“We are still in shock at the scope and magnitude of the violence. If words cannot express the pain we feel in witnessing such loss, I cannot fathom that of the families of the victims. My prayers for their comfort have kept me sleepless. What we have just witnessed is a hate crime against an already victimized community, and it violates our principles, both as Americans and as Muslims. I join the millions of Muslims in our country who are repulsed by such an affront to our or any faith.” – Nihad Awad, National Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
These were not the words of the head of CAIR after thousands of Palestinian Arabs invaded Israel and tortured and butchered 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians. It was his thoughts shared in an article by Time Magazine after a single Muslim man killed 49 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida in June, 2016.
When it came to the October 2023 sadistic killing of Jews, Awad shared on X/Twitter that the Israeli dead deserved their fate: “Palestinians have been experiencing ethnic cleansing by Israel for 75 years [from the founding of Israel in 1948]” and “A riot is the language of the unheard.”
The rape of Jewish women and burning families alive was seemingly not “an affront to our [Islamic] or any faith.” The shooting of Holocaust survivors was not a “hate crime against an already victimized community.” The young Jewish children taken hostage were not in his “prayers for their comfort.”
Leaders of CAIR see Zionists, including American Zionists and people who visit or work with Israel, as “enemies.”
Zahara Biloo, the San Francisco Executive Director of CAIR specifically called out “Hillel chapters on our campuses” and many Jewish groups. She denounced any normalization of interaction with “polite Zionists” whom she falsely claimed are inherently anti-Muslim. “I’m not going to sugarcoat that. They are your enemies,” which include anyone who argues for the continued existence of Israel, including in a two state solution.
CAIR strongly backed Biloo and said that it would “continue to proudly stand by Zahra and all American Muslim leaders who face smears and threats because they dare to express an opinion about Palestinian human rights,” which for CAIR means demanding the destruction of the Jewish State and confronting Zionists.
The leading American-Islamic organization has made clear that it believes that Jews and Zionists are inherently anti-Muslim and the State of Israel is an affront to Islam. For CAIR, Palestinian human rights demand the destruction of Israel, and the group will celebrate the demise of anyone who protects the Jewish State.
Note, for the 2021-2 Congressional election cycle, CAIR gave perfect scores to only a handful of politicians who supported all of its goals: Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA); Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI); Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY); and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). All members of the far-left.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has been very vocal and negative about the Jewish State of Israel since its founding. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has written that “key CAIR leaders often traffic in antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric.” The ADL specifically called out Zahra Billoo, CAIR’s San Francisco Bay Area Executive Director, who called Jewish Zionist institutions in America “enemies”, as well as Nihad Awad, CAIR’s Co-Founder and Executive Director, who claims that “Zionist organizations” are “enemies of the Muslim community” and that “Zionist organizations make up the core of the Islamophobia network in the United States.”
On October 7, well before Israel responded to the sadistic massacre by the Palestinian Arab political-terrorist groups in Israel, Awad took to X/Twitter and defended the savagery.
He first wrote that “Palestinians have been experiencing ethnic cleansing by Israel for 75 years [from the founding of Israel in 1948],” seemingly calling for Palestinians to return the favor to ethnically cleanse Jews from the land.
He followed that tweet with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr “A riot is the language of the unheard,” minimizing the atrocity of killing 1,200 people – mostly civilians – as a “riot” under the name of a peaceful activist.
CAIR was originally part of President Biden’s May 2023 National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism. It took until yesterday, December 7, for the Biden Administration to remove the organization, as Awad has continued to argue that Palestinians have a right to “self defense” and that he was “happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land.” It is also possible that Israel found evidence of ties between CAIR and HAMAS in materials the IDF captured in Gaza.
The US government may have also read the October 2023 George Washington University’s Program on Extremism paper about the Hamas Networks in America. CAIR was featured prominently.
CAIR and Students for Justice in Palestine are two groups pushing Muslim antisemitism into the United States’ mainstream. They must be combatted with the same vigor as other antisemitic groups.
Three young men of Palestinian descent were shot on the streets of Burlington, VT on their way to a dinner. They survived the attack which has been described as a hate crime.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the lone member of Congress from Palestinian Arab descent, condemned the attack on X and demanded that the FBI “hold the person responsible accountable.”
It is an obvious call to seek justice for people who were attacked for simply walking on the streets by a madman driven by hate.
