THE LESSONS OF PITTSBURGH

By Rabbi Yechezkel Moskowitz, DAILY CALLER

There is a saying in Judaism: “Whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved the lives of all men.” It would go without saying that taking an innocent life analogous to destroying the entire world.

Indeed, on Oct. 27, 11 worlds were destroyed in a hateful act of misplaced vengeance — by the anti-Semitic, Trump-hating Robert Bowers. There, in a fleeting moment, the little Jewish community of Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh was cast into darkness.

I spent shabbat in Squirrel Hill as a teenager. It was a quiet and peaceful suburb with a really nice and welcoming community. I — like the entire American nation, Jews and non-Jews alike — reeled in shock over such an abhorrent act of hatred toward the Jewish people.

But this is America, the home of the free and the brave. We as a people were united in mourning with the families of the victims and the entire Pittsburgh community. This mourning culminated with a proclamation by our president stating unabashedly that as Americans we “must stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters to defeat anti-Semitism and vanquish the forces of hate. Those seeking their (the Jews) destruction, we (America) will seek their destruction.”

For a fleeting moment, I thought to myself, perhaps we are at the cusp of uniting as a nation. Perhaps this is rock bottom, perhaps we are at the point where we can heal and allow for a future where respectable and constructive discourse is once again the norm.

But alas, this is America. The Democratic Party — the liberal progressive community — sprang into action, politicizing this immense tragedy. Using their weapon, the media, and their organized protesters, the left unabashedly proclaimed that the blood of these innocent Jews was on the hands of President Trump.

The absurdity worsened when a vigil in front of the white house turned into a Trump hate fest, with those gathered at the vigil-turned-political-rally  pointed their finger at the White House and yelled “our blood is on your hands.”  This was followed by a speaker who had the audacity to call the slaughter in Pittsburgh “a state sanctioned pogrom.”

For the finale, Linda Sarsour — the former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York — took the microphone and proclaimed, in typical two-faced fashion, “In the face of overwhelming hate, we choose unrelenting love and unity. We recommit ourselves to dismantling antisemitism and all forms of racism.”

One needs to revisit the years of hatred Sarsour has propagated against anyone who believes that Israel, as a Jewish state, has a right to exist. Most pointedly, Sarsour has argued — at the ISNA convention, in reference to Israel — that Muslims should not defend or “actually try to humanize the oppressor,” in reference to Israelis.

In other words, according to Sarsour and her advocates on the left, Jews living in Israel are not human.

The virtue-signaling of the left, the self-proclaimed arbiter of what’s considered hate and racism, has created a reality where the left is in fact the one that is perpetuating hate and division across this country.

Let’s start with the facts. It is the left that has mainstreamed the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric. It is the left that has mainstreamed anti-Semites Keith Ellison and Louis Farrakhan. It is the left that has accepted a candidate like Andrew Gillum who throws politically conservative Jews and Gays out of synagogues because he does not agree with their political opinions. It is the left that has exalted Al Sharpton, who has never apologized for inciting an anti-Semitic riot in Brooklyn. It is the left that supports the Arab Boycott of Israel and calls the indigenous rights of the Jewish people in their age old historic homeland “occupation.”

And yes, I do fear for the future of the Jewish people in America, and make no mistake it is not because of the fringe white nationalists, but it is because of the left allowing for the mainstreaming of Jewish hatred and there is almost nothing we as a community can do about it.

So, let me set the record straight.

The blood of our people is on the hands of openly anti-Semitic leftists. It is not on the hands of the White House.

I said it: the blood of our children and innocents is on the hands of the left just as much as it is on the hands of the extreme right. And it is as much of an atrocity for the pro-terrorist left to cynically protest the blood of our people being spilled in Pittsburgh as it is for the murderer who did so!

As far as I am concerned, the only hope we have is to stand proud with our president. As Israeli Ambassador to America Ron Dermer said, the president’s statements on anti-Semitism were “the strongest ever made by a non-Israeli leader.” With President Trump and the Republican party at his side, I feel there is hope for my people to continue living in this land of loving kindness for years to come. Under the left, it’s a different story entirely.

I pray to God that the people of this great nation see past all the rhetoric and come to the polls to assure the midterm elections have a favorable outcome. I hope that people see the facts and take note who is bringing our country together. President Trump loves this country and wants us to be united one nation under God. We must succeed to defeat the liberal progressive agenda in these next two election cycles because, to be honest, the alternative is terrifying indeed.

Rabbi Yechezkel Moskowitz is director of the Moskowitz Policy Forum and special assistant to Cherna Moskowitz.

November 4, 2018 | 13 Comments »

Leave a Reply

13 Comments / 13 Comments

  1. @ Hugo Schmidt-Fischer:

    Hugo…… This guy is purely a “baiter”, devoted Democrat anti-Jew troll. He makes a very controversial post, and then sits back and reads all the genuine, serious answers, which are exactly what he wants and are water off a tin roofed shed. Stokes it for as long as he gets replies and then fades…until next time.

