In 1790, Moses Seixas, warden of Congregation Yeshuat Israel of Newport, sent a letter of thanks, on behalf of the Jewish community, to the first President of the United States. With a “deep sense of gratitude,” he praised a government built by the people “generously affording to All liberty of conscience, and [immunities] of Citizenship.”
In his response, President George Washington declared that “happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens[…].”
While a traditional article on Jewish American Heritage Month would celebrate the many accomplishments of Jewish Americans since the early days of our republic, this year is different. We cannot escape the alarming dangers, both at home and abroad, brought on by the current administration.
We have seen a sharp rise in virulent, open antisemitism on our college campuses and in our streets, with a landscape that’s becoming more toxic by the day. We have seen the Biden administration’s agonizingly weak foreign policy, which has emboldened and empowered Iran—and therefore Hezbollah, Hamas, and ISIS. Jews are under attack everywhere and our current Federal government can only play politics.
For those in the Jewish community who need reminding of the accomplishments of the Trump Administration, in which I and many other Jewish-Americans proudly served our country, the contrast couldn’t be more stark.
It was President Trump who followed through on more than two decades of promises to move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It was President Trump who recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. And it was President Trump who brokered the historic Abraham Accords—peace deals with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. It was President Trump who extended the protections of Title VI to defund universities that failed to suppress antisemitism. For every year that President Trump issued a proclamation for Jewish American Heritage Month, we saw success after success, not just for Jewish people around the world, but also for the State of Israel.
The Biden Administration inherited an era of peace and prosperity in the region. We are now witnessing one disaster after the next. While President Trump brokered the Abraham Accords in four short months, it’s already been nearly 7 months since October 7th, and the hostages (including Americans) are still in the hands of Hamas. Time and time again, ultra-leftist Democrats have come out in favor of Palestinian terrorists. And, time and time again, President Biden has refused to speak up about the ongoing protests gripping our nation.
More troubling, in recent days, there have been reports that the Biden Administration has come out in favor of bringing Gazan refugees into our country—this, during a self-induced crisis of illegal immigration already hobbling our country, and when we know that 72% of Palestinians “believe that Hamas’ decision to launch the October 7 attack was correct.”
With President Trump, promises made were promises kept. Unfortunately, the promises President Washington made—“which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance”—seem to have been forgotten by the Biden administration. And while far-left radicals and extremists have descended on our campuses, President Trump has spoken loudly and clearly about the need for safety on our campuses, of securing our borders, of standing strongly and unequivocally with Israel, and of returning, once and for all, to a policy of peace through strength.
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