Alas, Tlaib has refused to condemn the over thousand members of Hamas and other terrorists group and for them to be held accountable for their savage butchery and massacre of 1,200 people in Israel on October 7. Instead, Tlaib offered excuses for Hamas in a prepared statement on October 8 where she blamed Israel for the slaughter of its own people, supported by the United States. She predicted a future where Hamas will continue such heinous attacks “as long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the [Israeli] apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue.”
A classic case of absolution via inversion of victim and attacker.
It is not enough to simply point out Tlaib’s lies and hypocrisy in selectively calling for certain attackers of innocent people to be brought to justice. She must be pursued as a supporter of terrorists.
The United Nations has a counterterrorism strategy which reminds “all States of their obligation to ensure that any person who participates in the financing, planning, preparation or perpetration of terrorist acts or in supporting terrorist acts is brought to justice.” Tlaib supports terrorism, as she believes a toxic narrative about Israel.
That same UN report notes “that terrorists may craft distorted narratives that are based on the misinterpretation and misrepresentation of religion to justify violence, which are utilized to recruit supporters and foreign terrorist fighters, mobilize resources and garner support from sympathizers, in particular by exploiting the Internet and other information and communications technologies, including social media platforms, and also notes in this regard the urgent need for the international community to globally counter such activities.” The UN suggests “countering narratives used by terrorists and their supporters, and also stresses that counter-narratives should aim not only to rebut terrorists’ messages but also to amplify positive narratives, provide credible alternatives and address issues of concern to vulnerable audiences who are subject to terrorist narratives.”
Those ideas may be part of a long-term solution but so is loudly condemning and sidelining a powerful sitting member of Congress with over 1 million X followers.
Tlaib is an antisemite. A liar and hypocrite. A supporter and apologist for terrorists. She should not be allowed to serve in Congress.
The world is full of ignoramuses, and Hollywood has more than its fair share. Idiots like Susan Sarandon not only make horrible personal comments about Jews but suggest false information.
The simple facts are that Jews are much more persecuted than Muslims in the United States by a large margin.
Hate crimes against Jews have always been much higher than for Muslims or Arabs in every year for the past twenty years according to the FBI. The two groups started to converge around 2014 to 2016 as crimes against Jews started to decline and those against Muslims began to increase, but those trendlines reversed.
According to the raw FBI data, there were 6.3 times more hate crimes committed against Jews than Muslims in 2020. In 2008, the ratio was an astounding 8.6 times and got as low as 2.2 times in 2016.
When adjusting for the relative population of Jews and Muslims, assuming 5.7 million American Jews and 3.3 million American Muslims, the conclusion remains the same that Jews are targeted for hate crimes much more than Muslims or any other group, including Blacks.
Even before the terrible spike in American antisemitism in the wake of the most heinous slaughtering of Jews since the Holocaust on October 7, Jews were the most persecuted people in the country. Attacked by the alt-right, jihadists and the alt-left, and vilified by professors and politicians like Rep. Rashida Tlaib who claims that Jews in the United States and Israel are greedy conniving creatures who steal land and make money off of racism, Jews have become the global pinata.
American Jews are finding few allies and an array of enemies. It is well past time to prepare.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY16) has recently been portrayed in the media as a target of Jewish voters for his stance on Israel. That is an incomplete picture.
Bowman is simply unfit to serve anybody for a variety of reasons.
Liar and hypocrite. Bowman voted against Biden’s Infrastructure bill and then told constituents he supported it in his September/October 2021 newsletter. Bowman criticized Sen. Joe Manchin for opposing that bill when Bowman himself voted against it making him a hypocrite as well (December 26, 2021). Bowman continues to lie to his constituents such as claiming that he brought in $100 million into “the District” when only $5.5 million went to Westchester County with the balance going to New York City (January 9, 2023). Similarly, Bowman claimed that the average donation to his campaign was only $40 when it was $607, fifteen times as much (November 16, 2022).
Dangerous. Bowman infamously pulled the fire alarm putting hundreds of people’s lives at risk, just to delay a House vote, and then lied about the episode, even while the entire event was caught on video (September 30, 2023). The offense is a felony but he was able to plead it down to a misdemeanor charge.
Undermines safety. Bowman’s disregard for public safety can also be seen in his calls to “Defund the Police” (August 20, 2020) and to “Abolish ICE” (September 15, 2020).
