Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Thank You, Mr. President

The President, Vice-President and 2nd Gentleman
Only in America. How many times have I heard this comment being made in favorable terms! I don’t know if that is literally the case. But when it comes to religious tolerance, I do not think there is any other country like this liberal democracy of ours. 

When it comes to the Jewish people America does not simply sit back and watch it happen. Recognizing that antisemitism is on the rise, this great nation of ours is doing something about it. 

There have indeed been more antisemitic incidents in this country over the last few years than there has been in decades. From both the extremist right and extremist left. 

Some of it violent and deadly. That has been more the province of the kind of white supremacists that motivated one of their members to attack the ‘Tree of Life’ synagogue in Pittsburgh a few years ago killing 11 Jews worshipping there on a Shabbos.

While I do not recall that kind of violence from the extremists on the left, their antisemitism is no less vitriolic. Usually disguised as anti Zionism.  There are two recent examples of that which stand out. One involves CUNY (City University of New York). Their faculty and student body have endorsed BDS and refer to Israel as an Apartheid state. More recently the  following happened: 

New York City’s public law school on Thursday released a video of a commencement ceremony held earlier this month, including a speech the city college system’s Jewish allies decried as discriminatory.

The speaker accused Israel of “indiscriminate” murder, encouraging “lynch mobs” and lauded resistance to “Zionism around the world.”

The City University of New York (CUNY) Law School had hidden the video after coming under criticism for the ceremony. 

I wonder why CUNY hid the video? could it be that they preferred their views not be subject to public scrutiny? In any case, so ouraged were some  public officials that there were calls to defund the school!

And then there is this event that recently occurred in Germany of all places: 

Roger Waters has said he is the subject of a “smear” campaign after being criticised for ”dressing as a Nazi SS officer” on stage in Berlin.

The Pink Floyd musician shocked revellers who were attening his show in Germany earlier this month when he performed while wearing a long black jacket, gloves, and a red armband adorned with hammers, rather than the Nazi swastika.

Waters, who is currently under police investigation due to the matter, has now commented on the controversy, stating on Saturday (27 May): “My recent performance in Berlin has attracted bad faith attacks from those who want to smear and silence me because they disagree with my political views and moral principles.”

Waters’ antisemitism is by now well documented. His vitriol against the Jewish state cannot simply be  about sympathy for the plight of Palestinians on the West Bank. He clearly crossed that line by performing in a Nazi uniform. Protesting fascism?! Who does he think he’s kidding? Jew hatred is in his blood. But I’ll bet that in his misguided sense of justice he probably tells himself that he doesn’t have an antisemitic bone in his body. 

Right. And I’ve got a bridge to sell you!

What is happening at CUNY is unfortunately happening in a lot of other schools, whose liberal interpretation of justice applies only to the Palestinians on the West Bank. Who they see as being mistreated by an occupying force. That these occupiers are Jews is to them incidental and irrelevant. That is what they believe. 

And I have another bridge to sell you. 

Their claim to be seeking  Justice for Palestinians is little more that a thinly disguised attempt to delegitimize the Jewish state - and in effect wipe it off the map.

Which brings me back to what the President of the United States just did. A Democrat that many people on the political right believe is in the clutches of far left progressives like Rashida Tlaib. Yet another antisemite disguised as defending her people

Sadly there are more than a few Orthodox Jews that believe Biden and the Democrats can no longer be trusted to support Israel. 

But they are wrong. Biden reflects the views of many in his own party who supported what he just did. He commissioned a panel -chaired by 2nd Gentleman,  Doug Emhoff to devise a plan that will do exactly that. This they did. In spectacular proportion. They created an unprecedented sweeping plan that has received  overwhelming approval and appreciation from mainstream Jewish organizations across the board. From the ADL to Agudah.

This may not stop the Roger Walters and Rashida Tlaibs of the world. But it sure does put their antismetic views in proper perspective on both sides of the political aisle. The vast majority of congress and the American people whom they represent will not countenance the Tlaibs and Waters of the world. They do not tolerate any antisemitism in any way shape or form. 

For that I am eternally grateful to the President and the American people. Which makes me proud to be an American. God bless the United States of America.