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For the longest time, my response to critics of Israel online and in person has been that all American citizens have the ability to visit Israel without a visa. It is as easy as paying for a flight ticket. Certainly, one should keep in mind the enhanced security measures at Ben Gurion Airport and the 2017 law that bars entry to individuals actively engaged in the movement to boycott Israel.

The State of California is currently reviewing a model Ethnic Studies curriculum, which openly promotes hateful boycotts against Israel and omits antisemitism as a form of bigotry. Disturbingly, this agenda was inserted into an educational effort meant to teach students about marginalized communities. Moreover, despite its stated purpose, the proposed curriculum includes no lessons about Jews as a sizeable ethnic minority and frequent target of racism.

The local hospitality committee contacts you that two different people need meals this week, and want to know if you would have them over. Both of these people have been to you previously, but last time the chicken you made was dry.

 As is Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, I am grateful to President Trump and his administration regarding some matters of longstanding concern to the Jewish people. I am thrilled by Nikki Haley’s record at the United Nations and delighted that the United States Embassy to Israel is finally located in Israel’s capital, Jerusalem. I joined AIPAC to lobby Congress to defeat JCPOA (“the Iran deal”), negotiated by President Obama and reflecting his administration’s deeply misguided perspectives on the foreign-policy interests of the United States.

Kol Yisrael areivin zeh lazeh – all Jews are responsible one for another. It is incumbent on all of us to protect the safety of Israel and to ensure the viability of our shuls, yeshivos, and chesed institutions here in Queens. Whether we like it or not, the reality is that many of the critical decisions that impact on our community are made by politicians.

In an era where President Trump is constantly accused of his rhetoric endangering the lives of millions of people without any evidence, the left is mysteriously silent about what is happening in New York City. Mayor Bill de Blasio has repeatedly spewed anti-police rhetoric, and a new generation of video-taking teenagers are trying to make a name for themselves by essentially daring the police to arrest or shoot them by pouring water on patrolling officers. This pattern of disrespect leads all the way back to the top.