Uses vile antisemitic language for theater. Bowman often uses inflammatory language, such as calling Republicans “Nazis” (March 7, 2023) and “terrorists” (May 25, 2023). He’s even taken aim at fellow Democrats including President Joe Biden and other politicians calling them “racists” and “xenophobic” for opposing the Chinese company TikTok (March 22, 2023), which has become the biggest antisemitic movement since the Nazis according to many.
Race baiter. Bowman relishes his own racism. After a Black man was killed by five Black police officers, he said that the victim was “killed by White supremacy” (February 6, 2023). He took the floor of Congress to say Republicans are too White and racist to understand a Brown Muslim woman (November 7, 2023) and even called the non-partisan filibuster rule in Congress “racist” in June 2023.
Extremist. Bowman is among the least bipartisan Democrats, ranking #396 out of all 435 members of Congress according to the Lugar Center House scorecard. His voting record is nearly identical with extremists Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). In addition to his voting record, Bowman criticized Biden for occasionally moving to the center “to acquiesce to the so-called independent voter” (May 17, 2023), as if bipartisanship and moderation is terrible.
Destroyer of education. Bowman aggressively stands against charter schools (February 3, 2023) which is not surprising as he is heavily backed by teacher unions who advance public school teacher interests over students’ well being. Bowman has also pushed to instill critical race theory throughout the school system (May 3, 2021).
Against capitalism. Bowman has called for a “redistribution of wealth and power” (September 7, 2020) and said “our current system of capitalism is slavery by another name” (December 21, 2020) as well as a “genetic disease” (November 8, 2023). As part of Bowman’s plans for a massive wealth redistribution under the banner of “decolonize wealth”, he wants to cancel all student debt (April 13, 2022), pay “reparations” to Black Americans (June 2023), and to annually tax unrealized gains by 30% (April 14, 2022). Bowman expects the government to simply print trillions of dollars to hand to Black people saying “the U.S. government, we have a fiat currency. It’s not tied to any natural resource like gold, so we can literally spend money into existence” (June 2023), a policy which would destroy the U.S. currency and economy.
Is against citizens in small states. Bowman wants to abolish the electoral college (September 13, 2022) which was instituted to protect small states and communities in rural America.
Packing the Supreme Court. Bowman co-sponsored a bill to stuff several Democratically-appointed judges onto the court (May 3, 2023) which will simply create counter-movements when Republicans are in power.
None of these stances have anything to do with Israel. Bowman is a liar and hypocrite who stokes division and is dangerous for all Americans.
And yes, that includes Jews and Zionists.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman calling Republicans as being too White, stupid and cold to understand a Muslim woman on the House floor
Co-authored resolution calling founding of Israel a “Nakba” on May 17, 2022. The resolution offered no language that Jews should have sovereignty and self-determination in their homeland at the same time, which often happens with “balanced” resolutions condemning both antisemitism and Islamophobia. Instead, Bowman adopted a solely Palestinian narrative, seemingly indicating that he does not believe Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel and should have a Jewish State.
Voted against supporting the Abraham Accords on April 25, 2023, which brought Israel into peace agreements with four Arab and Muslim countries. How could anyone oppose peace agreements unless they have targeted Israel for attack?
Boycotted Israeli President Herzog address to Congress on July 19, 2023, which was highly insulting to American Jews and Zionists, as well as America’s key ally in the Middle East.
Favors conditioning aid to Israel. While President Biden clearly stated he will not condition aid to Israel which is surrounded by terrorist groups and countries sworn to its destruction, Bowman co-authored a resolution to do just that on April 23, 2023.
Does not stand against antisemitism. Bowman has repeatedly shown that he does not care about antisemitism. He did not sign a February 4, 2022 bipartisan letter to the Department of Education to combat antisemitism on college campuses, and on July 18, 2023 he voted against a resolution condemning antisemitism.
Would not condemn Hamas resolution after October 7 massacre. Bowman was one of only a handful of members of Congress to oppose a resolution condemning Hamas on November 2, 2023.
Would not attend synagogue vigils in his district after October 7 massacre. Many synagogues in Bowman’s district held vigils after the Hamas massacre with hundreds of attendees including several dozen politicians. Bowman skipped all of them. His reputation in the Jewish community is so bad, that he held a sham “healing breakfast” regarding antisemitism in a windowless room in his office attended by only a dozen people on November 6, 2023. Not one rabbi in the district attended.
