Multiple Israel advocacy groups and Jewish organizations penned a letter to attorneys general in California, Florida, and New York, urging the elected officials to take action against the increasing attacks on Jewish people in the United States.
“We call on you to enforce the law and act to protect Jewish communities under attack. Prosecute these assaults on Jews as hate crimes under the relevant hate crime statutes,” the 16 groups wrote to New York Attorney General Letitia James, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Our community is in pain, and we are angry. A conflict in the Middle East is never an excuse for attacking Jews in L.A., New York, or Florida.”
The letter, first obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, was organized by End Jew Hatred, an organization that bills itself as “working to eliminate Jew hatred from Western culture through peaceful direct action and education” through grassroots organizing. Other notable signers included the Zionist Organization of America, Americans United with Israel, the Lawfare Project, Endowment for Middle East Truth, and StandWithUs.
Morton Klein, president of Zionist Organization of America, told The Federalist that squad “members of Congress have increasingly vicious attacks against Jews and the Jewish state.”
“The Democratic Party has refused to condemn them by name,” Klein said. “There’s been a horrific increase in verbal and physical attacks on Jews the likes of which we’ve never seen before.”
Since Israel began retaliating against terrorism, some Democrats have made headlines for flirting with Hamas. Freshman Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., said in Congress she stands “in solidarity” with “resistance” to Israel. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., criticized Biden’s statement that “Israel has a right to defend itself,” and one of her aides told NPR in an interview after Tlaib met Biden in Michigan that “Congresswoman Tlaib reiterated that the status quo is enabling more killing, that the current U.S. approach of unconditional support for the Israeli government is not working, and that the White House must do far more to protect Palestinian lives, dignity, and human rights.”
In May, there were more than two dozen hate crimes recorded against Jews in New York. The Los Angeles Police Department is currently investigating the growing hate crime in the city, with one notable incident involving a man shouting “Israel kills children” leading to a confrontation and fight outside a diner. One person in Florida yelled “Jews must die” at a synagogue in Florida while screaming at a rabbi and pouring human excrement outside.
The targeting of Jews comes on the heels of conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Hamas launched thousands of rockets toward Israel in May, and 90 percent of rockets were deflected by Israel’s Iron Dome. On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces arrested a Hamas leader in West Gaza.
While a ceasefire has continued in the Middle East, a Hamas leader was captured on video in late May waving around a child with a gun in front of a crowd. According to a Hamas official, the group “will continue to grow the capabilities of this resistance” and claims it still has its “hands on the trigger.”
According to an Iranian state-controlled media outlet in Tehran, the Iran regime is sending “thousands of new rockets” to the Gaza Strip in support of Hamas.
