The New York City Council on Thursday voted to establish April 29 as an annual “End Jew Hatred Day.” Four members abstained and two voted against the resolution.
Among those on the 51-member council who did not support the measure was Shahana Hanif, a representative of the heavily Jewish Brooklyn neighborhoods of Borough Park and Park Slope.
“Your antisemitism is showing,” Inna Vernikov, the Jewish Ukrainian Republican Brooklyn councilwoman who introduced the bill, said to the six who rejected it.
After the vote, Vernikov told The Jerusalem Post she felt “sick to my stomach.”
“As I was on speaking on the floor about the atrocities of the Holocaust, I was sick to my stomach listening to the explanations on the no votes and abstentions on a simple resolution asking to proclaim a day to End Jew Hatred,” she told the Post.
“It is unacceptable and abhorrent for public officials duly elected to represent New Yorkers, many of whom are Jewish, to be against ending antisemitism.”
Vernikov, who represents the 48th district, wrote on Twitter ahead of the vote: “Thanks to my colleagues on Cultural Affairs my resolution to proclaim April 29 as End Jew Hatred Day passed committee and will go to a full vote on the floor on Thursday. Let’s work together to end Jew hatred.”
