Atrocities are not political human shields to stifle policy debates

Why are innocent people killed by savages in this world? “Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud. How long will the wicked, O LORD, how long will the wicked exult?” — Psalm 94:2-3

That is the million-dollar question of this world. It is a question for which there will be no answer until God’s “feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives,” at which point the nations “shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift the sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” Isaiah 2:4. That will only occur, of course, “at the end of the days” when people “shall say, ‘Come, let us go up to the Lord's mount, to the house of the God of Jacob, and let Him teach us of His ways, and we will go in His paths,’ for out of Zion shall the Torah come forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” Isaiah 2:2-3.

But for us in this world, all we can do is take solace in the fact that there is a supreme being keeping score. “The Lord knows the days of the innocent, and their inheritance will be forever” Psalm 37:18.

There is simply nothing to say, no fingers to point, no accusations to make when one individual wicked person who shall not be mentioned commits mass murder. The perpetrator alone is the perpetrator, along with those who gleefully cheer his action. The rest of us should all be on the same side. We should not point fingers at God or our political opponents for responsibility of murder by a madman. Like it says in Leviticus, “And Aaron was silent” in the face of God taking his two sons from him on the day of sanctifying the sanctuary.

All we are left with as mere mortals who get together and form communities, societies, and countries is to do justice, deter evil behavior as much as possible, keep ourselves armed, trained, and protected, and pray for divine protection.

Let’s keep policy debates in the realm of politics and leave tragedy to the realm of grieving. Let’s not use grief to promote a political agenda that could not stand on its own two feet based on its own merits absent the political human shield of an atrocity to stifle debate.

If a murderer harbored various opinion on taxes, regulation, immigration, foreign policy, or abortion, his incoherent babbling should never have bearing on the public policy debates that divide us. Let’s continue debating them on their own merits. We should be able to continue debating whether open borders to our south and mass migration from the Middle East at record numbers are a prudent policy, regardless of the views of the Pittsburgh shooter, the same way leftists and George Soros have the right to continue promoting their anti-Israel views, even though those views were also shared by the shooter.

The media, liberals, and leftist Jewish organizations who claim to speak for all Jews are essentially saying Trump incited this evil act, hatred of George Soros fueled it, and because the demonic attacker said some things on immigration, we must all support an invasion of our sovereign country that has brought in endless gangs and drugs.

Trump’s administration is a collection of the most prominent Israel supporters in politics – from Vice President Pence and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton. In fact, if we are hell-bent on looking at the mass murderer’s ramblings rather than his deeds, let’s not forget that he was stoked by the Trump administration, in his mind, being taken over by Jews. After all, no administration has ever done more to fight against the nations of the world isolating Israel than Trump has.

Thus, the notion that Trump incited this is despicable.

Not only is the Left blaming Trump for neo-Nazis, Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the ADL, is now essentially saying we must duct-tape our mouths and allow George Soros to continue transforming this country, lest we be called anti-Semitic. We must not “evoke” his name in the discourse of political debate.

I’ve never heard a more counterintuitive argument in my life. George Soros is one of the biggest funders of the BDS movement that is stigmatizing and endangering Jews throughout the world, particularly on college campuses. The pro-Palestinian propaganda shows up at every leftist cause, particularly open-border rallies. The notion that by criticizing George Soros we are somehow anti-Semitic is scandalous.

Also, the notion that American conservatives who support Trump to varying degrees are anti-Semitic is ridiculous: There is no issue that is more embedded in the tissue of conservative philosophy than support for Israel – to the point that it’s nearly impossible for a Republican running for office to win a primary without it. And that is exactly what enrages the neo-Nazi types, the people the Left seek to pin on conservatives.

On the Democrat side, it’s just the opposite. The mainstream of the liberal base – not just the fringe – is now anti-Israel.

So, these left-wing organizations that claim to speak for the people of the Bible should study the book they claim to represent and learn the facts about the people they ally with and the people they despise.

The stone-cold truth is that there will be evil haters of all stripes, including neo-Nazis, to some degree until the end of time. But no mainstream group in this country does anything but marginalize neo-Nazis. Law enforcement uses everything within the constitutional constraints to keep them in check. Sadly, it only takes one successful attack to wreak havoc.

Contrast this to the threat of Islamic supremacism growing in our country, just like in Europe. There were several hundred Islamists in the New York immigrant community who rallied in New York when Trump moved the embassy, shouting “Intifada” and referring to genocide of Jews. There are numerous mosques where the imams preach hatred against America and refer to Jews as subhuman. These mosques have prominent Muslim figures attending them who are respected by the media and the political class. These same leftist organizations couldn’t care less. Our body politic would do everything legal to marginalize a rally of hundreds of neo-Nazis chanting genocidal slogans against Jews and promoting anti-Semitism on college campuses. Somehow, when it comes to Islamists doing the same, conservatives stand alone in their concern.

Any American – Christian, Jew, atheist, or otherwise – is entitled to his own views on immigration or any other issue. But if liberals, including liberal Jews, want to envelop the policy goal of open borders with the tapestry of Jewish thought, it’s time we debate the effects of open borders on anti-Semitism based on its own merits. America is blessed to be the safest home for Jews in the world, certainly the safest outside Israel. Anti-Semitism is out of control in all corners of the world, particularly where there is a growing presence of Sharia supremacism. America has certain unique values, and despite the despicable actions of a few individuals, we seek to preserve those values. As Theodore Sedgwick of Massachusetts warned of the effects of mass migration during the debate over the Naturalization Act of 1790, “The citizens of America preferred this country, because it is to be preferred.”

But in the same way mass migration, as opposed to gradual and balanced immigration, will bring in the political views of the rest of the world, mass migration from parts of the world – Islamic or otherwise – that still believe in conspiracy theories about Jews will result in the same outcome. There is no right to immigrate, and this is indeed why Trump deported a low-level former Nazi even though he was in his ’90s and carried out on a stretcher. We shouldn’t bring in anti-Semites, white supremacists, or Islamic supremacists. Everyone stands to benefit from strong borders, but Jews in particular need strong borders when America is head and shoulders above all other nations in its treatment of Jews.

It is incumbent upon all of us to continue respectfully debating these issues on the merits and not to allow those issues that polarize us to change our common abhorrence of senseless hate and mass murder or to use the senseless hate and mass murder to shut down important debates.

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