  3. Brooklyn Synagogue Attacked With Jews Inside Praying
    Hana Levi Julian28 Heshvan 5779 – November 5, 2018
    A gang of some half a dozen Brooklyn teenagers attacked a small synagogue in the Williamsburg neighborhood towards the conclusion of the Sabbath on Saturday evening, according to a report published by the New York Postjew.

    They hurled a metal pole through one of the glass windows of the lower-floor synagogue, shattering it.

    One of the worshipers participating in the evening service told the news site, “People were praying inside at the time. Everyone is upset already. So this, we don’t need this now.”

    Police are seeking four of the boys, around age 16, who fled down Franklin Avenue after bashing the synagogue’s window. Property damage has been estimated at more than $250.

    No physical injuries were reported in the attack.

    Brooklyn has seen a rash of anti-Semitic attacks recently.

    Last week a former Democratic volunteer on the Obama campaign broke into the historic Union Temple in Prospect Heights last week to draw a swastika on the door and “Kill All Jews” in the building’s stairwell. James Polite, age 26, was arrested this past Friday in connection with the incident.

  4. @ Lorensacho:
    BTW, the illegal alien crisis is just that, a crisis and is NOT being made up. It’s a serious problem with deadly consequences like MS13. We have not only the right, but the obligation to defend our borders. And Obamacare should be eliminated.

    I’m glad to be back here with a vengeance.

  5. @ Lorensacho:
    The democrats do NOT want to eliminate racism. They thrive on race-baiting. The democrats cannot and will not debate the merits of any issue. Instead every issue, and I literally mean EVERY issue is framed in racial terms by the democrats and media. They absolutely are 100% to blame for racism and anti-Semitism and the divisive atmosphere in America.

  7. adamdalgliesh Said:

    a serious problem made clear by the Pittsburgh shooter blaming Jews for illegal immigration

    Wrong.

    The Pittsburgh shooter was blaming Jews for promoting LEGAL immigration. He was referring to HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, with its offices in Amman or Chad and places of that nature, but they are bringing in immigrants into the US, LEGALLY.

    I personally question the utility of settling immigrants in the US who will never assimilate. It has been tried in Europe and shown to fail. HIAS is at fault for that policy. These refugees are better left and re-settled within their own region. But that is another matter, entirely.

    However, president Trump never attacked legal immigration. The Pittsburgh shooter is a sick man. You are depraved to blame Trump.

  8. @ Lorensacho: Lorensacho, the Democrats seem far more interested in eliminating Trump than they are in eleiminating racism. And they are more concerned about racism directed at other “minorities” than they are about antisemitism.

  9. Attacking the left is not the solution to racism. Pandering to anti-immigrant ignoramuses is a serious problem made clear by the Pittsburgh shooter blaming Jews for illegal immigration. If the President was not Full Monty into this made up crisis, maybe the shooter would not have been incited. It’s shameful that the Democrats want to understand and eliminate racism while Republicans have other things on their minds like getting rid of Obamacare.

  10. Suspect Arrested in Anti-Semitic Vandalism at Synagogue in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
    Hana Levi Julian26 Heshvan 5779 – November 3, 2018
    Photo Credit: Twitter

    The New York Police Department has announced increased coverage of NYC synagogues.
    New York Police have arrested a suspect in connection with an anti-Semitic vandalism attack on a Prospect Heights synagogue late last week. James Polite, 26, was arrested on charges of aggravated harassment in the case. He is also charged with setting several small fires in Williamsburg, according to a report published Saturday by the New York Daily News.

    Polite was undergoing a psychiatric evaluation at Woodhull Hospital, according to the report, which said the suspect was an intern for former City Hall Speaker Christine Quinn, and also worked on the campaign for former President Barack Obama.

    Quinn admitted to knowing Polite, but tweeted an angry statement Saturday night, saying she was “simply and utterly devastated” at the “vile expression of bigotry and anti-Semitism,” which she said was “indefensible.”

    The anti-Semitic hate messages were discovered on a door and in the stairwell at the historic Union Temple Reform Jewish synagogue building Thursday evening, leading to the cancellation of a political event that night. ‘Broad City’ star Ilana Glazer emerged from the venue at around 8:30 pm to tell the crowd that had gathered for the evening that it would not take place, due to the hate found inside.

    “Kill all Jews” was scrawled on a door in the synagogue, according to the New York Post. Anti-Semitic slurs were found on the second and fifth floor as well, leading to fears for the safety of those who had gathered for the evening’s event.