Bowman’s track record is not just disgraceful to the district’s estimated 20% Jewish voters; his policies targeting the economy and education are very scary for Hispanic and Asian constituents.
Many Hispanics in the district come from families which left failing economies in Central America to come to the United States to build a prosperous life. The ideas championed by Bowman to bring socialism to America is appalling to many. The health of the economy is the number one issue for American Latinos and Asian Americans according to Pew Research, and Bowman’s virulently anti-capitalism stances put him at odds with many groups in the district.
Almost as important to Hispanic voters in Westchester County is the public school system. Favoring teachers and the powerful teacher unions over students is disgraceful. Public schools are the gateway for many Hispanic children to gain valuable life skills and pathways to a good career. A former principal who cannot recognize a fire alarm does not instill any confidence in Bowman’s capabilities.
Bowman is backed by the powerful American Federation of Teachers, the City University of New York and the socialist group Justice Democrats. He is also closely aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America. These are major red flags for District 16’s large Hispanic community.
New York’s Congressional District 16 leans heavily Democratic and the winner of the Democratic primary will almost certainly win the general election in November 2024. Should someone with name recognition like George Latimer enter the race, he should easily gather a massive turnout from the district’s Hispanic, Jewish and Asian communities, due to Bowman’s terrible policies.
The only question that remains is whether the New York Independent Redistricting Committee will artificially try to protect Bowman by redrawing his district into the Bronx and take away voters who support Rep. Ritchie Torres in Congressional District 15. Doing so would be a new form of gerrymandering that would not add a Democratic seat but protect an extremist fringe of the party.
The entire Democratic party may pay a price for artificially seating someone unfit to serve in Congress.
An estimated 290,000 Jews and Zionists came to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on November 14, 2023 to march for Israel, the release of hostages and against antisemitism. News reports share that it was the single largest turnout of Jews in D.C. ever.
Hundreds of thousands of people at the National Mall rally on November 14, 2023 (photo: FirstOneThrough)
While marked as a “march” to run from 1:00PM to 3:00PM, the rally started at 11:00AM and ended well past 3:00PM. Speakers and singers addressed the large crowd who came from around the United States, Canada, Europe and Israel. There were masses of Israeli flags everywhere, as well as American flags, as everyone attending appreciated the simple ability to come out without fear in America’s capital.
There were sections set aside for members of Congress, and both Republicans and Democrats were proud to show their support for Israel and Zionists. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) was an early speaker, and the most forceful American politician from those invited to speak. He roundly condemned Hamas and spoke with moral clarity about the fight against evil.
Other Democrats who were not given the podium, like Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), were happy to speak to various people about the war, including Nir Barkat, former Mayor of Jerusalem and current Minister of Finance in Israel. Republican speakers included new House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) who was only second to Rep. Torres in clearly articulating standing firmly with Israel and against Hamas, and that America’s support was a bipartisan effort. Many other Republicans attended, including from California, Arizona, Georgia and Texas.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz at rally for Israel in Washington, DC on November 14, 2023 (photo: FirstOneThrough)
Beyond the familiar names were the new names.
Families of the over 200 hostages held in Gaza came to Washington. They stood and held each other and demanded the return of their loved ones. Many took the stage and spoke passionately about their sons, daughters and family members abducted amidst the slaughter of October 7.
Family of Hersh Goldberg-Polin
Rachel Goldberg-Polin spoke to the audience as she has done many times at any forum where she can try to help advance the release of her son Hersh, whose arm was blown off during the October 7 massacre. She shared that she did not know if he was alive and buried in the tunnels of Gaza, or had died from bleeding out from his wounds. But she knew she needed to speak out as best she could.
Other parents also spoke on behalf of their children. Some held placards with the names and faces of the captives. These were not “Kidnapped” signs that could be ripped from lampposts as thousands have been by anti-Zionists in America’s cities. These signs held up the tortured families, standing somewhere between shiva and hope.
In many ways, that was the essence of rally. While people leaned on each other for support and blessed the United States for both standing with Israel and being an open welcoming society, everyone knew that this was no celebration.
