CUNY Faculty Union Endorses Brooklyn Councilman who Called Gaza Strip ‘Death Camp’

Charles Barron has accused Israel of ‘murdering Palestinian women and children and stealing the land of people in Palestine.’

By Dion J. Pierre, The Algemeiner

The sole public sector union representing City University of New York (CUNY) professors has endorsed the reelection campaign of New York City Council member Charles Barron (D), who for years has been accused by lawmakers and advocacy groups from across the ideological spectrum of promoting antisemitism and associating with antisemitic hate groups.

“The PSC is proud to endorse Charles Barron for New York City Council District 42,” the Professional Staff Congress (PSC-CUNY), which represents over 30,000 faculty and staff, tweeted on Friday.

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Barron, who represents over 160,000 residents of East New York and East Flatbush in Brooklyn, 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 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 the vote, 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.”

PSC CUNY’s endorsement of Barron comes amid mounting concern that the City University of New York system is a hotbed of antisemitism and fosters an environment that is hostile to Jewish and non-Jewish faculty who support Israel.

Currently, six CUNY professors are suing in federal court to sever all ties to PSC CUNY, from which they resigned after it passed a resolution during Israel’s May 2021 war with Hamas which declared solidarity with Palestinians and accused the Jewish state of ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and crimes against humanity. However, professors remain in PSC’s bargaining unit, which, they argue, is coercive and denies their right to freedom of speech and association by forcing them to engage with an organization they claim holds antisemitic views.

263 other professors and staff have resigned from the union as well, according to the website of the Resign.PSC campaign, which accuses the body of having “violated its mandate” by weighing in on a contentious political issue.

CUNY was also recently criticized over a CUNY Law School commencement speech in which a student alleged that Jewish money controls the school’s policy on Israel. Facing widespread criticism from Jewish leaders and lawmakers, CUNY later issued a statement condemning the law student’s remarks as hate speech, a “public expression of hate toward people and communities based on their religion, race, or political affiliation.”

In Sept. 2022, CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez acknowledged that “more needs to be done” to fight antisemitism at the university’s 25 campuses.

Earlier this month, Congressman Mike Lawler (R-NY), responding to incidents at CUNY, introduced legislation that would prohibit colleges that host antisemitic events from receiving federal loans and grants.

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