Knowing what you stand for

I was 17 or 18 the first time I took a bus to a march on Washington. It was a giant peace march against the war in Vietnam. Protesting to end the war was what got me involved in the political process in the first place.

While I don’t enjoy getting on a cramped bus for a four- or five-hour bus ride to D.C., I have done it many times over the years, and it was always very meaningful to me.

Marching for peace. Demanding the resignation of Richard Nixon. The swearing-in of President Bill Clinton. The historic swearing-in of President Barack Obama. And more.

Like everyone else who makes such trips to Washington, I don’t do it for a comfortable ride or to go sightseeing. I do it for something in which I believe.

The recent March for Israel was the most meaningful trip to Washington for me. And that says a lot. Nearly 300,000 people attended this incredible event — probably the largest and strongest showing in the United States of support for Israel ever.

This enormous turnout was so important given what is going on in the United States. I found the rally exhilarating and inspirational. The great turnout by people in Riverdale and beyond was amazing, as were the students of SAR, among others.

It felt to me as if we were all one family. Billed as “March for Israel, March to Free Hostages, March Against Antisemitism,” the event was peaceful and beautiful, unlike the violence at many of the anti-Israel rallies.

As a Jewish American who has lived in the Bronx all my life, I always took many things for granted. I was taught in school that the candidate with the most votes wins. That was always true during the entire 20th century and until the 21st century when the second-place finisher won two presidential elections thanks to the Electoral College.

I was taught that when an election is decided, that’s the end of it. That changed with Trump’s coup attempt on Jan. 6, 2021. And I was also taught that, in America, we settle things peacefully through the ballot box.

I also took for granted that in America we, as Jews, were safe. It never occurred to me that widespread antisemitism would ever spread here. After all, this isn’t Germany in the 1930s.

While I always saw most antisemitism and violence against Jews as coming from the far right, it appears that a very large share of 2023 antisemitism comes from the political left. The refusal of far left organizations and individuals to condemn Hamas; the denial by some of them of some of the horrific attacks by the Hamas savages on Oct. 7; the attacks on Jews by anti-Israel leftists; the extremely divisive rhetoric and even the tearing-down of hostage posters; are all indicative of Jew-hatred that used to be unimaginable.

I think too many Jewish people no longer feel safe, particularly young people on some college campuses. How could all of this be happening?

There’s always been a fine line between academic expression and hate speech. What we are witnessing as students are shouted down walking to class or forced to be locked in rooms is beyond “thoughtful debate.” How could so many young people be supportive of terrorist murders and an authoritarian regime over the only democracy in the Middle East and the only Jewish nation in the world?

When the Democratic Socialists of America demands an end to “75 years of occupation,” that means they are demanding the end of Israel since they are saying that all of Israel is occupied territory.

When people — including at least one of my Assembly colleagues — say “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” they are demanding the end to Israel and its people. They might as well say they want me and all Jews dead.

When people demand the end of the occupation of Gaza, they put on display their extreme ignorance, since Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Then Gaza held its first and last election when they chose the Hamas terrorists to rule.

When so many of these poorly educated college students and others use the word “resistance” to justify terrorism and mass murder by Hamas, what does that say? And when some people demand a ceasefire, they seem to conveniently forget that there was a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. It lasted through Oct. 6. They apparently think it was OK to slaughter, rape, behead, and burn 1,200 to 1,400 Israelis, and kidnap 240 others and then go back to a ceasefire.

As a result of extremists on both the left and the right, it’s becoming harder and harder to recognize our great country. But the 300,000-strong rally for Israel gave me hope that we can turn back this tsunami of hate and ignorance from the political extremes.

God bless America. Am Yisrael Chai.

The author is an Assemblyman who represents the greater Riverdale region