The Jewish Congressman Strikes Back
"Their goal was to terrorize the neighborhood. But our folks who have ‘We love Israel' signs or ‘Bring The Hostages Home’ signs in the yard — still have them in the yard. So I'm standing for them.”
By Michael Golden
“Zionists, GO TO HELL!”
Just four of the heinous words shouted at 3 a.m. — over Shabbat — by a masked mob outside the home of U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL). They beat drums, blew horns and yelled dozens of other vile statements. They showed up to do no less than terrorize the Congressman and his Highland Park neighbors.
I’ve known Schneider personally for about 20 years. These idiots picked on the wrong guy.
It all happened 12 days ago. And then on the 4th of July, vandals targeted Schneider’s Capitol Hill office, where they tore photos off the wall of the more than 100 hostages still being held by Hamas terrorists. They shredded the paper and scattered it across the hallway.
I called Schneider yesterday to see how he, his family and his staff were doing. He started by addressing the midnight morons:
“It comes with the territory. It's not the first time. I get yelled and screamed at in Washington by Code Pink and these others all the time, and I actually engage with them. They say, ‘When are you going to stop sending arms to Israel?’ I said, ‘Never. As long as they're fighting Hamas.’ ‘What about the genocide?’ ‘Well, Hamas tried to commit genocide.’ So it's a battle of wits with one team playing with only half their wits, so I win those arguments. But this was 2:30 in the morning. So the secret is I slept through it. I didn't know they were there until the police knocked on the door, but the neighborhood heard it all.”
I pressed Schneider a bit on how it felt for him personally. This was at his home.
“Look, the goal of these people was to terrorize the neighborhood. How I felt about it was that I felt anger that these people would come and spew vile antisemitic chants. They were there not to persuade me, but to punish me. Those are their words, not my words. And I felt terrible for our neighbors.
“So we had an impromptu backyard town hall the next day with the Highland Park Chief of Police and city officials. We had probably 100 people on my patio answering their questions and expressing how I felt. And no one was saying, ‘Hey, you need to back down. It's was like, ‘we need to be better prepared when they come back, but we're not changing who we are.’ Folks who have ‘We love Israel' signs or ‘Bring The Hostages Home’ signs in the yard — still have them in the yard. So I'm standing for them.”
Schneider wasn’t in Washington when his office got hit, but the result was the same: the vandals achieved nothing.
“We united yesterday and put the signs back up. I think (our staff members) were appalled. This happened in the dark at night or on the holiday, so I don't think anyone felt personally threatened. I don't think it is a threat to our office specifically, but this is hate towards Jews, hate towards Israel.”
Brad Schneider represents the 10th Congressional District which covers a wide swath of Chicago’s northern suburbs. For years he has publicly supported Palestinian statehood, and he is a staunch First Amendment advocate. What he does not support are strategies and tactics used by terrorists in an effort to bully the State of Israel into a capitulation that’s never going to happen. The stupidity of the strategy in and of itself is astonishing.
The good news? Schneider has heard from Jews and non-Jews from every quarter over the last 12 days.
“The outpouring of support from people in my neighborhood, people in Highland Park, people across the 10th district and across the country, actually around the world, has been extraordinary saying, ‘We're with you. Stand strong.’”
That goes for all of us, Congressman.
MICHAEL GOLDEN is the Editor-in-Chief of JEWDICIOUS.
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