    The incident followed by one day another in which vandals scrawled a swastika and the “n” word on the stairs of a home in Brooklyn Heights. The graffiti was discovered around 9:30 pm Tuesday – barely four days after a mass murder at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

    NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea noted during an unrelated news conference on Wednesday there were “several incidents of swastikas being drawn” in the police precinct that encompasses the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood.

    “What we’ve seen in the last month is an increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes, particularly Swastikas on buildings in parts of the city,” Shea said. “Anti-Semitic hate crimes make up about half of all of the hate crimes that we see in New York City.”

    Another article from the Jewish Press.

  11. Mentally Ill Former Obama Volunteer Arrested for Anti-Semitic Graffiti on Reform Temple
    David Israel26 Heshvan 5779 – November 4, 2018

    The NYPD on Friday night arrested James Polite, 26, who spent his childhood living in 13 foster homes, struggled with mental illness and drug addiction, and volunteered on Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, for vandalizing Union Temple at 17 Eastern Parkway on Thursday with anti-Semitic graffiti stating, “die Jew rats we are here,” “Jews better be ready,” “End It Now” and “Hitler.”

    Polite was recognized by police based in a surveillance video that showed him inside the temple. He was arrested Friday morning at a fire that had been set in the coat room of Yeshiva Beth Hillel of Williamsburg.

    According to the NY Times, former City Council speaker, Christine Quinn, took Polite, under her wing in 2008, and got him an internship at the Council, working on combating hate crimes.

    “This is a young man I have worked with for over a decade,” Quinn said on Saturday. “With all the setbacks, you hoped this would be a good turn. But the opposite happened.”

    Quinn said she was “devastated,” adding, “What James did is horrible and in some ways unforgivable.”

    This in the Jewish press. Is Trump to blame for what this guy did?

  12. HATE IN SPRING VALLEY: Jewish Man Assaulted in Unprovoked Attack on Shabbos
    November 3, 2018 8:35 pm

    A Jewish man was assaulted in an unprovoked attack in Spring Valley on Shabbos, in what Police are investigating as a hate crime.

    Sources tell YWN that a Hispanic man driving a taxi stopped his car on South Madison Avenue near Singer Street, got out and approached the Jewish man and his brother walking together.

    He started screaming “this is not Jewland and you have no royalties here!”.

    The Jewish men ignored the man and continued walking.

    The man then exited the American Latina taxi, and walked towards the victim and his brother. He shaped his fingers like a gun and poked it into one of their faces. He then punched him in his stomach and fled after they began screaming.

    The Spring Valley Police Department is looking for the suspect and being assisted by Rockland County Sheriff Department.

    Chaveirim of Rockland ate adding additional patrols in the area.

    (Chaim Shapiro – YWN)

  13. Arsonist sets fires at 7 Brooklyn synagogues and Jewish schools: NYC councilman
    The New York Police Department received reports of fires at seven Hasidic Jewish institutions in a single neighborhood in Brooklyn — around the same time vandals spray-painted “Kill All Jews” inside a reform synagogue in the same borough.

    City Council Member Stephen Levin and State Senator Martin Dilan released a statement about the fires Friday afternoon.

    “Earlier this morning, NYPD’s 90th Precinct received reports of fires at seven different locations throughout South Williamsburg,” the statement read. “The perpetrator set fires at local yeshivas and synagogues in the predominantly Hasidic community.”

    “Tragically, it would seem these types of attacks are becoming all too common,” the politicians continued. “Words and speech are as real as any weapon, and I again call on the current administration to unequivocally denounce every and all hate groups. We need to do everything in our power to deny hate safe harbor, whether in Pittsburgh, Charleston, or here in Williamsburg.”

    The NYPD, along with the Williamsburg Shomrim, or volunteer neighborhood patrol group, reportedly arrested a man suspected of setting the fires.

    The Friday morning vandalism at a Brooklyn Heights synagogue led to the cancellation of a progressive get-out-the-vote event that would have featured Broad City star Ilana Glazer.

    As NYC Councilman Chaim Deutsch noted on Twitter, there have been multiple anti-Semitic incidents in the week since the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre.

    The incidents include swastikas found graffitied in Brooklyn Heights and Manhattan’s Upper West Side, the vandalism inside Brooklyn Height’s Union Temple, an anti-Semitic license plate that was removed in Queens and a Jewish man being verbally threatened in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood.

    In the Crown Heights incident, which was reported by the neighborhood’s Shomrim on October 30, three teens allegedly threatened to stab a Jewish man and “kill all Jews.”

    During a Wednesday morning briefing, NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea noted that the department has seen “an increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes, particularly swastikas, on buildings in part of the city.”

    “In last 28 days particularly, which is a little troublesome, we have seen an uptick in that category,” Shea said.

    The New York Daily News reported that the NYPD had logged 116 anti-Semitic “bias incidents” as of October 7 — including 12 assaults.

    You can see video and photos of the fires and their aftermath below:

    This from the Raw News site.