Over 1,200 people in Israel were slaughtered and butchered. Antisemitism was skyrocketing. University professors and students shouted their joy at the death of Jews. Politicians and world governments were calling the Jewish State a racist genocidal country not worthy of existing. Global crowds cheered the jihadists’ auto-da-fe.
So thousands came to America’s capital in a counter-demonstration of love and peace.
Jews and Christian Zionists came to be together. At times they accepted comfort from the array of speakers and other times they shouted back “Bring Them Home!” and “No Ceasefire!” in reply. The crowd stood for hours, talking to people around them to understand their personal stories of how they’ve been impacted, as well as to simply embrace friends traumatized by unfolding events.
Families of hostages demand the return of their loves ones in Washington, DC on November 14, 2023 (photo: FirstOneThrough)
The crowd came to the capital to collectively mourn the unholy death in the holy land. They came to get and demand reassurance from powerful politicians that they will be safe in America and make sure Israel can have peace.
And they openly showed their fear.
Like the 240 hostages in Gaza, roughly 300,000 people are not sure whether this was a time for hope or a time to mourn. Perhaps this is a post-Ecclesiastes world when time and state are no longer paired; a time for shiva and hope concurrently.
Jews make up a very small population in the world yet suffer disproportionately from persecution.
Globally, Jews account for less than 0.2% of the population, or about 1 person for every 525 people. Most people have never met a Jewish person.
As most of the world is Christian and Muslim, it is not surprising that Christian-majority countries make up the majority of the United Nations, followed by Muslim-majority countries. There is only a single Jewish-majority country, Israel, which is disproportionately vilified at the United Nations.
Outside of the Israel, the only country with a sizable Jewish population is the United States, which has 40% of the global Jewish population. Outside of Israel and the USA, there is roughly 15% of the rest of world Jewry, principally located in France, Canada, United Kingdom, Argentina and Russia.
In the United States, Jews are a small part of the minority groups. While DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) efforts focus on Hispanics, Blacks, Asians and the LGBT+ community, it ignores Jews who are labeled “White” and “privileged”.
Without protection afforded to other minorities, Jews stand out as the most targeted group in the United States for hate crimes, based on population.
College campuses have become particularly noxious breeding grounds of antisemitism. In addition to excluding Jews from DEI and federal Title VI protections, universities miseducate Zionism to be a form of “European colonialism” and Zionists to be racists. Compounding the matter, because Jews are labeled “White and privileged”, they are not allowed to defend themselves, and must simply sit and be berated.
The tragic farse doesn’t even end there. In addition to persecuted American Jews being vilified by laws and people meant to defend minorities, those groups label Israel as an example of White Supremacy, even though Mizrahi Jews make up a majority of the Jewish State. Jews of color make up 41.2% of the Israeli population.
Despite Jews being indigenous to the land of Israel and Israel being the most liberal country in the entire Middle East, liberal universities have turned the Jewish State into a polluter of pure Arab land.
Jews are a minority-minority in the United States and around the world, persecuted and unprotected by laws and people who are both proud of their antisemitism and those who think they are fighting for minority rights. At least majority-minority rights, like 1.8 billion Muslims.
Politicians and presidents of universities are being graded by their reaction to Hamas’s October 7 massacre in Israel and Israel’s response. The pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian communities are keeping score.
Pro- Israel Statements
There are a number of statements that people expect to see, some of which are considered easy and others which show true pro-Israel bona fides.
Condemn October 7. The Hamas attack which killed over 1,200 people was brutal. Most people expect condemning the attack an easy thing to do because of its scale and brutality.
Harsh adjectives of attack. Calling the attack “barbaric”, a “pogrom”, “pure evil” and similar language is similarly expected as a logical extension of the condemnation.
Calling Hamas is a terrorist group. The United States, Canada, United Kingdom and many other countries officially label Hamas a terrorist group, so calling it as such is also not viewed as a major pronouncement but Zionists expect to hear it specifically mentioned now.
Israel has a right to defend itself. This is a natural right and obligation of countries which are attacked. Stating that Israel has such right would normally be considered redundant but nothing seems to be in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Call to release hostages. Prioritizing the release of an estimated 240 people who were seized in the October 7 attack is a basic humanitarian call. It is surprisingly absent from many public statements, upsetting many Jews and Zionists.
Bring the perpetrators to justice. A natural biproduct of all of these statements is to hold the murderers and abductors to account.
