“Grace Meng has been a friend to our community for a very long time. She did not start being our friend on October 7 or October 8 or October 13 when it became a thing to do for some; she was our friend way before,” began Sorolle Idels, chairperson of Queens Jewish Alliance, in her opening remarks this past Monday evening at the Young Israel of Queens Valley at a reception in honor of Congress Member Grace Meng. Idels’s political engagement consortium honored Rep. Meng for standing by Israel and its people since the Hamas atrocities of October 7. “Many of you remember years ago, former President Obama wanted the Nuclear Iran Deal, and Grace Meng said no. She has been a staunch supporter of our community, of our people, and of our country.”
“October 7 is a day that will live in infamy,” Idels continued. “For us, it is a day that changed our lives forever.” Idels spoke of hearing rumors of the horrors in shul on Simchas Torah, and how our representative in Washington, while not being Jewish, still felt the pressing need to stand in unity with her brothers and sisters, visiting local synagogues on that fateful day. Meng understands that many of our families have relatives and their own children living in Israel. “We were being attacked and slaughtered like sheep, but we weren’t alone,” Idels explained to an eruption of applause.
Idels noted that the fortunes of living in America are an escape for those who left persecution back in their motherland, notably those who survived the Shoah, but that things are not all that different today, when we are still murdered, raped, and subjected to having our homes burned. “When October 7 happened, my grandmother was still alive. She was a survivor; she has since passed. We all still feel the pain of the Holocaust, and then to have this happen to us and the world to be very loudly against us” is reprehensible.
Idels, a self-proclaimed “red” voter, brought light to the impact of the Liberal agenda just one Congressional District from Meng’s. “The DSA are trying to push their way into our communities, and we will not let them,” proclaimed Idels, as she spoke of support for Meng as our response. For her part, as a pro-Israel supporter, Meng and her staff have endured protesters storming her office doors, bombings of Zoom meetings with constituents, and horrible, disgusting messages on social media. “They’ve even gone to her house and protested with her family inside! That is not okay.” Yet, Meng has never wavered in asserting Israel’s right to defend itself and in pushing for funding for the Iron Dome.
Assemblymember Sam Berger, NYC Council Member Lynn Schulman, Queens County Surrogate Court Justice Cassandra Johnson, and District Leader Shimi Pelman were amongst the elected supporters who stood beside doctors, lawyers, and homemakers, all making their support of Meng known.
In her representation of 800,000 constituents, Meng has relied on feedback from individuals like Berger (who alert the Congress Member of feelings from the streets within their shared communities and of moments when leadership must rise to the podium) and from Schulman (who weighs in on where our communities, leaders, and the Democratic Party need to do better to ensure that the voices of the Jewish community are truly at the table and represented). Since 2012, when she was first elected to Congress, Meng, a mother to two teenage sons, has admitted, “We may never agree on everything… But I will always do my best to represent the needs and the concerns of the people of this district,” adding, “I pledge to always have an open door and to listen to all of you.”
Meng has the experience that has guided her with confidence in deciding what is in the best interest of her constituents. “Oftentimes it might not be what my leaders say or what my colleagues may agree on, but if I believe that it’s the right decision for my district; it gives me confidence to make those decisions, because I know that our communities have my back. So many of you have never shied away from expressing your support, friendship – and I’ll even say your love – for my team and the work that we do.”
On October 7, Meng explained that she was alerted of the horror by a news alert from a rocket alert app installed on her mobile device. At first, the Congress Member swiped away the notification, acknowledging with sadness what families were enduring in Israel. “But then, as the minutes and not even hours went by, we kept hearing all this devastating news.” Due to Simchas Torah, Meng knew that gathering her team would have its challenges, and with little options on consultations for a course of action as the hours continued to pass, Meng chose to visit a handful of shuls to at least let her constituents know that the US government would stand at their side physically, spiritually, and legislatively to the best of her ability.
Of the protests that have reached her office, Meng asserted that her office staff has been dealt the brunt of the hatred, as she was often in Washington when they occurred, and credited three police precincts for being “especially vigilant” in bringing safety assurances. When the protest reached her home, it was many of her staunch Republican neighbors who helped clean up child-sized body bags placed on her lawn, bringing them closer as neighbors and constituents. Meng spoke of her own children’s friends who feared for their lives as they encountered groups of protestors on their way home from school, blocking subway and major hub passages.
Meng also noted how during the pandemic, when there was a rise in bias and hate against the Asian community, Black and Jewish leaders “flocked to my side and said we know what it is like to be hated and discriminated against” and offered policy ideas for legislation.
Meng’s ancestry originates in mainland China, whose governmental leadership largely disagrees with US policy. Meng has always advocated ways to bridge these gaps, “but you have no right to put a target on the backs of any one community because you have disagreement with policy or because you are singling out a community with stances like the BDS movement.”
Meng concluded her remarks with praise for North Carolinian Congress Member Kathy Manning, who created the beginning framework of what the White House put out to counter anti-Semitism, acknowledging, “I know it is not perfect… It is not just lip service; it works with every single agency.” Meng expressed that this stemmed from complaints from different agencies on issues like kosher food availability, disregarded swastikas drawn on a government building or bathroom wall, and food pantry product availability.
During law school, Meng interned at the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, where she kept track of discrimination complaints from different federally funded schools. “They, like a public defender, have a caseload that is way too heavy. They do not have the peoplepower, resources, or even adequate staff to be able to keep track of these complaints or act. This issue has really come to the forefront because of what we have seen on college campuses and the lower level.” When Californian Rep. Barbara Jean Lee opted to not seek reelection next cycle, Meng will become either the Chair or ranking member of State Foreign Operations, a subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee providing all foreign aid. In her role, Meng will go beyond making sure Israel has the defense resources and will engage in civic education. In a normal year, barely a solitary percentage of the US budget goes to foreign aid, despite the various conflicts and wars worldwide. While there is a global trend to limit funding military aid for warfare, a vacuum of information that often lacks facts has created the real trend of limiting soft power for diplomacy measures, effectively turning the country into an isolationist nation. It cannot be “just one country all the time, because that is a form of racism.”
This November will mark a decade that the Borough of Queens has been together with Meng – over the course of four presidential elections. In these times, it’s especially important to recognize who our real friends are, even if we may not agree with them on every single policy or issue. A win for Meng at the ballot box will clearly have a positive long-term effect on our community.
By Shabsie Saphirstein
