NY-9 Challenger Targets Yvette Clarke’s Record Ahead of Primary

By Mike Goldfarb

My name is Mike Goldfarb and I am one of two candidates – along with incumbent Rep. Yvette Clarke – in the upcoming Democratic primary for Congress in NY-9, which includes Crown Heights.
My entire family – like the Jewish community itself – stood on the precipice of extinction during the horrors of the Holocaust.

My paternal grandfather was a survivor of the Flossenbürg concentration camp. My paternal grandmother and her family hid in the woods; her brother left to find food one day, the family heard a gunshot and he never returned. My maternal grandparents both fled to Russia and endured years without sufficient food, shelter, clothing, or education. When, after the war’s conclusion, they each landed in the harbor of New York, none of them could have imagined that just two generations later, their grandson would be a candidate for Congress.

While running for Congress anywhere in this country is a great honor, I’m especially privileged to do so here, in the second-most Jewish congressional district in the United States.

The moment we are in is a frighteningly perilous one for Jewish people around the world. Antisemitic attacks have rocked communities from Sydney to Manchester; I was at the home of my local Chabad rabbi, celebrating the anniversary of the Rebbe assuming leadership of Chabad, when a car drove into our own 770 Eastern Parkway.

We are living in a time when Jewish schools and shuls require constant security, while neighboring schools and houses of worship do not; that’s not only a financial cost that our communities incur but a psychological strain that our families and we must endure.

We are living in a time when too few non-Yeshiva students are being taught the history of the Jewish struggle; instead of being seen as what we are, an historically oppressed minority that has shown the path to success through community, education, and faith, we are perceived as villains worthy of having violence inflicted upon us.

We are living in a time when too few public figures – elected officials especially – are willing to stand up and advocate for us, for our communities, for our schools, and for our safety.

Unfortunately, our own Congresswoman, Rep. Yvette Clarke, has consistently let us down.

Rep. Clarke has met famed antisemite Louis Farrakhan behind closed doors, leading to condemnation by the Anti-Defamation League.

She has voted against efforts to fight antisemitism on college campuses and to condemn other forms of antisemitism across our nation. Rep. Clarke voted against a motion to add an amendment to a bill that would require employees designated by school districts and colleges to coordinate compliance with federal nondiscrimination requirements to consider antisemitism to be discrimination under the bill’s provisions. She voted against Mike Lawler’s amendment that would prohibit the use of funds provided by a specific bill for colleges and universities that support events promoting antisemitism on campus.

Rep. Clarke voted against a resolution expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was antisemitic and that its use must be condemned. Just last year, she voted against condemning Mohammed Sabry Soliman’s antisemitic terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado; the attack targeted demonstrators marching in support of the release of hostages held captive by Hamas.

Her record on Jewish issues at home matches her record on fighting terrorism abroad.

She was one of only 45 Democrats (out of 200 who voted) who voted against a bill that would state that it is U.S. policy to prevent Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, The Lion’s Den, or any affiliate or successor thereof from accessing its international support networks. Clarke was one of only 39 Democrats (out of 201 who voted) who voted against an amendment that would require foreign entities that provide funding to institutions of higher education – like Qatar – to disclose any ties to foreign terrorist organizations. From 2020-2022 alone, she voted at least five times against defense funding for Israel. Just over a month ago, she was one of only three NYC congresspeople, along with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nydia Velázquez, to vote against a bill “reaffirming Iran remains the largest state sponsor of terrorism.”

It is no surprise that David Greenfield, during his tenure as a New York City Council Member, labeled Rep. Clarke’s record on Israel as “abysmal,” or that the Jewish Press has declared that Rep. Clarke “has largely relegated Jewish issues to less than second-class status, hardly giving them any notice. Of particular concern has been her record on Israel.”

Rep. Clarke has been in office for a long time. But her last midterm primary – in a district that was less Jewish than it is now – was won by fewer than 2,000 votes. Change is possible.

The decision before us could not be clearer. We can use our collective votes to bring our community representation that, for the first time in decades, aligns with our shared values.

It is with the utmost humility that, in pursuing the office of Representative, I follow the guidance of the Rebbe, when he advocated for: “Every single individual to cease being a private person and to live their life for the community.”

On June 23, in the Democratic primary for Congress in NY-9, you have the chance to help me transition from a private person to a representative of the community. I thank you for that support.

For more about this candidate, visit: mikeforbrooklyn.org