Aug. 3, 2022Jewish Democratic Council of AmericaPO Box 14411, Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, United StatesDear Fellow Jews, I have just read a column by Alan Dershowitz criticizing your group for excising Israel from your platform. May I take a minute to explain why I agree with him. Perhaps you are aware that Jews comprise slightly over 2% of America’s population but suffer over 50% of America’s hate crimes. It would appear that some of these hate crimes are carried out by people of a certain culture who consider the establishment of a Jewish country in the Middle East a calamity (nakba). Some of the crimes that occur in New York are carried out by Black youth who sucker punch religious Jews, perhaps not out of an anti-Jewish ideology, although the malignant influence of Louis Farrakhan is having a terrible effect on that community, but for sport, perhaps the one called the Knockout Game in which Black youth sucker punch unsuspecting people in this case readily identifiable Jews. Other hate crimes against Jews are committed by white nationalist groups, members of whom have gunned down Jews, 11 alone in a Pittsburgh synagogue.A new form of anti-Jewish activity is occurring on American campuses where oil rich Arab countries have donated 6.5 billion dollars to establish departments of Middle East Studies that have spawned anti-Israel student groups and sympathetic teachers associations who are engaged in spreading libels about Israel that has made Jewish life on these campuses uncomfortable. If you’re a Jewish professor and don’t hate Israel, you have no place among your peers. Sound familiar?The media hasn’t been helpful either. Much of the mainstream media considers Israel guilty until proven innocent which is a perversion of the foundation of American justice system in which accused are considered innocent until proven guilty. This prejudice places American Jews whatever their opinion about Israel in the crosshairs of obsessive Jew hatred.Then there is the Jewish connection with Israel. For more than 3500 years Jews have lived and prayed in Israel formerly Judea which as Bibi Netanyahu reminds us is where Jews got their name. After the Romans dispersed the Jews from Judea, they prayed for two thousand years to return to Jerusalem to pray at the remnants of their holy temple. Perhaps the Jewish Democratic Council of America while calling themselves Jews are not religious so fail to appreciate the link between Israel and its aboriginal people. You can ignore Israel as a condition for being accepted as loyal Americans whose primary interest is in national issues, but do you really think that bleaching out your Jewishness will earn you respect, will actually restore abortion rights and strengthen democratic institutions? As Joe Louis once said about an opponent, “He can run but he can’t hide, isn’t this what you are trying to do? Thanks for listening.Sincerely yours, ,Larry ShapiroP.S. In searching for your address, I noticed that you do not publish it preferring instead to post a PO Box. Almost every other interest group in Washington has an address. I can’t help wondering if hiding your address is an effort to protect yourselves and your staff from anti-Jewish acts of terrorism. If so, I hope you will add that concern to your platform. After all, aren’t you the ones to do that?
