Last Sunday, June 24, Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC) came to Englewood under NORPAC auspices. As expected, he gave his views on the latest events here and in Israel. He touched on various points during his opening remarks and in the subsequent question and answer period, so there is no sequential order here. However, there is a common thread that is present. I do not want to get into overt political aspects here, but Meadows, who is not Jewish, has always been a staunch supporter of Israel, and some of the things he said are pertinent to Jews and bear listening to.

Israel is besieged externally by her enemies militarily, and Jews worldwide and in America internally. First he mentioned that Jewish students on many campuses face increasingly open hostility and intimidation, and this has to be faced by the Jewish community.

Then he discussed the fact that the Democratic Party is coming increasingly under the control of its far-left pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel wing. By contrast, the present Republican administration is the most pro-Israel administration America has had in many years. In spite of these two trends, the overwhelming number of Jews still support the Democratic Party, and hate Trump, because they don’t like his style. They seem to prefer style over substance, and disregard Trump’s many groundbreaking accomplishments, especially in regard to Israel and the UN.

Meadows also brought out another fact that many Jews don’t realize yet, that the traditionally strong support of Israel by Evangelicals is also starting to crack.

The common thread linking these events is the basis for Meadows’ message for American Jews, which I think is very pertinent to The Jewish Link and its readers. In order to counteract these disturbing trends, the Jewish community must become more active and more vocal, to get their message out. They must write more, blog more, and use social and traditional media to get their views across. Our adversaries are doing this very effectively.

Max Wisotsky

Highland Park