Brighton’s Russian Jews Troubled by U.N. Vote

By ANNE COHEN

Flapping in the wind in the middle of Brighton Beach Avenue, a bright orange T-shirt read, “Not one inch.” It referred to the upcoming vote in the United Nations on Palestinian statehood, and reflected the opinions of many residents as they strolled through the Brighton Beach Jubilee this Sunday.

Running 15 blocks from Brighton 16th Street to Coney Island Avenue and all the way down to the boardwalk, the festival had everything from gaudy beaded jewelry to yellow, frayed, antique Soviet stamps. But with the U.N. vote approaching, residents had more than funnel cakes and music on their minds.

Brighton Beach has a large Jewish population, many of them from the former Soviet Union. Issues concerning Israel are a big deal.

“It wasn’t a vote for [Robert] Turner,” Judd Fischler of the Brighton Neighborhood Association Board of Directors said, referring to last week’s vote to replace Congressman Anthony Weiner. “It was a vote for Israel.”

Read more of this article originally published on the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 at 7:17 pm. It is filed under Brooklyn and tagged with Brighton Beach, Brighton Beach Jubilee, Jews, Palestine, United Nations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.