NYSN Statement on the Hostage Deal
The release of the living hostages brings joy, deep relief, and unfathomable grief for all who were murdered in captivity. As we grieve for all those we’ve lost, we find strength in our community bond that has only grown exponentially since October 7, 2023.
The release of the living hostages brings joy, deep relief, and unfathomable grief for all who were murdered in captivity. As we grieve for all those we’ve lost, we find strength in our community bond that has only grown exponentially since October 7, 2023.
Hamas sympathizers are on notice: New York and American Jews have rekindled a community that had been faltering for some time prior to this fateful date. Israel has survived the first coordinated and sophisticated attempt to annihilate Jews of the 21st century. It is our mission to ensure it remains the only attempt. Let there be no more hostages.
Statement on Not On Our Dime Act Rally
Statement from Sara Forman, Executive Director of New York Solidarity Network, in Response to Not On Our Dime Congressional Support
“At a time of rising antisemitism, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is wrong to support a bill that would single out and target only Jewish charities. The Not On Our Dime act is an attempt by the DSA far left to force the New York legal system to dictate to private Jewish charities.
Statement from Sara Forman, Executive Director of New York Solidarity Network, in Response to Not On Our Dime Congressional Support
“At a time of rising antisemitism, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is wrong to support a bill that would single out and target only Jewish charities. The Not On Our Dime act is an attempt by the DSA far left to force the New York legal system to dictate to private Jewish charities.
It’s unconstitutional—and it’s unconscionable.
This bogus bill, which is extremely vague, would force Jewish charities to quadruple check every penny and every cause related to Israel, tie up their time, cast suspicion on all their work, and stifle critical dollars dedicated to meaningful causes in Israel and the United States, from education to anti-poverty efforts.
The DSA’s message to Jews is clear: supporting Israel is unacceptable on a political level and is demanded on a personal level.
Whether extremist DSA politicians like it or not, scapegoating Jews to prove your fringe bona fides remains an unseemly and disgusting tactic that erases any credibility. Supporting this antisemitic and unconstitutional state-level nonsensical legislation proves that AOC is using the Jewish community as a convenient punching bag to deflect from internal criticism and lock up her re-endorsement from the DSA.
It’s despicable to see the continued normalization by elected officials of antisemitism in New York, home to the world’s largest Jewish population outside of Israel.”
Statement: Houthis At A Glance
Following the Hamas attack on Israel in October, the Houthis, in what they claimed was a show of solidarity with Palestinians, began to launch a series of attacks against civilian mercantile ships traveling with cargo through the Red Sea, regardless of the ships’ destinations. In this timeframe, approximately 30 strikes have occurred, with most missing their targets.
The Houthis are an armed political and religious group which champions Yemen's Shia Muslim minority, the Zaidis. The Houthis routinely use child soldiers in combat, impose a regressive code of Sharia, have been accused of enslaving African migrants, and are about to be re-classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. Department of State.
The American invasion of Iraq in 2003 deeply radicalized the Houthi movement, and the 2014 war with U.S.-backed Saudi Arabia strengthened their ties to Iran and to Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose leadership provided a role model for the Houthis. The Houthis adopted the slogan “God is great, death to the U.S., death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory for Islam,” in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. True to their hateful slogan, the Houthis expelled the last Jews of Yemen, forcibly ending a two-thousand-year-old community.
Following the Hamas attack on Israel in October, the Houthis, in what they claimed was a show of solidarity with Palestinians, began to launch a series of attacks against civilian mercantile ships traveling with cargo through the Red Sea, regardless of the ships’ destinations. In this timeframe, approximately 30 strikes have occurred, with most missing their targets. The United States, along with a multi-national coalition of partners, joined an international security effort designed to protect merchant ships and maritime transit that recently targeted several Houthi missile launch sites within Yemen. “We’re not looking for a war. We’re not looking to expand this,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on January 14. “The Houthis have a choice to make and they still have time to make the right choice, which is stop these reckless attacks.”
Never missing an opportunity to err on the side of what’s wrong, the New York chapter of the Democratic Socialist of America have launched a “Hands off Yemen” campaign that ties the U.S.-backed airstrikes on the Houthis to their Gaza “genocide” framing. Several DSA-backed elected officials and candidates have also hosted phone banks (or are scheduled to host one) to rally support for the Houthi terrorist organization and encourage the United States to stop bombing Houthi missile installations in Yemen.