Assemblywoman Amy Paulin on the One Year Anniversary of the October 7 Massacre

We have spent a year mourning October 7. There are still 101 captives, and we don’t know if they are dead or alive. With ongoing rapes, we are concerned that there are pregnancies and babies. For the Jewish people, these are our brothers and sisters being held and tortured. This Rosh Hashanah has been bittersweet for all of us.

Antisemitism, formerly dormant or possibly just at bay, is now fully awake. It is an existential threat. It is on college campuses and in different neighborhoods in our area, and it is being embraced by too many around us, who sadly seem to be uninformed and uneducated about the issues facing Israel and its neighbors, as well as the historic struggles the Jewish community has faced.

Moreover, we are saddened that those who we have stood by and fought for, are not standing by us now in our time of need.

Antisemitism is being cloaked under the false terminology of “anti-Zionism.” Make no mistake, when someone says they are anti-Zionist but not anti-Jewish, their words are false. I wish more people could see through those words. We cannot let semantics mask antisemitism. And we cannot help but hear the chants at the protests that cheer on Hamas and Iran - we know that is based on antisemitism too.

Jews feel afraid, and worried. I am afraid and worried.

Is there a silver lining? I believe there is. As antisemitism is now touching all of us, we are also coming together as one Jewish family. Two Jews, three opinions have become one opinion. We are pulling together, and trying to figure out the best next steps. This is heartening for me.

One thing is certain - we cannot stand by and think or hope that this is just a phase that will pass.

Jews are just a sliver of the world’s population. Almost half of us live here in the US, and mostly in NY. The other half lives in Israel. If we don’t come together as one people, and support each other, then we are going to be doomed.

Many Jews in Germany identified more as German than as Jewish. This, however, did not spare them from the same fate of murder that more religious Jews faced. Likewise, we Jews in the U.S. should not assume that just because we are American, and belong to our communities and our country, that we will be protected from antisemitism.

In the recent Latimer Campaign for Congress, the opposition said they were fighting his “dark money.” They might as well have said what they meant to say, which is that they were fighting “Jewishmoney” – but they couldn’t say that, because it would have made them sound like antisemites. They masked it instead - a common tactic by the latest antisemites we face.

Elections are so critically important. We all need to vote. Both the extreme left and extreme right are espousing views that are dangerous to our democracy that protects us. We have to keep reminding ourselves of our collective strength and not be afraid to use it.

I pledge to be a Jewish leader who will keep fighting to improve our community, while at the same time, I will continue to publicly oppose the evil voices out there who seek to lie and slander our Jewish community.

Lastly, let's all keep working on building bridges to other faiths in our region - let's work to rally all good and caring people in our county, state and nation to stand with and support Jews and Israel.