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Charles Barron

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Charles Barron, a New York City Councilman and local activist, has associated with anti-Semitic hate groups and promoted extreme anti-Israel positions intended to demonize the Jewish state since his election in 2001.

During media interviews and frequent speaking engagements around New York City, Barron levels a range of accusations against the Jews and the Jewish state, most notably that it should never have been created. He has also asserted that Blacks, not Jews, are the "real" Semites—a position frequently advanced by anti-Semites in an effort to delegitimize Jews. In addition to Barron's public pronouncements, he has engaged with the broader anti-Israel movement and participated in campaigns such as the pro-Hamas Viva Palestina US convoy to Gaza. 

 

Barron has publicly praised brutal international dictators, even describing Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi as his "hero" and an "African freedom fighter" at a pro-Qaddafi memorial service in November 2011 following the Libyan leader's death.  During the service, Barron led the audience in a chant of "Long live Muammar Qaddafi." In an interview with local media, Barron was quoted saying, "one person's horrible person can be another person's hero." He had previously praised Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe who has violently suppressed political opposition and repressed the white minority in his country. 

Throughout his political career, Barron has maintained close ties to radical groups like the ew Black Panther Party (NBPP), the largest organized black militant hate group in the United States. Barron has forged strong ties with some of the most anti-Semitic and racist members of the NBPP's leadership, finding common ground over what they perceive as legal and social injustices affecting African Americans.