A Democratic New York Assemblyman, Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn), has released a powerful video showing a room full of Holocaust survivors responding to the Congressional Democrats who passed on an opportunity to condemn Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) anti-Semitic remarks, and who watered down a resolution opposing anti-Semitism with “inclusive” language.
The Holocaust survivors specifically call out Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who often campaigns on the importance of preserving Jewish heritage and opposing anti-Semitism, but who failed, in every way, to represent Jewish interests as Congress descended into chaos.
The powerful video features several Holocaust survivors taking Democrats to task for forgetting the lessons of the Holocaust, for focusing more on impeaching Trump than the needs of their own constituents, and for failing to stand up to hate when it truly mattered.
WATCH:
I was deeply moved by the messages from this room of Holocaust survivors’ for @SenSchumer and @SpeakerPelosi that ALL Americans need to hear:
Hold onto @IlhanMN and her antisemitism, lose us! pic.twitter.com/Bn49wbfaK2
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) March 8, 2019
The response to Hikind’s video is shocking. In his Twitter comments, there are commenters supporting Omar and making their own anti-Semitic comments. Last week, Democrats were insisting that the sons and daughters of Holocaust survivors weren’t entitled to an opinion on Omar’s anti-Semitism. This week, it seems they’ve begun to include actual Holocaust survivors in that number.
Democrats have been trying to bury last week’s failures, and did not speak over the weekend about the controversial “inclusive” House measure, which condemned anti-Semitism but only in the context of other “-isms,” thereby failing to condemn Omar specifically for her remarks, which accused Jewish lawmakers of having “dual loyalties” or “divided loyalties” — a centuries old anti-Semitic smear.
Hikland has been a vocal critic of the Democratic party — despite being a longtime Democrat — since the attacks on Jewish lawmakers began late last year. He was among the first to identify some incoming members of Congress as anti-Semitic, and chastized Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a misinformation campaign, calling Israelis “occupiers” of Palestinian land.
In December, Hikland suggested that Jewish Democrats should consider voting for Republicans after he received a fundraising letter from Chuck Schumer attacking “right wing” policies, but nothing about policing anti-Semitism within his own party.
“You ask for a contribution, but the Democratic Party—which I am a lifelong member of—is currently betraying the ideals that our party once stood for: American values,” Hikind wrote in his response. “You yourself proposed that Representative Ellison head the party, but you must surely know that Ellison has stood with our nation’s leading hate monger Louis Farrakhan.”
Hikind later declared, “Senator Schumer, as a fellow Democrat, I ask you to work to restore sanity and honesty to our party so I can feel good about supporting it fully. Until then, I’m afraid the Republicans have my support.”