Rose should support call for Omar to be
removed from foreign affairs committee
COURIER L 42 IFE, JUNE 28–JULY 4, 2019 M BR B G
Last Sunday, a part of 3rd
Avenue in Bay Ridge was
the site of dueling protests,
where protesters outside
of Congressman Max Rose’s
offi ce had to be separated by
police.
On one side of the street
was former Brooklyn Assemblyman
Dov Hikind, who recently
formed Americans
Against Anti-Semitism. He
was joined by legendary New
Yorker and radio host Curtis
Sliwa and others calling on
the freshman Congressman to
stand up to the continued anti
Semitic remarks of his colleague
Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
Specifi cally, they wanted Rose
to join the call for Omar to be
removed from the House Foreign
Affairs Committee.
Their rallying chants included
“Max Rose, do the right
things,” “Ilhan Omar must
go,” and “No compromising
on anti-Semitism.”
Omar’s incendiary comments
over the past few
months include her saying
that support for Israel in the
United States is “all about
the Benjamins, baby,” insinuating
that Jews use money
to control foreign policy. She
also said Jewish-Americans
leaders have a “dual loyalty”
to America and Israel. Rose
accepted Omar’s half-hearted
apology, and still supports her
staying on the important Foreign
Affairs Committee.
Not to be outdone, another
one of Rose’s Democratic colleagues,
Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez (D-Queens) last week
compared border detention
facilities to concentration
camps. She said “The United
States is running concentration
camps on our southern
border and that is exactly
what they are — they are concentration
camps.”
As a long-time professor of
history, I often taught about
the Nazi extermination of 6
million Jews between 1941-
1945 in concentration camps
and gas chambers. This was
around two-thirds of Europe’s
Jewish population.
At these facilities, medical
experiments were conducted
on thousands and most
died as a result. This included
Auschwitz camp Doctor Josef
Mengele, an SS offi cer,
who experimented on twins.
He would pick them out as
they arrived, and they would
be measured, killed, and dissected.
His experiments included
putting subjects in
pressure chambers, freezing
them, trying to change their
eye color by injecting chemicals
into the children’s eyes,
and amputations.
For most reasonable Americans,
it is outrageous to compare
what the Nazis did to
anything. In fact, earlier this
week, the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum directly
rebutted Ocasio-Cortez
saying they “unequivocally
reject efforts to create analogies
between the Holocaust
and other events, whether historical
or contemporary.”
Yet, for the counter-protesters
across the street led
by local far-left group Yalla
Brooklyn, there was no problem
with Ocasio-Cortez’s despicable
comparison. Indeed,
she was treated as a conquering
hero and there was even a
large sign with the Mother of
Jesus, crosses, and AOC (short
for Alexandria Ocasio Cortez)
on it.
This one sign is the perfect
example of how far out of
touch this vocal minority has
become. They are mocking
the church while supporting
anti-Semitic Congresswoman
Omar. Will Max Rose and other
local Democrats continue to allow
these people to defi ne their
party by remaining silent?
The unfortunate answer
seems to be yes, because the
last thing they want are the
Democratic-Socialists and
these folks running a primary
against them if they don’t toe
the line with their radical
views.
Granted, it is not an enviable
position to be in but sometimes
you just have to do the
right thing and be confi dent
that there is a larger, silent
majority who don’t agree with
their views.
Bob Capano has worked for
Brooklyn Republican and Democrat
elected offi cials.
THE RIGHT
VIEW
Bob Capano