Gov. Kathy Hochul’s running mate, former City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams was heckled by pro-Israel protesters during a Brooklyn Democratic Party forum last week, The Post can reveal.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and state Attorney General Letitia James were also on-hand for the event at the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club in Mill Basin hosted by scandal-plagued former local party boss Frank Seddio.
“Jews are second class citizens,” pro-Israel activist Stephanie Benshimol shouted at Adams, who some Dems fault with not doing more to combat antisemitism when she served as council speaker.
Adams, a former Queens councilwoman who was speaker from 2022 to the end of December, refused to take questions from The Post before she scampered out of the building.
When Jeffries, a longtime Brooklyn rep, threw his support behind Adams, Benshimol started walking around the room, wanting to be heard on the issue dear to many Jewish New Yorkers.
“I just have a question,” she said. “Don’t tell me to go home.” But the crowd booed her, telling her she was “out of order,” and began forcing her out of the room.
The fracas came as Adams appeared to be trying to mend fences with Brooklyn Dem bigwigs.
Hochul, who is running for a second, full four-year term in November, picked Adams as her running mate in February, in the first all-female major-party gubernatorial ticket in state history.
But the lieutenant governor pick was met with a temporary revolt from Brooklyn party bosses, with state Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn and other leaders of the King County Democratic Committee initially withdrawing their support of Hochul in light of the announcement.
Last year, Adams received a puny 6% of the first-round mayoral primary vote in the Assembly district surrounding the Jefferson Democratic Club, where she spoke to a crowd of about 50 attendees on Thursday.
She was introduced by James, a former Brooklyn City Council member, who said that Adams has proven “that you can be a fighter and builder at the same time.”
But while James spoke, protesters outside were heard shouting, “Adrienne Adams go home” and “Adrienne Adams is an anti-semite.”
Robert Pearl, a blogger and member of the so-called “New Yorkers First” organization who was among the anti-Adams protesters, told The Post he also didn’t approve of her because of what she did to “this neighborhood” during the migrant crisis.
“This neighborhood got hit very badly by the migrant crisis. They drained our resources. They were all over the neighborhoods. It was a very serious thing, and nobody listened to us,” Pearl said.
Outside the club, Benshimol told The Post she was just trying to ask Adams, “what are you going to do for all the antisemitism and the safety of the Jews in New York?’”
“This is the largest population of Jews outside of Israel,” Benshimol said, “and Adrienne Adams wouldn’t answer my question. And they threw me out … And then everyone clapped.”
Seddio, who offered kosher hot dogs to the protesters, insisted that there was “nobody more supportive of Israel than this particular Democratic club.”
“Every one of our elected officials has been supportive of Israeli issues,” he told The Post.
Adams has been move visible on the campaign trail in recent weeks.
She rallied with Hochul in Westchester County last week, signaling a possible attempt to shore up support in Democratic strongholds before campaign season begins in earnest, with less than three months before the November election.
A Siena College poll released last week shows Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, Hochul’s Republican opponent, within 10 points of the incumbent governor.
Hochul campaign spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki said Monday: “Former Speaker Adams is campaigning across New York and reminding voters of the contrast between her record of holding ICE accountable, fighting antisemitism and cracking down on hate crimes, and investing in childcare and early education – and the Blakeman ticket’s ‘100% MAGA’ agenda of letting Trump raise New Yorkers’ costs and threaten their public safety.”
Read the full article here
