BY THE VILLAGE SUN | Congressmember Dan Goldman praised Kamala Harris’s choice of Tim Walz as her running mate in the 2024 presidential election — hailing the Minnesota governor as pro-Israel and a “unifying” force.
At the same time, the Lower Manhattan politician assured that Harris was not swayed by the open anti-Semitism by some of her party’s left wing who opposed her picking Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro for the post.
“Governor Walz is an outstanding selection for Kamala Harris’s VP nominee,” Goldman said in an Aug. 6 statement. “He is a veteran, a teacher, a coach and a bipartisan deal-maker — serving first as a pro-Israel, independent-minded member of Congress and recently as the unifying and effective governor of Minnesota. Governor Walz has passed critical reproductive freedom legislation, commonsense gun-safety reforms, and enacted programs that uplift working families, all of which can serve as models for federal legislation we must pass.
“While the public anti-Semitic campaign from some within the Democratic Party against Governor Josh Shapiro was unacceptable and regrettable, I am confident after a number of conversations today, that Vice President Harris was not influenced by them in her selection of Governor Walz.
“I look forward to doing everything in my power,” Goldman said, “to ensure that we elect the Harris-Walz ticket and defeat the MAGA extremist ticket of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance on November 5th.”
In other election-related news, on Aug. 2 the Village Independent Democrats club, at a special meeting, endorsed Harris for president. The club usually does not meet in August. But after President Joe Biden was pressured to drop out of the race following his disastrous debate performance, club members decided to “get involved immediately” and not wait for their next scheduled meeting in September. All 27 members present unanimously voted to endorse Harris and whoever her VP choice would be.
Usually, V.I.D. endorsement votes are spirited affairs and rarely unanimous. But this time was different.
As V.I.D.’er Alec Pruchnicki put it, “The momentum and enthusiasm going through the whole Democratic Party, along with fear of Trump, was enough to override our usual combativeness. There was a lot of speculation and kvetching about various possible VP candidates but it wasn’t enough distract us from the immediate task.”
And, OK. People who support Hamas are anti-Semites. Does Shapiro support Hamas? I missed that.
I’m a proud Jew and I opposed Shapiro. Could we please challenge this obfuscatory conflation of anti-Zionism (or, indeed, any criticism of Israel) with anti-Semitism? It’s very dangerous.
It is pitiful and repugnant that Zionists continue to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.
Note that Goldman and his cohorts never actually provide any anti-Semitic statements — since they don’t exist. They just spew the lie that they were uttered. A little research shows otherwise. All the so-called “anti-Semitic” statements were against the genocide of the Palestinian people, nothing against Judaism or Jews themselves.
If the shoe fits, wear it, m’lady. You are confusing the issue with semantics.
You also misuse the definition of genocide and marginalize its origin and the conduct that spawned that term.
The victims of the real October 7 genocide have every right to defend themselves and root out the forces that perpetrated it. I have yet to see the hue and cry about that original sin.
Mr. Marcus, I really admired what you wrote about Arthur Schwartz’s courageous stance on behalf of the community in trying to save Beth Israel Hospital. But I denounce in the strongest possible terms your very false assertion that Israel is defending herself in ceaseless bombing and starving and oppressing in every imaginable way every man, woman and child in Gaza. And, sir! The October 7th attack by Hamas on Israel has been denounced many, many times and continues to be. How can you be a lying serpent who approves the hideous genocide — yes that’s what it is — that is now occurring in Gaza. For shame! How unspeakable!
We do not have to agree on everything, so one out of two is great.
However, you really ought research the true definition of genocide before hurling that term. Its origins define a systematic government policy and has deep meaning for all those who suffered through it. Better you chastise Hamas for putting their people at risk by using them as human shields to protect their own genocidal lives.
I mourn all the innocents who die for the ill-conceived selfish acts of their “leaders,” and defend every human’s right to protect themselves from evil.
It is a very sad and troubling truth that in every war, the innocent civilians suffer most but as history has shown, to root out evil, that unfortunately is inevitable.
Thank you, Michelle Lennon. Well said. The traditions of Judaism, as I understand them (I am not Jewish myself, but respect Jewish tradition very much) are about acting on behalf of all humanity — tikkun olam, to repair or mend the world. In line with that tradition, the Jews who abhor what Israel is doing to the Palestinians, and has since Day One of Israel’s existence, are to be admired greatly. Criticism of Israel, when exact — and it is overwhelmingly exact when it is directed at the horrors Israel is inflicting upon the Palestinians — is in line with tikkun olam. It is definitely not anti-Semitic.
NEVER AGAIN!
Tikkun olam works as long as genocidal barbarians are held to account for their inhuman atrocities. Massacring a people deserves retribution, so sayeth the Lord. They hide behind their people and then claim not to be accountable for the consequences.
“Massacring a people deserves retribution, so sayeth the Lord. “
OK, so you want to play with Scripture? Fine, game on.
Hamas (not the Palestinian people) slaughtered over 1,200 people on 10/7.
In response, Israel has slaughtered over 38,000 Palestinians — mostly innocent civilians while Hamas still fights on = a ratio of over 30 to 1 killed.
Well, your scripture says (somewhat barbarically, I might add) a “life for a life” doesn’t it? It doesn’t say “30 lives for a life,” does it?
So, ipso facto, Israel’s current right-wing government is violating the very scripture upon which its existence is purportedly founded.
To paraphrase Mark Twain, “Crying ‘anti-semitism’ is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” Shame on you.
People who support Hamas are antisemites. The Hamas charter explicitly calls for the murder of Jews. On October 7th, Hamas killed unarmed civilians. People who think that murdering Jewish children is fine, they are Jew-haters. How about it, lady? You think it is okay to murder and rape is okay? Start a war, lose and then cry about being victims.