Tax Dollars Going Down the Drain???
Dear Editor:
Drip, drip,drip, watch your tax dollars go down the drain. Have you also seen all the “Don’t Let Tax, Water, Or Repair Charges Come Between You and Your Property” full page ads in many daily and weekly neighborhood newspapers? It deals with New Yorkers who owes real estate tax water sewer, emergency repair or other property–related charges “the City of New York may sell a lien on your property” advertisement. Is this the best way the NYC Departments of Finance, Environmental Protection along with Housing Preservation and Development can spend taxpayers dollars?
Why can’t all three agencies compare their respective lists of people who owe money with those filing city and state tax returns? Surely the technology exists to place a lien on any tax refunds? You could also extend citizens the courtesy of a telephone call, letter or E-mail informing them of their overdue obligations.
What’s next, will the City send out Marshals going door to door serving subpoenas?
When will either NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer or NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson who are both 2021 Mayoral-wanns-bes put an end to this waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayers dollars?
Sincerely,
Larry Penner
Warren Joins with Anti-Israel Forces
Dear Editor:
Elizabeth Warren, Democratic candidate for President, appointed Max Berger as her “Director of Progressive Partnerships.” Who is Berger? “Berger co-founded IfNotNow whose openly stated goal is to end Israel’s existence, and calls the Jewish state, “violent, “deadly,” “a nightmare,” and “morally indefensible.”
Shortly after, Hamas issued these new calls for worldwide genocide of all Jews, “We must attack every Jew on planet Earth and slaughter and kill them,” declared Hamas Political Bureau member Fathi Hammad on Friday. “We will lacerate them and tear them to pieces,” he added.”
Berger has stated: “Confession: I would totally be friends with Hamas.” (Feb. 20, 2013)
[Hamas] “protestors[‘] will to resist oppression gives me hope.” (May 15, 2018.)Had enough? There’s more: “Max Berger published an op-ed in “Think Progress” entitled “American Jews must Stand with Ilhan Omar,” in which Berger claimed, “Omar is the kind of leader America — and the American Jewish community — needs”. “Berger also supports antisemitic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who openly supports BDS and Israel’s destruction, replaced Israel with “Palestine” on her Congressional map, accused pro-Israel Americans of “dual loyalty,” and associates with leading antisemites and terrorists.”
Well I don’t know about you but when I hear the word “progressives”, I shudder. And for good reason. These repressive, fake “progressives” unite to ignore the true atrocities in our world in favor of singling out only Israel’s right to exist.
So, what conclusions can we make from these latest unholy alliances? Hamas’ genocidal goals are only encouraged by hearing that a major presidential candidate in America promotes Israel’s end. Berger has stated he supports Hamas. Does this make Warren a party to genocide? You tell me. If Warren appointed a Neo Nazi to be her “Progressive Director”, what would her fellow Democrats say? Yet when she appoints Berger, who smears Israel with lies, who openly calls for an end to the only Jewish state in our world, we hear…the usual silence. Warren has now revealed her true self, her dishonest, superficial intellect. When this mob Berger and Warren support come for them, they will be screaming the loudest. That I assure you.
Sincerely
Ginette Weiner
Avoiding Summer Tragedies
Dear Editor:
Just a word of caution before we begin our summer vacations. Tragically, every year at this time, we begin to witness the kind of tragedies that are beyond heartbreaking. Young people in the Catskills; at camps or bungalow colonies becoming seriously injured or even killed in accidents that could have been avoided. Each year we hear of many fatal car accidents with entire families being affected. Every year we hear of fires, drownings, kidnappings and other horrible events taking place. We all want to have a joyful, fun and very relaxing vacation, but we must also be quite vigilant about our surroundings. And let us raise our voices to Hashem and we beseeched Him for protection at this time and always!!
Sincerely
Dovid Yeshoshua Lefkowitz
Why AOC Shouldn’t Invoke Concentration Camps
Dear Editor:
When Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently used the term “concentration camps” and the expression “Never Again” to refer to the detention centers on the U.S.-Mexico border, I found myself torn. The pain and urgency of America’s immigration and asylum crisis are immense. At the same time — and although my position is unpopular with some — I cannot ignore Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s continued politically-motivated marginalization and diminishment of the tragedies that define Jewish identity and concerns today. As President of the American Jewish Congress, one of America’s oldest and most visible organizations dedicated to defending the Jewish people and promoting their values, it is my duty to speak out on both matters.
All Americans have a duty to speak out against the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border, which is deplorable. Our treatment of these migrants who seek better lives in America, and especially the children, defiles our core values as a nation. It also goes against the Jewish traditions of compassion and empathy for others, the pursuit of social justice, and tikkun olam — healing the world and making it better. The American Jewish Congress condemns these human rights abuses in the strongest possible terms and call for their immediate end.
Because our values are at stake, the politics needed to resolve the crisis must transcend party and creed. Sadly, the politics on both sides of the aisle remain divisive and counterproductive. I was born in 1945 in a displaced persons camp in Germany, immediately after my parents survived the systematic murder of six million Jews by the Nazis. For me, the term “concentration camps” means something very specific and personal, and it pains me to hear it used lightly or improperly. This is the reason I will continue to vehemently call out Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — or anybody else, for that matter — for abusing the collective memories and intergenerational scars of the Jewish people for cheap political gains.
Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s theatrics are unacceptable. Her use of words and phrases which conjure painful emotional triggers for the Jewish people displays obliviousness to the feelings and history of Jews, and demeans her own cause by rendering these words elastic and adaptable for political purposes. Scholars and pundits now weighing in on the technical definition of a concentration camp are similarly misguided. “Never” and “Again,” likewise, are two words that can be found in dictionaries, and there they will appear devoid of any larger meaning at first glance; nonetheless, taken together, these words carry existential meaning and purpose for the Jewish people. These words and phrases are vessels of pain and identity bearing great significance to Jewish Americans, and our elected representatives should be cognizant of this.
The situation on the border is brutal and countermands America’s deepest-held values. But connecting it to the Holocaust in order to get attention and score political points is lazy and divisive; what we need is real effort and solidarity among people of goodwill to confront the problem.
Sincerely
Jack Rosen
President, American Jewish Congress
