Recently a Florida politician, Evelyn Garcia, a Palm Beach County representative to the Democratic National Committee and a candidate for state representative, came under fire from both parties for a series of emails that some called anti-Semitic and anti-Israel.
In the private emails, which were sent more than a year ago but surfaced recently, Garcia accused Israel of “crimes against humanity” and of running “mass concentration prison camps.”
In one email, Garcia wrote, “The continued Israeli occupation of Palestine is ugly on moral, ethical, religious and legal grounds. Palestinians had nothing to do with the Holocaust and it is time that this guilt trip was taken off their backs.”
In another email, she said, “I deeply resent U.S. taxpayer funds being used to continue Israeli aggression, not to mention incursions that kill people, destroy civilian homes and infrastructures all over.”
Although she apologized for the tone of her emails, and denied she is anti-Semitic or anti-Israel, she didn’t take back her views about the conflict.
What do you think would happen if the Jewish community in this country shrinks to irrelevant numbers? How safe would Israel be then if more and more politicians took Ms. Garcia’s point of view? We need to act NOW before it is too late to keep the Jewish community meaningful in the American political discourse.
Are you implying that Israel’s security depends upon American good will and that the key to that is a strong American Jewish community? (Not trying to be confrontation here, just wanting to clarify my understanding.)
Yes, that is exactly what I believe. I don’t imagine Israel would last long without American support and that American support depends partly on the strength of the American Jewish community. That is why I am so worried that Jews in this country are declining percentage-wise and also in absolute numbers. And future generations of Jews seem less committed to being Jewish or to the survival of Israel. These trends need to be reversed.