We were inspired and outraged by the stories we heard. We stand with DREAMers, TPS recipients and all immigrants. We stand against injustice which is why we are Zionists. #homeishere#ZionessAction#zionessSpeaksForMe
1/ Mahmoud Khalil is a raging antisemite; @Columbia likely had grounds to expel him a long time ago. Their repeated failures to protect Jewish students/faculty are why we're here. AND
Arresting, detaining, attempting deportation of a legal permanent resident with no charges...
2/ or due process will (as it must) be aggressively scrutinized by the courts. If Khalil ends up staying in US, Trump admin/anyone cheering will ironically have done nothing more than turn a terror-glorifying bigot into the heroic poster child of free speech & civil liberties.
Jews & our communal institutions have always fought to protect civil rights & civil liberties–including free speech, even when totally disgusted by the content–because societies with those protections are the only ones in which we, as a tiny minority community, can ever be safe.
These comments are truly painful for American Jews and our allies who genuinely care about collective freedom. Israel is a Jewish state; calling it “racist” for the crime of existing is an antisemitic trope. We hope our many allies @USProgressives Caucus will set record straight
Actually caring about 2SS requires acknowledging humanity/right to selfdetermination of *both* peoples. There are legit policy criticisms of Israel.Calling it “a racist state” isn’t “criticism” it’s demonization. It helps no one & harms Jews. It’s feeding the beast of antiZionism
.@RepJayapal also says “you may have arguments about whether some of us on stage are fighting hard enough [against Israel’s existence as a so-called racist state]…there is an organized opposition, and they aren’t the people on this stage”
Open Letter to Friends & Allies on Antisemitic Terror Attack @ Cong Beth Shalom
Friends & allies to the Jewish people,
As you know, this past weekend, after an ostensibly homeless gunman was welcomed into a TX shul, he took hostage a Rabbi & 3 innocent Shabbat worshippers. 1/
Jews the world over held our collective breath for 11 hours, praying that this synagogue attack would end differently than others in searingly recent memory.
Our gratitude & awe are immeasurable––that no innocent blood was spilled; for the courage and heroism of the hostages; 2/
for the tireless efforts of law enforcement agencies at local, state & federal levels; for the institutions that provide training & resources to Jewish clergy & congregants, knowing the urgent necessity of such skills & likelihood that they would, quite literally, save lives. 3/
1/ It is true that antisemitism is divisive & benefits those who rely on division & fear for their power.
So why are these people, who claim to be progressive, promoting AND covering up antisemitism in the progressive mvmt? Well-known antisemites have NO place defining antisem.
This panel is anti-Jewish on so many levels, while claiming to be about "dismantling antisemitism."
3/ First, these people will deny Jews the right to self-determination, a right held inalienably by all peoples. The movement for Jewish self-determination is Zionism, and denying us that right is anti-Jewish. Hard stop.
Our open letter to @AOC@RepAOC share w #ZionessSpeaksForMe
"We are deeply troubled that you have decided to pull out of event honoring the life & legacy of former Israeli PM Rabin, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who paid the ultimate price for his commitment to peace & justice"
@aoc@repaoc There is so much about you that inspires, activates, & empowers so many AmericanJews, who overwhelmingly hold same commitment to social, racial, economic, gender & environmental justice that you do. Your leadership means so much to young women, esp women of color...
Your success as legislator/leader/activist for truth&justice depends on your ability to see&treat every American as a human being.Many Jews have reached out to try to express our cmtmt to Zionism as inalienable human right, but you seem unwilling to hear/appreciate our humanity
forward.com/opinion/455003…
That anyone would use this moment to manipulate, fearmonger for partisan political gain, and make an already vulnerable minority population more afraid, is perverse and simply unconscionable.
"...when it came time to vote on the EIEA, with antisemitism now the only explicitly-mentioned form of discrimination in the bill, it passed with 229 Democrats voting in favor and not a single one opposing it."
For the record we also take serious issue w comments from Dem Rep @BobbyScott: “This is just a political attempt to insert religion into Title VI. That is controversial…while we are picking just one religious kind of discrimination, antisemitism, what about the other religions?"