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Democrats are promoting antisemitism, not fighting it
I am responding to various political advertisements in the Oct. 25 issue of the Chronicle and the J Street letter to the editor. I would like to set the record straight.

Sanctions: President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Iran. President Joe Biden lifted the sanctions. As a result Iran has received billions of dollars that it wouldn’t have received if the Trump sanctions had been in effect. Most of that money has been used to support Hamas, Hezbollah the Houthis, the Iranian military, or other organizations dedicated to the destruction of Western civilization. Kamala Harris hasn’t called for reinstating the sanctions.

Defense of Israel: The Democrats won’t admit it, but their policy toward Israel has been, “We support Israel’s right to defend itself as long as it can find a way to do so without offending Hamas-sympathizing voters in Michigan”.

On Oct. 8, 2023, President Biden should have cut off all aid to Gaza until the hostages who were citizens of the U.S. or our NATO allies were released. Instead, all that he seemed to care about was helping the Gazans. The Biden administration is opposed to Israel’s destroying Iran’s nuclear program.

If Kamala Harris and Bob Casey are really friends of Israel, why aren’t they campaigning against Rep. Summer Lee and other members of the “Squad”?

Antisemitism: The primary source for modern antisemitism in the U.S. is not the “Great Replacement Theory” or neo-Nazi organizations. It is the interaction of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs with critical race theory and intersectionality. Under these progressive doctrines you are not an individual. You are a member of a group, and the world is divided by groups into victims and oppressors. White people are oppressors, and all Jews, including Black, Hispanic, and Asian Jews, are considered white. Palestinians are considered to be victims. The Democrats have mandated the teaching of DEI to federal employees, including the military.

In 2023 Gov. Tim Walz signed a Minnesota a law mandating the teaching of “liberated ethnic studies” in public schools.
Once the program is implemented, every public school student in Minnesota is going to be taught that Israel is engaged in settler colonialism. A student will need to either be an antisemite or fake being one to graduate from a public high school (and maybe eventually grade school).

The Democrats are promoting antisemitism, not fighting it.

Kamala Harris is, and has always been a progressive, or if you prefer, a San Francisco leftist. The political left is not supporting Israel and is promoting antisemitism. Anyone who wants to fight antisemitism or to help Israel should be voting Republican, especially for James Hayes who is running against Summer Lee.

Jim Silverman
Squirrel Hill

A Trump victory would not be better for Israel
Thank you for the Oct. 11 opinion pieces from Rabbi Jamie Gibson (“What do you value?”) and Abby Schachter (“Why vote Trump? To let Israel win”). It is important for our community to consider opposing viewpoints on vital issues. I strongly agree with Rabbi Gibson and respectfully disagree with Ms. Schachter.

We live in a challenging time to be Jewish in the United States. After what happened at the Tree of Life synagogue, we do not need to be reminded of the timeless danger of “the antisemitism of the right.”

At the same time, the “antisemitism of the left” laid bare since Oct. 7 has been jarring. We have a lot of work to do, in education, outreach and mutual understanding, as do our many friends in such communities who rallied to our support after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

This is an important job, and it will take decades. But as an existential threat, this is tomorrow’s issue. The existential threat of an authoritarian government is staring us in the face Right Now.

No one hearing the racist (and not infrequently antisemitic) hate spewing from Trump and his campaign should have any illusions about a second Trump term. The people who at least partly reined in Trump’s first term are gone, and they almost all describe Trump as unfit and dangerous. If this election is about “making sure the country is safe,” as Ms. Schachter argues, should this erratic and rage-filled man command the military and hold the nuclear codes?

There also is no assurance that this nightmare would last only four years. Would there be fair elections in 2028 and beyond? That’s not what autocracies do. When is the next fair election in Russia? China?

As Ms. Schachter points out, Israel is a central issue. In our community, there is a range of deeply held views as to what is best for Israel. I respectfully submit that, wherever you are in that range, Trump winning would not be better for Israel. Trump is transactional, impulsive and fundamentally untrustworthy. Who knows how Trump would react to any given issue? Trump also bows to autocrats, especially Putin, who has an important relationship with Iran. How will that play out?

The most important thing for the preservation of Israel is the maintenance of a free society in the United States, where 40% of the world’s Jews live, and which is essential to the survival of Israel.

Kamala Harris would not be a perfect president. But she’s normal, the way that candidates from both parties over the years have been normal. The critiques of Kamala Harris, as to Israel and otherwise, are overwhelmingly outweighed by the risk that Trump presents.

It would be tragic if, six years after the greatest wake-up call to Jews in the history of this country happened in the heart of Squirrel Hill, the Jewish community of Pittsburgh played a leading role in bringing a revenge-driven authoritarian back to power, by voting for Donald Trump or not voting at all. Please vote for Kamala Harris.

Mike Lowenstein
Pittsburgh

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