayor Abraham D. Beame rescinded giving Anwar Sadat, the president of Egypt, a key to the city after a United Nations committee labeled Zionism a form of racial discrimination.

Mayor Edward I. Koch had an argument at City Hall with the Austrian foreign minister in 1984 about whether the Palestine Liberation Organization served as the voice of Palestinian people. Mayor David N. Dinkins took criticism from his black constituents for not scheduling any meetings with Palestinians during a 1991 trip to Israel. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani expelled Yasir Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, from a concert for world leaders at Lincoln Center.

It’s a sign of how much New York politics has been infested with anti-Semitism and how little Jewish New Yorkers stand up and oppose it.

[See also Jonathan Tobin's comments, here. Via Maggie's Farm.]