Trenton, New Jersey city council president Kathy McBride. Photo: Trenton city council.

The mayor of Trenton, New Jersey, is calling on the city council’s president to apologize after she used an antisemitic slur.

The local paper The Trentonian reported that, at an executive meeting on Sept. 5, Council President Kathy McBride said a city attorney settled a personal injury lawsuit by being “able to wait her out and Jew her down.”

Mayor Reed Gusciora called on McBride to apologize, saying, “As the mayor of this city that encompasses diverse communities of racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, I find this to be offensive.”

“This antisemitic remark, particularly about an attorney in our law department that happens to be Jewish, should have no place in our public discourse,” he added.

Addressing McBride, the mayor said, “I hope that after some reflection you would apologize for these remarks.”

Councilwoman Robin Vaughn, however, defended McBride, saying, “We really need to get a more acute meaning and understanding of ‘antisemitic.’”

“I believe her comment ‘Jew down’ was more in reference to negotiating, not ‘I hate Jews,’” she added. “Inappropriate in today’s PC culture absolutely, but to Jew someone down is a verb and is not anti-anything or indicative of hating Jewish people.”

At-large councilman Jerell Blakeley demanded McBride’s resignation, calling her remark an “insidiously bigoted and antisemitic perspective of Jews as parsimonious and cheap.”