Chicagoland Pro-Israel Political Update
A newsletter for people willing to think for themselves
November 4, 2018
The Tree of Life shooting was caused by a combination of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and easy access to guns. All have political solutions, which is why we can't fall for NRA/Republican calls not to politicize this tragedy. Of course they'd rather we not talk about it--they oppose the solutions we need.
Trump and the Republicans did not pull the trigger, but they made the trigger available and their rhetoric made it more likely that the trigger would be pulled.
Both sides don't do it. Only Trump and the Republicans are peddling violence and bigotry; Democrats running for Congress are not. Neither side is perfect, but Trump and the Republicans have descended to unprecedented lows. Elections are partisan. Voting your values means voting Democratic on Tuesday.
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Friends,
One week after the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, we are still in shock. Yes, it can happen here.
If you have time for only one link, read
We See President Trump For What He Is, by Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) Executive Director Halie Soifer.
Trump is to blame. His rhetoric matters. He has stoked hatred. Not only have Republicans remained silent, but some have followed his lead.
As
Halie wrote, "
Any Republican who does not see that their party has been hijacked by anti-Semitism, racism, Islamophobia and hatred is blind to reality...Americans who are fed up with right-wing violence can reject hatred and bigotry by electing a Democratic majority."
Even good, decent people are falling for the NRA/Republican call “not to politicize this tragedy.
” Gun massacres occur so frequently in this country that if we took this advice seriously, there would never a time to think about how we can prevent future tragedies--which is exactly what they want, because if we talk about solutions, they lose elections.
The massacre at Tree of Life was caused by a combination of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and easy access to guns. We need to do much more than ban assault weapons, but we should at least ban assault weapons and much more tightly regulate gun ownership. Every western democracy in the world except us has figured out how to do it. The Republicans won’t even allow gun control legislation to come to a vote. We need to elect members of Congress and a president who will take gun control seriously. That’s political, that’s the only way to do it, and that means voting out Republicans--which is why they tell us not to politicize this.
Anti-Semitism and xenophobia cannot be eradicated. But they can be checked. It stands to reason that a society whose leaders actively fight and regularly speak out against anti-Semitism, bigotry, and xenophobia will be a better society. Instead, we have a president who
incites fear
of the other at every opportunity, from Mexicans to Muslims to the
so-called caravan
. We have a president who regularly traffics in anti-Semitic dog whistles, blaming our problems on “globalists” and George Soros and vast international financial conspiracies.
Jennifer Rubin
points out how bizarre it is to argue that Trump's steady stream of hateful rhetoric "has no influence on the least stable and most impressionable people among us." Of course it does. Yet some people who have no trouble seeing the connection Palestinian incitement and terrorism
blind themselves to the connection
between Trump's incitement--aided and abetted by the Republican party--and terrorism. Both much be stopped or more people will die.
Adam Serwer
explains that the Tree of Life shooter criticized Trump for not being racist or anti-Semitic
enough.
Serwer also notes that while politicians usually don't get blamed for the actions of their deranged followers, politicians usually don't use violent rhetoric and describe neo-Nazis as "fine people."
Is it any wonder then that Robert Bowers killed Jews because the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society welcomes and helps refugees, exactly the opposite of Trump and the Republicans? Trump didn’t pull the trigger. But he and the Republicans made the trigger available and
their rhetoric
made it more likely that it would be pulled.
Abraham Foxman
, the former head of the ADL, said last week that Trump is a demagogue and his words are emboldening extremists who buy into his rhetoric. Some on the right have responded not by criticizing Trump and the Republicans, but by criticizing the ADL. But the ADL is not biased against Republicans. It is biased against hate and bigotry. The solution is not to change the ADL. The solution is to change the Republican Party and until that can be done, voting Republicans out of office. Before you accuse me of ochlophobia,
remind yourself
of some of what Trump has said. And before you dismiss the ADL's numbers or the fact of a surge in anti-Semitism on the right since Trump took office, read
Enough Denial About Right-Wing Anti-Semitism.
We can't pretend that both sides engage in this type of rhetoric
. It makes us think we are even-handed and above it all to say so, but it's just not true.
Paul Krugman writes that "The fact is that one side of the political spectrum is peddling hatred, while the other isn’t. And refusing to point that out for fear of sounding partisan is, in effect, lending aid and comfort to the people poisoning our politics." Let's be clear:
It's not just Trump; it's the Republican Party, and as
Rubin points out, those doing it must be held accountable.
If you want integrity and civility, says
Barbara Goldberg Goldman, vote for Democrats. If you want a strong U.S.-Israel relationship and support for your domestic agenda,
Susie Stern explains that Democrats offer both.
Don't forget the great candidates that Dana Gordon and I hosted: Vote for Dan Kohl (WI), Ken Harbaugh (OH), Elissa Slotkin (MI), Sean Casten (IL), and Abby Finkenauer (IA).
The Fine Print (in regular type)
: This newsletter usually runs on Sunday mornings. Unless stated otherwise, my views do not necessarily reflect the views of any candidates or organizations that I support or am associated with. My views might not even be my views tomorrow; I reserve the right to change my mind as I learn more, and sometimes I make myself mad too. Intelligent, well-informed people may disagree with me; seek out opposing views and decide for yourself. When I link to an article, it doesn't mean that I agree with everything its author has ever said or that I even agree with everything in the article; it means that the article supports or elaborates on the point I was making. Advertisements reflect the views of the advertisers, not necessarily of me, and advertisers are solely responsible for the content of their advertisements. I read, value, and encourage replies to my newsletters, but I don't always have time to acknowledge replies or to engage in one-on-one discussion. Don't expect a reply if your message is uncivil or if it's clear from your message that you haven't read the newsletter or clicked on the relevant links.