Pro-Palestinian Actions
Pro-Israeli statements blend into pro-Palestinian statements when addressing Israel’s response to the attack. People who condemn violence might want all attacks to end and can hold both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian statements concurrently. However, when people demonize Israel and support Hamas, the break in the preference becomes clear.
Call for Humanitarian Pause. Israel’s response to the October 7 attack has killed thousands of people. Calling for humanitarian pauses to allow civilians to leave the area and bring in food and fuel is viewed as natural by many peace activists who want to minimize civilian casualties.
Call for Ceasefire. A ceasefire is viewed as much more extreme than a pause, especially early in the Israeli counter-attack. Pro-Israel people want to see the military capabilities of Hamas destroyed and a premature end to the campaign would give Hamas a huge victory. Pro-Palestinians believe that it is the only way to save thousands of Palestinian lives and are not concerned that Hamas may launch more attacks as they promised to do.
Say the October 7 attack had “context.” Backers of Palestinians do not want the narrative of the story to be that Hamas initiated the fight. While people may or may not acknowledge the brutality of the October 7 massacre, they discuss the blockade of Gaza and other Palestinian grievances to frame the discussion.
Rip down Kidnapped posters. The fate of 240 people ripped from their homes undermines the Palestinian narrative which paints Arabs as the victims.
Calling Hamas a “resistance movement”. Hamas calls itself a “resistance” movement, making it sound like a reactionary force rather than a terrorist group. Palestinian sympathizers use the nomenclature, even after the October 7 attack which killed more Jews in a day than any day since the Holocaust.
Not condemning October 7 attack. Many people released statements which skip the Hamas attack and only address Israel’s ongoing attack on Gaza. This is appreciated by the Palestinian community as it frames the oppressor and oppressed narrative to their liking. In contrast, it is considered appalling and a red flag to much of humanity as failing to condemn horrific acts like placing a baby in an oven alive, an action of psychopaths.
Call to “Free Palestine from the River to the Sea.” This demand to end Israel as a Jewish State goes beyond the specific war. It marks the war as the beginning of a liberation of land from Jewish control.
Call to “Globalize the Intifada”. This chant has many iterations like “Intifada revolution”. It spells out the desire to ‘Free Palestine’ with violence as well as either attack Zionists everywhere and/or any entity considered a western imperialist power.
Shouts of “Gas the Jews” and other forms of attack. The call for violence against Jews everywhere, not just in Israel, is the extreme end of pro-Hamas statements, shouted at rallies and in social media.
The scorecard shows people’s preferences in the conflict, like U.S. President Joe Biden and Congressman Ritchie Torres on the pro-Israel side, university leaders like Columbia University president Minouche Shafik who say nothing, and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Queen Rania of Jordan and Rep. Rashida Tlaib on the pro-Palestinian side.
Politicians, university presidents and corporate CEOs who all waded into politics in the Russia-Ukraine War and Black Lives Matter incidents, are being pushed to make statements about the 2023 Gaza War, with many angering supporters of each side. Everyone is checking the scorecard to gauge where people’s loyalties lie.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib was censured on the House floor for her call to destroy the Jewish State with her call to “free Palestine from the River to the Sea,” after the barbaric terrorist attack by the popular Palestinian jihadi group Hamas in which they burned, hacked, maimed, raped and killed over 1,400 people in Israel in an unprovoked attack. The vote was 234 to 188, and included 22 Democrats with moral clarity about stopping evil echoing evil. One Democrat, Rep. Brad Schneider, (D-IL) who is Jewish said Tlaib’s comment “is nothing else but the call for the destruction of Israel and murder of Jews.”
The congressional vote did not address some of Tlaib’s past antisemitic comments like her remarks to the Democratic Socialist of America in August 2021 when she said of Jews “they do it from Gaza to Detroit, and it’s a way to control people, to oppress people…. we’ve been living under right now is designed by those who exploit the rest of us, for their own profit…. And I tell those same people, that if you open the curtain andlook behind the curtain, it’s the same people who make money and—yes they do—off of racism, off of these broken policies. There is someone there making money and you saw it, it was so exposed during the pandemic…. They made record profit.“
Disgusting, vile and pure antisemitism, now coupled with a call to destroy the Jewish State.
