Silence is Not an Option
Congresssman Chris Smith delivered the following remarks in Lakewood on October 29, 2o18:
photo via @thelakewoodscoop
Words are inadequate to convey my—our—outrage and profound sorrow over the loss of eleven precious lives and the wounding of 6 others including four courageous police officers at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh.
Attacked simply because they were Jewish, this barbaric manifestation of anti-Semitism underscores a dangerous and escalating trend both here in the United States and throughout the world.
Americans must unite as never before against anti-Semitism in all of its ugly forms.
Americans must leave no stone unturned in calling out and condemning the purveyors of anti-Semitism on the internet including social media.
Working with local police and homeland security at both the state and federal level, we must employ all best practices and the means to achieve maximum security regardless of cost, to protect Jewish persons, synagogues, places of learning and cemeteries.
At one of the many congressional hearings I’ve chaired on combatting anti-Semitism, Dr. Shimon Samuels of the Wiesenthal Center in Paris testified in 2002 and said: “The Holocaust for 30 years after the war acted as a protective Teflon against blatant anti-Semitic expression…That Teflon has eroded…and can end as Molotov cocktails against synagogues.”
Abraham Lincoln once said that to sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.
In the face of escalating anti-Semitism, silence is not an option.
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And not a word on his standing up to the great horned demi-god of liars who creates divisions in our country. The shooter said he shot because this synagogue supported the “invasion”. We need better.
the Farrakhans, Clinton’s, Obama’s, Waterses, Pelosi’s,Moore’s, Madonnas, Antifas , most college professors, CNN hosts and panels, MSNBC hosts and panels, on and on ,but-get the point?? No comparison! But back to this actual post: I challenge anyone to find a more decent, honest, hardworking,dedicated man than Chris Smith. Bar none. Be glad to applaud another good victory for him, next Tuesday.
Pretty galling to see Smith strike a pose on what happened in Pittsburgh with barely a mention of the context that precipitated it, namely the near constant stoking of fear of “invaders” by the President and his allies.
As Adam Serwer put it:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/caravan-lie-sparked-massacre-american-jews/574213/
“The apparent spark for the worst anti-Semitic massacre in American history was a racist hoax inflamed by a U.S. president seeking to help his party win a midterm election. There is no political gesture, no public statement, and no alteration in rhetoric or behavior that will change this fact. The shooter might have found a different reason to act on a different day. But he chose to act on Saturday, and he apparently chose to act in response to a political fiction that the president himself chose to spread and that his followers chose to amplify.
“As for those who aided the president in his propaganda campaign, who enabled him to prey on racist fears to fabricate a national emergency, who said to themselves, ‘This is the play’? Every single one of them bears some responsibility for what followed. Their condemnations of anti-Semitism are meaningless. Their thoughts and prayers are worthless. Their condolences are irrelevant. They can never undo what they have done, and what they have done will never be forgotten.”
And as per usual, Smith is complicit with his “silence,” his failure to name the driving force behind the danger we are seeing manifest. The words “Trump” and “President” can’t even escape Smith’s lips, nor can the words “Stop, please.”
is not pretty: tired of all you sore losers ascribing all bad behaviors to the President and the right,to score points and take us down because, like him personally or not, things are better these first two years, he takes no crap and fights back, and keeps his promises. You hate all that.. and remember, he has Jewish kids and grandkids!..With zero ideas, other than to go off the crazy train and further divide, and go backwards into higher taxes and more regulations and less folks working, these personal blamings for every sick nut are old, and, wrong.Frankly, the “ bomber” and his craziness who liked Trump, is balanced out by this latest nut,who doesn’t. Nobody can predict or be responsible for a few mentally ill folks whom society failed to put away when we likely could, before the carnage… With any luck, you and your sad views/illnesses will be turned back at the polls..if not, well, we sure know where we’ll be back to, fast…
Frankly, the “ bomber” and his craziness who liked Trump, is balanced out by this latest nut,who doesn’t.
Umm where are you going with this, guy?
that the Trump haters trying to simplistically pin all of these incidents on the President are, as usual, wrong. And, unfair. Whatever their twisted philosophies or proclivities, pro or con any person, religion or cause,these are sick, evil people who carry out their deeds for their own twisted reasons, and many of us are sick of the usual response of blaming every bad deed on Trump, period. In the case of Pittsburgh, perhaps discussion and more action, about having more metal detectors, cameras, and yes, guards, in any public building, is in order.