Hey fellow Jews, speak up

To the Editor:

I am writing to express my frustration and disappointment at the New York Jewish community’s relative silence on the current situation in Israel. The identitarian left is out in our streets, our college campuses and in the media calling for an end to a war started by the monsters of Hamas and we sit here, in the comfort of our homes, too frightened to stand in opposition to them.

Israelis are enduring daily rocket attacks, their sons and daughters are fighting and dying in the streets of Gaza and below them and our response is little more than an outpouring of emotion and perhaps a check to Friends of the IDF or Magen David. Where are our voices? Where are our marchers?

 There is no doubt in my mind that the current crisis was brought about, at least in part, by the cynicism, complacency and incompetence of the current Israeli government. But be that as it may, we need to show our support for that government in its war against Hamas.

We need to publicly reject calls for a ceasefire by those who are intentionally ignorant of the necessity of destroying it. And we need to do this not only in our hearts and minds, but also in the streets. While it is important to take our own security into consideration, we cannot cower behind locked doors. Instead, we need to be as vocal as the so-called progressive left. 

Those among our elected leaders who stand with Israel in this war — Joe Biden, Charles Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, Ritchie Torres, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Eric Dinowitz, Eric Adams, and Kathy Hochul—need to see that we stand with them and with Israel. 

Perhaps more important, so do our fellow New Yorkers.

Eric Graig