In the wake of the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the sign that was a mere annoyance on U.S. Route 30 has become a disturbing reminder of the pervasiveness of anti-Semitism.
The sign is paid for by a group called “If Americans Knew.” The sign reads “$10 million a day to Israel? Our money is needed in America.”
The sign attempts to dissuade American support of Israel by telling a half-truth. What the group doesn’t want you to know, is that according to an analysis done by Professor David Vine, at the American University, the U.S. spends over $73 million a day in Japan, $57 million a day in Germany and $41 million a day in South Korea.
Where are the signs complaining of these numbers? To put it into prospective, the U.S. aid package to Israel is roughly equivalent to what the U.S. spends in the Lilliputian Gulf.
There are, however, startling differences in the military aid offered to Israel as compared to other countries. Professor Hillel Frisch, a professor of political studies and Middle East studies at Bar-Ilan University and a senior research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, points out that no U.S. plane has ever flown to protect Israel’s airspace, no U.S. Navy ships patrol to protect Israel’s borders, and no U.S. troops are put at risk to protect Israel.
Perhaps the most startling difference in the military aid offered to Israel is the strings that are attached. Not one penny is “given” to Israel. Israel must use 100 percent of the aid package on American weapons, equipment and services. When the equipment is obsolete, America has the right to tell Israel who they can or cannot sell the outdated equipment to.
To put it succinctly, every dime of the Israel aid package is spent on American jobs. No other county has such restrictions.
It’s inconceivable the creators of the sign are unaware of these facts. A closer look at “If Americans Knew” reveals the ugly motivation behind the message. The group is founded by Allison Weir.
Weir has been known to make racist and anti-sematic comments. So alarming are her comments that she has been removed from other anti-Israel groups. In 2015, The “US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation” coalition cut ties with Weir’s group.
The coalition stated after several discussions with Weir regarding her conduct “…the committee has concluded that Ms. Weir’s repeated statements and actions, often as the Executive Director of If Americans Knew, did indeed violate our anti-racism principles.” Despite the words of reprove given by the coalition they concluded that “…Ms. Weir’s responses led us to believe that these violations will continue in the future.”
Weir, in 2009 wrote an article published in CounterPunch, in which she accuses Israel of harvesting organs of Palestinians in custody. She then asserted that medieval claims of blood libel to be true. Blood libel is the accusation that Jews murdered Christian children and used their blood in Passover Matzo.
She promotes the work of Douglas Clay, who is openly racist and ant-Semitic, and has appeared on his radio show on several occasions. Weir is quoted on her blog as says the Jewish “race” is “an object of hatred to all the peoples among whom it has established itself.”
The clear message of anti-Semitism prompted 14 lawmakers in Pennsylvania to openly denounce similar signs in their state. Stating the signs are a clear attempt to “incite anti-Israel sentiment within our region.”
Dennis Prager, a columnist for The Daily Signal, nationally syndicated radio host, and creator of PragerU, points out that “Anti-Semitism is exterminationist. Anti-Semites don’t just want to persecute, enslave, or expel Jews; they want to kill them all.” This is evidenced in the events in the Tree of Life massacre. The murderer was shouting “all Jews must die.” Pager goes on to point out that anti-Semitism when allowed to grow, will destroy a community.
Richland County is no place for such hatred. We must not allow the seeds of anti-Semitism to spout in our beloved county. Our county has a strong history of standing in support of Israel, so much so that the Deputy Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Hilik Bar recently made a trip to our county to personally thank supporters.
We must continue to take a stand against such hatred. We must speak out when outside influences attempt to divide us. Let us call bigotry and hatred into the light, and let Weir and her collation of haters that they will find no ally here.
Let us follow the words of Elie Wiesel, Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor: ‘I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
Jean Patton
Lexington, Ohio
