After an incredibly successful and gratifying show of unity on Sunday, March 31 in Great Neck at a rally against hate and anti-Semitism, it was with dismay I was greeted by a harsh and critical opinion from Steven Walk, stating that the rally was in fact “non-inclusive.” Nothing could be further from the truth. If I may address each of Mr. Walk’s points:
He says from the outset, “Many of us worried and talked about how non-inclusive the invitation seemed to be.” I don’t know who the “us” is, but all of our posters, ads and invitations mentioned no individuals or organizations at all. That was done purposely so all would feel welcome and not say, “I won’t go because I don’t like this or that person, or this or that group.” Therefore, Walk’s question of “why were Islamic, Afro-American (sic), Asian communities not listed?” makes no sense, since no communities or organizations were listed.
Furthermore, I personally reached out to every synagogue and church group I could, multiple times. We are delighted that we had representation from all the streams of Judaism (including Walk’s), all of whom spoke about the need for unity, especially in the Jewish community.
Unfortunately, church leaders could not make it, given the fact that the rally was Sunday morning, but we are pleased that two representatives of the Chinese Association came, one of whom David Chiang addressed the crowd, emphasizing the Chinese community’s solidarity with the Jewish community in fighting anti-Semitism.
Walk describes the solidarity conference at the Hillside Islamic Center in New Hyde Park “an incredible experience of love, hope… and peace.” That’s all well and good. Everything has its time and place. But what Walk doesn’t seem to or doesn’t want to realize, is that we are confronted with an evil — anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and, ultimately, anti-American rhetoric by both the right and left.
David Duke and Ilhan Omar truck in the same vicious Jew hatred and no amount of song or handholding will stop that horrible and escalating hate speech and behavior.
I don’t know what he’s talking about “play the victim,” “calling forth the Holocaust as a prop.” Besides being personally insulting to me and to countless others who are children of Holocaust survivors, this was not done at our rally. We were anything but victims.
We stood in the rain with prominent officials as proud Americans, supporters of Israel, Jew and non-Jew alike. Tom Suozzi, Cong, Kathleen Rice, Comptroller Tom Dinapoli, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth and many others. Are these right wing extremists? Ultra conservatives? What nonsense!
The real story is Walk was upset because, in his opinion, there was an “ultra-conservative organization” (the Zionist Organization of America)that had a table of literature for anyone interested. First of all, the ZOA, of which I am a proud member, is a member organization of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish American Organizations.
But if its message is not to Walk’s liking, he can disagree and recommend any group to set up shop on their own. As I stated before, we at the rally we’re very careful not to have anyone representing any group, right or left, speak publicly about their group or representative of their group, so as not to have anyone feel excluded. But certainly, anyone is free to set up in a public park, a table to promote their own message.
Finally, to prove that we went out of our way to be inclusive (and was commended by many individuals who I’ve often had heated disagreements with) after I saw his critique, I called Walk and invited him to join me for a cup of coffee at Starbucks here in Great Neck, to discuss our differences and what we may share in common.
To my amazement he became defensive and angry, engaged in a monologue, and when I trie to explain myself and again invite him to share a cup of coffee, he began to engage in stereotyping me as a right-wing bigot, because I disagreed with him.
At that point, I said, “that is the problem with those of you on the left. You believe in freedom of speech for yourselves but for no one else. You’re not interested in anyone else’s opinion.”
And still, as a Jew worried about my fellow Jews, and the spectre of growing anti-Semitism, I still would invite Walk out for that cup of coffee.
Dr. Alan A. Mazurek
Great Neck
Grassroots Committee to Fight Hate and Anti-Semitism
Assistant Clinical Professor, Neurology
Mount Sinai Medical Center, NYC
