June 26, 2012

NEW YORK (JTA) — City Councilman Charles Barron, a fierce critic of Israeli policy who was opposed by Jewish lawmakers, lost in his bid to secure the Democratic nomination in a Brooklyn congressional race.

Barron lost to state Assemblyman Hakeen Jeffries in a June 26 Democratic primary in a bid to succeed 24-year incumbent Rep. Edolphus Towns, also a Democrat, who is retiring at the end of this year. Jeffries attracted support from pro-Israel activist throughout the city and around the country.

Several current and former New York Jewish elected officials had denounced Barron’s candidacy, citing what they called his anti-Israel views.

Ex-Mayor Ed Koch, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), City Councilman David Greenfield and state Assemblyman Dov Hikind, among others, gathered earlier this month in front of the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in downtown Battery Park to call Barron an “enemy of the State of Israel” and the New York Jewish community.

The politicians at Battery Park expressed support for Jeffries and called Barron an “anti-Semite,” “hateful” and a “bigot.”

Barron has compared the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians to the Nazi treatment of Jews during World War II. He also has publicly praised foreign dictators such as the late Muammar Gadhafi of Libya and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

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