Jewish Federation Response to Devastating Joint Statement by Summer Lee, Sara Innamorato & Mayor Ed Gainey

We need leaders who can find empathy for Jewish and Israeli victims of terror.

Today, the Jewish community is grieving. One year ago today, Hamas slaughtered 1,200 people, marking the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

As we prepared to gather for a community commemoration to recognize this horrific day, we were devastated to read the joint statement released by Representative Summer Lee, County Executive Sara Innamorato and Mayor Ed Gainey. These officials never mention who initiated this war–Hamas, an Iranian proxy and United States designated terror organization. They never mention the stated motivation of Hamas in this attack: to kill as many Jews as possible. They instead chose to engage in dangerous and false moral equivocation.

In the second paragraph, it reads, “Today we mark one year since the October 7th attacks with hearts big enough to grieve those killed one year ago and those massacred in the year since.” This warped and deliberate weaponization of language can only be interpreted as a way to undermine the Israeli and Jewish victims of October 7. This is confirmed later in the statement when they assert how it “didn’t have to be this way” and proceed to place the blame on the victims of October 7: Israel and its people.

It should be simple to acknowledge the antisemitic attack of October 7 without victim-blaming. It should be easy to hold space to mourn the innocent people who have died in Gaza without false equivalence.

Today, we are grieving. We are grieving the 1,200 innocents who were massacred by Hamas. We are grieving the hostages who were taken from their homes, 101 of whom remain in captivity. We are grieving those who experienced sexual violence as objects of war. We are grieving our loved ones in Israel who are displaced and under constant fear and barrage of rocket fire from Iran and its terror proxies. We are grieving our friends, families and loved ones who in this statement were reduced to an afterthought and blamed for their suffering.

On one thing we can agree: we are looking for elected officials who find the courage to lead with empathy. We need leaders who can find empathy for Jewish and Israeli victims of terror.

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