But it got her fellow left-wing extremists up-in-arms like Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY16) who represents one of the most Jewish districts in the country. He screamed and yelled utter hateful garbage:
“Can we stop misrepresenting Rep. Tlaib’s words. She does not want to kill Jews. She is not in support of Hamas. She is speaking as someone who is the only Palestinian-American in U.S. history to serve in this body. Without her voice, we would lack even more empathy for the people of Palestine. We would not have someone with direct personal experience speaking against the seize that is happening now in Gaza. This body needs empathy and compassion for all people, not just people that look like the majority of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. And maybe because of your lack of diversity, you lack the cognitive and emotional ability to recognize diverse opinions when they speak truth to power. And you absolutely need to open up your minds to other people and other experiences, especially when they are Muslim and when they are women and when they are people of color.“
In essence, Bowman thinks that antisemitism spewed from the mouths of Black or Muslim women should be given empathy, but Republicans lack the intelligence and “emotional ability to recognize diverse opinions.” As if calling Jews greedy people who make money off of racism in the United States and Israel deserves some “emotional ability.” As though calling for the destruction of the Jewish State requires “cognitive” ability.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman defends Rep. Rashida Tlaib from censure for antisemitism on November 7, 2023
Jamaal Bowman is an utter and complete disgrace. A hater of White people. Of moderates. Of Jews.
Register as a Democrat and get every friend and neighbor to target this terrible person at the Democratic primary. [form here] It is time to clean the House of vile antisemites, whether they be jihadists, socialists or White supremacists.
Contact Westchester County Executive George Latimer to run against Bowman. email ce@westchestercountyny.gov or call (914) 995-2900.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY16) plans on hosting a “Healing Breakfast: Fighting Antisemitism and Hate” on Monday November 6 at 11:00am. Some Jews are inclined to not attend, having seen the congressman contribute to antisemitism in the United States and his district. Others want to confront Bowman, and ask him pointed questions.
There are many reasons for Jews to dislike Bowman.
While dozens of New York’s elected officials came to address 1,500 people at Temple Israel Center in White Plains on October 10, 2023, right after the brutal slaughter of 1,400 people in Israel, Bowman stayed away, despite the event being located in the center of his district. Among the various elected officials was Westchester County Executive George Latimer, who gave an incredible speech before the crowd. Thousands of Jews are asking Latimer to challenge Bowman in the Democratic primary for the Westchester congressional seat.
It may be a good idea to join Bowman’s virtual discussion to confront him on his positions about antisemitism and the Jewish State. Some questions to direct to Bowman about his track record include:
On May 17, 2022, you co-authored a resolution condemning the founding of Israel a “Nakba”, a catastrophe. You offered no language that Jews should have sovereignty and self-determination in their homeland at the same time, which often happens with “balanced” resolutions condemning both antisemitism and Islamophobia. Instead, you adopted a solely Palestinian narrative. Do you believe that Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel and should have sovereignty and self-determination there?
Many people in Israel and supporters of Israel believe in the principle of making peace with those who want peace, and going to war with those who wage war. On April 25, 2023, you voted against supporting the Abraham Accords. Do you believe in peace for Israel or do you only believe in peace for Israel when there is peace for Palestinian Arabs?
Jews are much more likely to suffer antisemitism in the United States than any other group including Black people and Muslims. You’ve spoken up for Blacks and Muslims but have done nothing until today to show an iota of concern for Jews. Why should the Jewish community trust you?
On May 3, 2021, you said that Critical Race Theory is important to teach in schools. Do you think CRT should be limited to Black experience in America? Do you think international laws which are supported by the US government, that ban Jews from living in parts of their holy land and ban Jews from praying at their holiest location on the Temple Mount should be taught as being deeply antisemitic?
Israel is often lambasted at the United Nations by every Arab and Muslim nation as well as key members of the UN Security Council. A “balanced” approach at the UN would therefore require the US to stand firmly behind Israel in all resolutions as other nations are siding against Israel. Do you agree, or should Israel be left without any backer at the UN?
Do you support Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s call for a ceasefire to only be in place once the hostages are freed, or do you support the ceasefire which Hamas wants without Hamas taking any actions at all as you tweeted on October 16, 2023?
WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 30: (L-R) Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MN), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) take questions during a news conference about Islamophobia on Capitol Hill on November 30, 2021 in Washington, DC. A video of Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) circulated on social media last week of the conservative lawmaker making anti-Muslim remarks about Rep. Ilhan Omar. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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