Op-Eds from Mike

Today marks the first anniversary of the worst mass murder of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust. On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists launched a brutal and unprovoked attack on Israel, murdering over a thousand innocent men, women, and children, sexually abusing many and taking hundreds hostage. 

Among those butchered and taken captive were dozens of Americans. We must stand with our close ally in its time of need and support them as they fight not only to rescue their citizens who were taken by Hamas, but ours as well.

I have met with family members of Americans and Israelis whose relatives were killed or taken hostage by Hamas — in New York, in Washington, and in Israel. I have traveled to Israel twice in my official capacity during my first term in office. 

The first was with a bipartisan delegation led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the second U.S. Speaker of the House in American history to address the Knesset in Jerusalem. My second trip to Israel was in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attack, when I joined Chairman Michael McCaul and several Republican and Democratic members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to meet with hostages’ family members and with Israeli officials. In April, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D., Fla.) and I visited the New York City exhibit recreating the grounds of the Nova Music Festival on the morning of October 7, when Hamas terrorists parachuted into a concert for peace and senselessly murdered anyone they could.

The congressional district I represent — New York’s 17 District — has one of the largest Jewish populations in the country. Our relationship with Israel and our efforts to combat anti-Semitism in America are essential issues to my constituents. Since taking office, both of these issues have been top priorities of mine. 

My first bill to become law was the Special Envoy for the Abraham Accords Act, which I introduced with Ritchie Torres (D., N.Y.), a progressive Democrat from the Bronx. That legislation, incorporated into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2024, provides a special presidential envoy to enforce and expand the Abraham Accords. 

The Abraham Accords were a significant breakthrough that resulted in the normalization of relations between Israel and four Middle Eastern countries — Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Morocco, and Sudan. They were the first instance of normalization between Israel and an Arab-majority nation since Israel and Jordan normalized relations in 1994. With relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel warming considerably in recent years, it is widely believed that the Kingdom will be the next nation to normalize relations with Israel. 

Rep. Torres and I have been very open about our hope that establishing a special presidential envoy for the Abraham Accords will help facilitate this. Such a move would also isolate Iran in the Middle East, and it is no wonder that Hamas — heavily backed by the rogue terror regime in Tehran — would choose such a moment as this to attack Israel in a clear attempt to scuttle a hard-fought peace. 

We cannot let Hamas succeed, and we must hold both them and their Iranian backers accountable. We cannot achieve peace in the Middle East without ending once and for all Iran’s ability to export terror and death across the region, and that means cracking down on the illicit oil trade bankrolling it. That’s why I joined Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.) to introduce the Iran-China Energy Sanctions Act, and joined Rep.Moskowitz to introduce the Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum (SHIP) Act. 

These two bills were incorporated into the foreign aid supplemental passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden in April. Just a few days ago, Iran launched hundreds of missiles into Israel. No longer content to act through its proxies alone — Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis — Iran has become even more brazen in its desire to follow through on its promise to wipe Israel off the map. Iran may have already succeeded in that mission if it had not been for the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow missile defense systems. These systems are Israel’s literal lifeline, and for as long as I am in Congress, I will fight like hell to make sure their funding never dries up.

I will also continue standing up to the anti-Israel bias at the United Nations (UN) and in our international institutions. Earlier in the 118th Congress, Rep. Gottheimer and I introduced the IGO Anti-Boycott Act to protect U.S. companies from being coerced by inter-governmental organizations (IGOs) into supporting the anti-Israel Boycotts, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. 

In the aftermath of October 7 and the singling out of Israel by the UN and the International Criminal Court (ICC), Rep. Moskowitz and I introduced the Stand With Israel Act. This bipartisan legislation will curtail U.S. funding to any UN agency that expels, downgrades, suspends, or otherwise restricts the participation of the State of Israel. 

The UN was created to help protect the democratic order that emerged when the Nazis and their allies were defeated in the Second World War. Unfortunately, many of today’s evildoers have found their way into this institution, threatening to upend the democratic order from within. 

The findings of a recent UN probe that nine employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) “may have” been involved in the October 7 massacre, along with last week’s news that a top Hamas commander killed in Lebanon was a UNRWA employee placed on administrative leave is further evidence of how broken these institutions have truly become.

While Israel continues to face threats from all sides, Jewish Americans are becoming increasingly worried about the enemy within — the dark underbelly of anti-Semitism that has reemerged not only in our international institutions but here in our own country. Jews make up only 2.4 percent of the U.S. population, yet FBI data released in October 2023 showed that they were the target of 55 percent of all religion-based hate crimes. A recent study commissioned by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) showed that 93 percent of American Jews found antisemitism to be a serious problem and that nearly two-thirds felt that the status of Jews in the U.S. was less secure than in the prior year. Weeks into the start of a new school year, the anti-Semitic hate that intensified on college campuses in the wake of October 7 has continued to fester. 

During the last school year, I made multiple visits to Columbia University and confronted Hamas-sympathizing protesters head-on. I publicly called on Columbia’s then-president, Minouche Shafik, to resign. Although she has since done so, as have several other prominent university presidents who failed to confront antisemitism on their campuses, a new campus administration doesn’t solve the underlying problem. 

Anti-discrimination laws must be given teeth in order to hold those who bully, harass, intimidate, or assault Jewish students accountable. That’s why I introduced the Antisemitism Awareness Act and have repeatedly called on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to bring this bill up for a Senate vote since it passed the House by a broad, bipartisan vote of 320 to 91 on May 1st. 26 governors — more than half — recently sent Senator Schumer a letter echoing this call. These are governors from across the country who are seeing rising anti-Semitism directly impact their constituents. It must be dealt with and it must be rooted out as swiftly as possible.

The protection of our students, the safety of Jewish Americans, and the security of our closest ally, Israel, can never take a back seat to politics. As we commemorate the solemn anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attack, we must reaffirm our commitment to stand with Israel in its ongoing fight against terrorism and with our own Jewish communities in their ongoing concern for safety. 

As we remember the lives lost one year ago today, let us also renew our resolve to fight back against terrorism in all its forms and to ensure that every remaining hostage is freed from the clutches of Hamas. The world must never forget the horrors of October 7. We must remain united in ensuring that such evil is never allowed to flourish again — whether in the streets of the Middle East, the halls of the UN, or our own communities.