Rabbi's Blog

FROM THE DESK OF RABBI ALLEN SCHWARTZ

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Dear OZ family,

I have a brief recess from meetings on Capitol Hill, and my next meeting is with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

NORPAC has sent 600 people to lobby on behalf of Israel. Everyone we saw today has been very sympathetic with Israel’s cause. We can expect the New York Times, etc. to concentrate on Israel’s “disproportionate response”, disregarding the inhuman provocation of raining hundreds of missiles upon population centers from nurseries, schools, hospitals and residential apartments.

Thank God for the Iron Dome, for which we were lobbying today, among other issues. The fact that we take out most of the missiles cannot hide the fact that every single one is shot with the hope that it would God-forbid hit a bus load of Israeli children. And if that would happen they’d be handing out candy in the streets.

Another issue we lobbied for is for the State Dept. to evaluate the education system of the Palestinian Authority to put an end to the hatred of Israel that they teach their youngest children, and to hold them accountable for all the funding they receive.

Of course, Iran is a mainstay of our concern and there is broad bi-partisan support for sanctions against them, and support for the countries (Israel is  just one of them) that are threatened by Iran’s global terrorism.

Finally the maintenance of support for Israel also has broad support, and as I mentioned this past Shabbos, then Senator Joe Biden said in 1992, that for every billion dollars the U.S. spends for Israel, we receive the equivalence of 15 billion dollars in return.

The first Representative we visited, Greg Steube from Florida, has a Menorah and a map of Israel prominently displayed in his office. I’m attaching a picture.

Let us be thankful that we live in a country that allows us to place Israel’s case before it’s leaders the way we are today.
Regards from Washington DC.

Rabbi Allen Schwartz