O pinion
I’m a Student and I’m Afraid of
Where My Party’s Headed
BY SOPHIA RODNEY
I AM A PROUD JEW, a proud
American, a proud supporter of
Israel and a Democrat too. But
there are two main reasons why
I am struggling to reconcile my
identity as a supporter of Israel
and a Democrat.

First, I believe President Joe
Biden’s plans to rejoin the Iran
nuclear deal poses an enormous
threat to the safety and even
existence of Israel.

Second, I believe the
Democratic congresswomen
who are part of “The Squad”
are contributing to a heightened
climate of hatred of Israel and
Jews. Let’s discuss the Iran deal.

During former President
Barack Obama’s first term in
office, Iran had allegedly been
developing a nuclear program.

So, various countries, including
the United States, imposed
crippling economic sanctions
on the country. In 2015, Iran
agreed to a deal that lifted these
sanctions. This was the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action,
now informally known as the
Iran nuclear deal.

The deal was a disaster for
three main reasons: Iran did
not comply and lied about it,
Iran used its new access to
the formerly frozen assets to
increase its ballistic missile
program, which now poses a
threat to Israel, and Iran used
these assets to also fund Israel-
hating proxy militant groups
across the Middle East.

In terms of Iran’s lack of
compliance, in 2018, Netanyahu
announced, according to the
Daily Mail, that Israel’s intelli-
gence services had documents
that proved Iran secretly
continued developing a nuclear
program that violated the treaty.

In terms of how Iran used
its new access to the once
frozen assets, according to the
Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic
Studies, Iran used deal-ac-
quired finances to strengthen its
ballistic missile program. Also,
in March of 2016, Iran tested
ballistic missiles with the words
“Israel must be wiped out” on
them, as CBS News reported.

So, Americans are naive to think
Iran would never use its new
ballistic missile power to attack
Israel. In terms of how Iran used
funding from the deal to
strengthen proxy groups that
seek to destroy Israel, Nathan
Sales, the former U.S. State
Department’s top counter-ter-
rorism official, averred in early
2020 that Iran gives Hezbollah
$700 million and Hamas $100
million annually. These are
funds that would be much
harder to provide if the Iran
nuclear deal had not made Iran
so much wealthier.

Biden is reportedly going to
settle for some version of this
extremely flawed deal again.

Then there’s “The Squad,” the
nickname applied to four female
Democrat members of Congress,
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JEWISHEXPONENT.COM including Rashida Tlaib,
Ilhan Omar and Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez. When Biden announced his
nominee for Secretary of State,
Antony Blinken, who happens
to be Jewish, Tlaib tweeted,
“So long as he doesn’t suppress
my First Amendment right to
speak out against Netanyahu’s
racist and inhumane policies.

The Palestinian people deserve
equality and justice.”
So Biden nominates a Jew to
his cabinet and Tlaib automat-
ically assumes he wants to
suppress her right to speak out
... because he is Jewish? This is
anti-Semitism. In March of 2019, Omar said
at a public forum, “I want to talk
about the political influence in
this country that says it is OK for
people to push for allegiance to a
foreign country,” while speaking
about the US-Israel relationship.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO
of the Anti-Defamation League,
explained why Omar’s remarks
were anti-Semitic: “Accusing
Jews of having allegiance to a
foreign government has long
been a vile anti-Semitic slur
used to harass, marginalize, and
persecute the Jewish people for
centuries.” Last but not least, we have
Ocasio-Cortez, who is affiliated
with Democratic Socialists of
America, which has voted to
adopt the anti-Israel boycott,
divestment and sanctions
movement. BDS is anti-Semitic
for many reasons, as CAMERA
has outlined. But, for starters,
a South African BDS leader
alleged in March 2020 that
COVID-19-related materials
were not printed in Arabic,
which was false. This is blatant
anti-Semitism. How can I, a Jewish person
who believes in the Jewish right
to self-determination, associate
myself with these people? When
See Rodney, Page 25
JEWISH EXPONENT
KVETCH ’N’ KVELL
More on Cemetery Issues
I HAVE BEEN READING the Jewish Exponent for over 50
years and always see similar articles about Jewish cemeteries
being neglected, kept in disorder and being overgrown.

First of all, it is the owners of these cemeteries’ business to
keep the grounds and cemetery in good order.

Secondly, they ought to make tools like hand mowers and
clippers available for the families with loved ones at the cemetery
and options to keep their family plot in trimmed order.

The community at large and the synagogues must be made
aware of their responsibility to keep the sacred grounds in
orderly fashion in respect of their departed loved ones.

Harry Leibson | Elkins Park
My husband and I spent Martin Luther King Day cleaning debris
at Har Jehuda Cemetery (“Har Jehuda Cemetery Struggles as
Business Declines,” Jan. 7) from the gravesites in the vicinity of
E17, 67, line 1. This area was totally entwined with thorny vines
and weeds, which climbed into the trees, totally obliterating
everything in the area.

We managed to clear away 90% of the mess, storing it on the
side so the trash would not hide any gravesite. We were specifically
looking for the great-grandmother of my husband, Toube Krauss.

After many attempts, we finally were able to cut away many of the
vines, which were hiding her stone. Many of the stones in her area
sadly had been pushed over or fallen on their own.

We did our best to clear every gravesite in her area. We will
need to return to put the trash in at least 12 bags and transport
them to our home for disposal. We will be back to continue this
cleanup project. May their memory be for a blessing.

Ann Krauss | Havertown
More on Interfaith Debate
Regarding the current debate about the Exponent’s covering
of interfaith family holiday practices and also Jesse Bernstein’s
recent review of Rachel Gross’ book about viewing Jewish
cultural practice, like eating kosher-style pastrami sandwiches
at Hymie’s, as Jewish religious practice, I concur with Bernstein’s
dubiousness. As a former shomer-shabbat, kosher-in-and-out Ramahnik
whose religious practice has waned over the decades as I transi-
tioned from my childhood theism to my current devout atheism,
I have long struggled to identify what about Jewish ritual for
me is the baby to be preserved and what is the bathwater that I
can safely discard. The more I looked, the more appeared to be
bathwater and the less baby, until I belatedly (and embarrass-
ingly) realized that the baby is the bathwater.

The fact is that, unless you live in Israel, if you want there to
be even a slim chance of your great-grandchildren being Jewish
then you better observe the Sabbath and keep kosher. Eating
kosher-style pastrami sandwiches at Hymie’s just ain’t gonna cut
it. Besides, I much prefer their extra-lean corned beef specials.

Steve Mendelsohn | Penn Valley
See Letters, Page 25
JANUARY 28, 2021
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