1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

I am appalled by your recent “yes” vote on the “Antisemitism Awareness Act.” This bill is an obvious ploy on the part of Christian zionists to curtail the rights of diaspora Jews, and as a Jewish-American, I’m truly disappointed that you went along with it. This bill conflates Judaism with Zionism which is incredibly antisemitic. It also challenges our right to question Israel, assuming that anti-Zionism or anti-Israel sentiment is antisemitic at a time when Israel is in the process of committing genocide against the Palestinian people. You may not be aware of this, but many Jews do not believe that Israel should exist. The Jewish concept of doikayt, which translates to “hereness,” challenges the concept of a Jewish homeland and posits that Jews are meant to be a light to all nations in the diaspora, whatever nation they live in. It is a Jewish value and tradition to treasure dissent and differing beliefs amongst Jews. This bill calls Jewish values “antisemitic” and should not exist. Again, I am so deeply distressed that my representative is participating in insidious antisemitic lawmaking that makes Jewish people less safe and less able to practice our values as anti-Zionist Jews.