By a resident of Crown Heights

Rep. Yvette Clarke – the Congress member representing Crown Heights, Flatbush, and most of Boro Park – released two statements on social media today vowing to use every tool at her legislative disposal to stop President Trump and Israel from striking Iran.

In her first post on X, she called the strikes “his illegal war on Iran,” described Trump as “a rogue president with unhinged intentions” who is “prepared to drag this country down with him,” and declared: “I refuse to stand by while he does.” Her full congressional statement went further, opening with “Donald Trump has gone violently and derangedly rogue” and claiming the strikes were launched “without any imminent threat to our nation, without the approval of Congress, and without any regard for the American service members and innocent people who will die.” She pledged: “I will vote against this war.”

Most striking of all was how she characterized the killing of Ayatollah Khamenei – the supreme leader of a regime that for decades funded terrorism and called openly for Israel’s destruction – closing with: “History must know where we stood on this dark day for America.”

“Our Congresswoman’s statement sounds like her constituents are leftists,” said one Crown Heights resident, “when the reality is that Rep. Clarke represents in her district the most amount of Orthodox Jews in America.”

This is not the first time. When Barack Hussein Obama pushed through his nuclear deal with Iran, Clarke voted in favor – despite writing in her own announcement at the time that Iran is “one of the premier state sponsors of terrorism in the world” and “on the verge of creating a nuclear bomb, right now.” Her offices were flooded with calls and emails from Crown Heights, Flatbush, and Boro Park residents pleading with her to vote no. Community leaders met with her face to face. She voted yes anyway.

Back then, community activist Yaacov Behrman said: “We were all betrayed. The community overwhelmingly opposed this flawed deal and I don’t see how she justified supporting it.” Rabbi Chanina Sperlin, intergovernmental liaison for the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, refused to take a call from the congresswoman’s office after reading her pro-deal statement. Josh Mehlman, Chairman of the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition, said at the time: “We, of course, are very disappointed with Congresswoman Clarke’s decision. If the community really wants to make its voice heard, we encourage all to register and vote on Election Day.”

Those who want to act on that advice can start by getting every friend, relative, and neighbor in Crown Heights registered to vote as a Democrat, so the Jewish community has the numbers to primary her in this June’s upcoming Democratic primary.

Register: e-register.vote.nyc