Readers Write: No political leader should head the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County

The Island Now

Alan Mindel is entitled to his opinion; he is not entitled to his own facts.

Apparently, Alan must have been out of town when the scandal of Steve Markowitz’s exposed e-mails concerning his views of Orthodox Jews – were disclosed and reported in the Great Neck News.

Quoting directly from the Great Neck News article, printed at the time:

“Steve Markowitz, the chairman of the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County, has issued an apology for an email sent in 2015 during that year’s Village of Great Neck mayoral race after it resurfaced in the 2019 mayoral contest and led some to believe he is anti-Orthodox.”

(The actual e-mail remains available on-line.)

“Robert Spitalnick, in a separate letter to the editor, alleged that Markowitz was engaged in a “series of anti-Semitic whispering campaigns intended to keep Orthodox Jews out of public office in this town.”

He made reference to a screenshot of an alleged email from Markowitz in 2015, the year Pedram Bral was first elected mayor, which said, “Have no reluctance to tell people that this election is about an attempt by right-wing Orthodox groups to take over the village.”

It is widely accepted by families of survivors in Nassau County that Steve’s service to a political party and the resulting correlation of his activities to that party, made his continued service as chair of the Holocaust Center untenable. Hence, the new leader.

No political party leader should head up any Holocaust Museum, anywhere, other than in an honorary capacity.

Jeffrey S. Wiesenfeld

Great Neck

Share this Article