Letters to the Editor

Biden Fails to Reach Across the Aisle

Dear Editor:

Former Democratic President Barack O’bama appointed Ray LaHood–Republican Congressmember from Illinois as his Secretary of Transportation.

There are many Republicans who crossed the aisle to speak and endorse Joe Biden.

He has many to select from including former Ohio Governor John Kasich, Staten Island Congressmember Susan Molinari, Defense Secretary Colin Powell, NJ Governor Christine Whitman, CEO Meg Whitman, Arizona Senator Jeff Flake and the late Arizona Senator John McCain’s widow or any other Republican to join his cabinet or administration. President elect Mr. Biden promised he would have the most diverse cabinet and administration in history, representing the gorgeous American mosaic.

Republicans represent a significant portion of America. Why has he failed to invite any to serve in his Cabinet and administration? Mr. Biden has failed to date in following up on this public commitment on this issue of inclusion for Republicans for any cabinet or other appointments. His call for bringing America together appears to just be campaign rhetoric. Biden practices to the victor belongs the spoils. Quid pro quo is alive and well in the incoming White House. It is business as usual at the expense of taxpayers..

Sincerely,
Larry Penner

 

A Cure for Unrelenting Anti-Zionism

Dear Editor:

The increasingly unapologetic demonization of Zionists, those who support the right to a Jewish homeland, as subhuman “colonial white racists”, is fast becoming part of the new narrative. So it should come as no surprise that this bigotry has morphed into medical personnel threatening to harm their Zionist/Jewish patients via posts on their social media.

“Jewish students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have faced an “unrelenting campaign of antisemitic harassment; swastikas scrawled across the campus, menorahs and mezuzahs vandalized, windows of Jewish fraternities “smashed with bricks…” Pro-Palestinian students assailed Jewish students with epithets like “Nazi”, “white supremacist”, turned university diversity training “into anti-Israel indoctrination,” the complaint said. Canary Mission issued a resource to increase awareness of anti-Semitic and bigoted doctors, nurses, med students and other medical professionals, Medical List–https://canarymission.org/medical

A Tufts dental student’s posts “present an obsession with conveying hatred for Jews, relaying anti-Semitic tropes and posturing about a desire to harm Jews physically,”

https://unitedwithisrael.org/act-now-demand-tufts-expel-student-who-promoted-violent-anti-semitism/

Astoundingly, a recent survey revealed most people, including American Jews, do not even have a basic understanding of what constitutes antisemitic beliefs and behaviors. We need to advocate for the IHRA’s definition of anti-Semitism to be formally adopted into all public and private institutions as an effective tool to educate, legally prosecute and deter anti-semitic actions.

IHRA’s Definition of anti-Semitism

1. Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
2. Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.
3. Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
4. Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
5. Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.
6. Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
7. Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
8. Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
9. Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
10. Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
11. Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.

Sincerely Elena Melekovsky

 

NJ’S Special Education Program

Dear Editor:

Over the past year, one of Agudas Yisroel’s New Jersey Office’s top legislative priorities was to increase funding for nonpublic school students for the chronically underfunded state-sponsored compensatory and remedial education services known as Chapter 192 and Chapter 193. After many conversations, legislative hearings, a letter-writing campaign, and much siyata dishmaya, the legislature added – for the first time in more than a decade – an additional $6 million to the total allocation.

While the $6 million was still below what was needed to fix the programs, New Jersey Office Director Rabbi Avi Schnall felt it was a good start. “Especially in a year when – due to the coronavirus pandemic – drastic cuts were being made to virtually every state agency and program, the additional $6 million was significant,” said Rabbi Schnall.

When the New Jersey Department of Education received notification of the additional funding, they decided to use it to supplement their reserves, rather than increase the per-pupil allocation, which was obviously completely contrary to the legislature’s intent. Rabbi Schnall once again engaged the legislatures, Department of Education, and his colleagues in the nonpublic school community in a series of conversations to have the funding put towards increasing the per-pupil allocation. Just yesterday, Rabbi Schnall was notified by the Department of Education that while a portion of funding will still be used for reserves, they will use the remainder of the funds to increase the per-pupil allocation.

In a notice to school administrators, Rabbi Schnall wrote, “We are pleased to inform you that this coming year (FY21), the per-pupil allocation will be increased by $50/child.”

Rabbi Schnall went on to express his appreciation to others who assisted in the effort. “We are grateful to our dear friend Assemblyman Gary Schaer of Passaic for his tireless efforts on behalf of yeshiva students across the State and for his integral role in ensuring not only that the allocation was increased, but that the increased allocation reached its intended beneficiaries: our students. To all those who participated in our letter-writing campaign, thank you.”

Sincerely
Agudath Israel of America