The Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI), an organization committed to mounting an active defense of the US-Israel relationship, has released a new ad running on New York television documenting a series of radical, racist, and anti-Israel statements made by Democratic congressional candidate Charles Barron of New York’s Eighth District.
The ad begins with Barron announcing the importance of standing up for Robert Mugabe, “the African hero, taking land back …white people stole the land from us in the first place,” as the on-screen text reads: “Charles Barron sides with dictators and murderers.”
He goes on to call ousted Libyan leader Moamar Qaddafi “an African hero” who never should have been “murdered.”
Barron then goes on to describe Gaza as a “a death camp set up by Israel,” as the text reads, “Charles Barron also condemns Israel, our strongest ally in the Middle East.”
“Is this a man you want in Congress?”, the ad asks.
“Charles Barron has a history of making vile statements in support of mass-murderers like Robert Mugabe and Muammar Qaddafi, attacking Israel’s right to exist, and daring decent people to use those statements against him,” said Noah Pollak, the executive director of ECI. “While Barron collects endorsements from the likes of David Duke, the Emergency Committee for Israel is proud to stand with those Democrats fighting to keep Barron out of Congress.”
Barron has been running a tight race in the New York primary set for Tuesday, June 26, against state Assemblyman Hakeen Jeffries. Jefferies has received the endorsements of several New York Democrats, including Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Ed Koch, while Barron, for his part, has received endorsements from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and anti-Israel advocate, Norman Finkelstein.
The ECI has a long history of staunch support for the state of Israel. Prior to the recent talks in Moscow between Iran and the group of six world powers, the organization published an ad pressuring President Obama to take action with regard to the regime’s nuclear aspirations and confrontational policies.
In March, the ECI released a similarly themed 30-minute video entitled “Daylight: The Story of Obama and Israel,” blasting the President’s commitment to the Jewish state, and has placed full page ads in leading newspapers doing the same.