Thanks to electeds’ backing

To the Editor:

Hats off to our local elected officials for strongly and swiftly condemning Hamas’ barbaric slaughter of Israeli civilians. The show of unity from all our local Democratic Party leaders, from Ritchie Torres, Adriano Espaillat, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Eric Dinowitz, and Gustavo Rivera all the way down to our local Democratic District Leaders was impressive and heartening.

Like many in Riverdale, my family came to New York to escape discrimination against Jews and pogroms in Eastern Europe, and my wife’s family came here as Holocaust survivors. To see our diverse community band together to fight anti-Jewish hate has been truly inspiring.

It has been disappointing, though, that our local Democratic district leaders, Ramdat Singh and Abigail Martin, have not (as of this writing) spoken out against the Democratic Socialists of America.

The very day after Hamas’ attacks, the DSA promoted a rally in Times Square glorifying the killing of Israeli Jews as “resistance,” and has since doubled-down, saying the attacks were a “direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime.” A forceful condemnation of the DSA would be especially meaningful coming from Mr. Singh, considering he expressed support for the DSA before he became a district leader.

Additionally, as Mr. Singh has recently posted several Instagram stories expressing concern for suffering Palestinian civilians (without, as of this writing, posting stories about Israeli civilians), and as he has previously liked Twitter posts supporting “Palestinian Liberation” and “#FreePalestine,” a statement from him would go a long way to showing that no matter what one thinks of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the DSA’s inflammatory rhetoric is beyond the pale.

I hope all our local political leaders will join together in disavowing the DSA and its divisive rhetoric and making clear they stand with Israel. Our area is a wonderful place to live in no small part because it is a community built on tolerance and mutual respect. We should show the world there is absolutely no place for hate here.

Ben Jackson