Open Letter to Maryland Governor Wes Moore
Dear Governor Moore,
At a time when CNBC named Maryland’s economy the second worst in America, and the state budget fell from a surplus to a deficit during your term, you falsely accused Israel’s prime minister of war crimes. The purpose of your misdirection – and that’s exactly what it was – was to shift attention away from your failing governorship and towards the Jewish people, the most scapegoated people in history. What an easy target – to attack the Jewish state – in the age of soaring antisemitism.
Did you even consider that your self-serving speech might throw gasoline on the fire of antisemitic violence that now engulfs Jews nationwide? And that your words do nothing to calm the situation – actually quite the opposite? Moreover, you provided no evidence of your claim against the Israeli leader and ironically have never said word one against the worst offenders of human rights in the world: countries like China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Sudan, Congo, the former Syrian regime, and Yemen. Tyrants in those lands have caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands. If you genuinely care, why are you silent about the true war criminals?
By contrast, Israel is one of the world’s most common victims of war crimes. On October 7, 2023, a genocidal attack on the country slaughtered 1200 Israelis and took 250 more hostage. The aggressor was Hamas, a gang of religious fanatics that has been officially designated as a terrorist organization by the US and virtually all democracies worldwide. Hamas’s charter vows to exterminate all Jews not just in Israel but worldwide, including Jews living in Maryland. That includes my family and me, and many of your constituents. What have you done to stop Hamas? Nothing! You may consider it politically expedient to go after one of the smallest countries in the world because it is strangely en vogue to do so.
But it is wrong; it is irresponsible; and it endangers your Jewish constituents. With your words, it is apparent that means nothing to you.
Do your job – serve the citizens of Maryland – not your self-interest.
Michael Berenhaus
