Despite our disagreement, I sincerely respect each of the individuals who replied to my letter. Our common ground is a shared love for Israel and patriotic zeal for the American institutions that guarantee our rights and liberties. Together, we live in a vibrant community that encourages thoughtful political discourse. Naturally, divergent opinions on how to best achieve our shared goals of prosperity and security at home, and safety for Israelis abroad, are to be expected.
This is a contentious election, and the representative candidates for Congress in Southern Arizona offer a clear choice between two different and competing political ideologies. I believe Republican candidates Jesse Kelly and Ruth McClung offer a far more attractive alternative to continuing the big government, tax and spend, anti-Israel record of the Democrat-led Congressional incumbents.
My message is simple. A vote for Democrats Gabby Giffords or Raul Grijalva is an implicit endorsement of the status quo in Washington. A vote for Democrats is a rubber stamp for the Obama-Pelosi leftist agenda. A vote for Democrats will further increase our 13 trillion dollar national debt. A vote for Democrats gives labor unions unchecked power. A vote for Democrats increasingly isolates Israel and emboldens her enemies. A vote for Democrats is not in our best interest as the Jewish community.
Whether we agree on these statements is not my concern. We all have our opinions and I reserve the right to express myself freely. I only hope that my words will inspire my friends to carefully examine their choices on the ballot this November and encourage further debate and deliberation within our community as a whole.
Jewish voters have had a love-affair with the Democrats since the early days of the FDR presidency. As a young lad I supported JFK because he was a Cold Warrior.
That was then. This is now. Starting in the late sixties, after Israel became the victor instead of victim, antipathy for Israel from the left began to ferment in both covert and overt forms of anti-Semitism. Today, the Democrats in Congress, particularly under the current leadership, are drifting toward an increasing distance from Israel — and a consequent acceptance of anti-Semitism — currently strongest among the Progressive grassroots. Rather than confronting this far-left shift, liberals like Gabby Giffords and Raul Grijalva have taken it upon themselves to redefine what it means to be “pro-Israel” through an unrealistic prism which is dangerous to Israel’s security. This is an ominous phenomenon. It is an attempt to license those who wish to consider themselves both Progressives and Zionists to ignore (or embrace) the anti-Semitism that is rampant in the global left.
This November’s election provides us an excellent opportunity to reject the far-left liberal agenda — by showing strong Jewish American support for a Republican majority in Congress.
— Bruce Ash
