U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman Supports Israel During Town Hall Meeting

By Yehudit Garmaise

U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman (10th), who on Oct. 7, experienced the terrifying chaos and the rockets raining on Israel during a family trip, hosted a Virtual Community Town Meeting on Wednesday to calmly discuss with his constituents the war in which Israel seeks to destroy Hamas, after its ruthless pogrom that took place 68 days ago.

Goldman’s Town Hall was likely motivated in part by the hateful vandalism he found on the doors to his office in Park Slope just before 9am on Nov. 17.

A swastika, "Free Palestine," and "Let Gaza Live," were among the images that were immediately wiped away. “I wanted to have this Town Hall tonight because I wanted this district to know that I care about how you feel and what you think, said Congressman Goldman, who supports Israel while representing a particularly diverse district including Boro Park, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, the Lower East Side, and the West Village. 

“I really hope we can keep this respectful,” said Goldman, who allowed each speaker to ask one question and speak for 90 seconds.

In his opening remarks, Goldman addressed the constituents who bitterly criticized Goldman for taking part in the vote to censure U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who has posted on Twitter the hateful “slogan,” “From the river to the sea,”. 

“This phrase, as it is frequently used by Hamas and understood by every Jew in the world, is a horrific anti-Semitic slogan that means that Israel does not have a right to exist, should be eliminated, and that every Jew in Israel should be killed,” said Goldman.

Talib, “clarified” her post of the hateful slogan that she “meant it as an aspirational call for freedom for Palestinians.”

Seeking to maintain a collegial relationship with Talib, Goldman did not ask Talib to apologize, nor retract her statement, but just to “clarify that she at least understands that many consider the slogan to be a call for the elimination of Israel and the Jews within in it,” G-d forbid. 

“Talib refused to do so,” Goldman reported. “If she had, I would have voted, ‘No.’

“I do not believe members of Congress should use our significant platforms to promote hate of any kind. I cannot condone any member of Congress who promotes hate speech that incites violence around the world.”

Later speaking to a pro-Palestinian constituent, Goldman calmly pointed out, “Hamas’s [practice] is to use civilians in Gaza as human shields. Hamas puts its military installations, operations, and weapons within hospitals, schools, civilian neighborhoods, with the idea that [the terrorist organization] is willing to sacrifice innocent Palestinian civilians in exchange for the public relations response that those images would get.”

While many pro-Palestinian speakers spoke of their complaints in front of backdrops that depicted images such as a Palestinian woman crying over what looked like an injured child, not one of the pro-Palestinian speakers expressed any acknowledgment, sadness, nor regret about the up to 1,400 Israelis killed: many of whom were savagely injured and unspeakably violated, nor of the 137, at least 20 of whom are presumed dead, who remain in dire conditions in captivity.

When one pro-Palestinian speaker, who said she lost relatives in the West Bank, asked Goldman how he will “show us his humanity,” the Congressman expressed his condolences and said that he co-sponsored a letter with Sen. Corey Booker (NJ-D) “calling on the Biden administration to do what it can to stop any violence in the West Bank.”

“The West Bank is not where this war is and not where Hamas is,” said Goldman, but he did “disagree with the speaker about whether the IDF’s defensive effort is ‘ethnic cleansing,’ nor ‘genocide.’

“I don’t believe that Israel is intentionally trying to kill Palestinians. I believe Israel is trying to eliminate Hamas.”

The Palestinian civilians cannot live with dignity, prosperity, and security with Hamas at the helm, said Goldman, who “remains adamant that we need to do everything we can to get rid of Hamas. 

“I think the quickest way to resolve this is for Hamas to return the hostages and for Hamas to lay down its arms.”

A handful of constituents, such as Rabbi Ginsberg, expressed both “appreciation for the Congressman’s strong support” and that they “felt horrible” about the Palestinian constituents who have lost loved ones in the war.

While not many speakers mentioned the hostages, Lisa from the Lower East Side asked what Goldman is doing to help get the 137 Israeli captives released.

In response, Goldman mostly criticized the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for prioritizing destroying Hamas over getting the hostages released, but Goldman did not say how he imagined a leader of a country so ruthlessly attacked could do so.

When the last speaker asked what kind of pressure he and the president could place on the Red Cross and other agencies to insist on gaining access to treat the hostages, Goldman said that he is “finalizing a letter” and looking for colleagues to join him in “to the international committee to the Red Cross, “asking them for detailed answers as to why they have not gotten access to the hostages in Gaza pursuant to international humanitarian law.”

While Hamas demands billions of dollars in humanitarian aid, which they steal for military purposes, “Hamas does not allow anyone in [to do medical and wellness checks.] We know that the hostages are in horrific conditions, and we are on day 68 now.”

Later Goldman called Israel “a very strong, long-term ally: our only democratic ally in that region, which was savagely attacked by a terrorist group, funded by the regime in Iran. We must support Israel, and its right to defend itself.

“I certainly hope this ends as quickly as possible and the collateral deaths are awful and sadly a cost of war. I do hope that Hamas will soon return the hostages and surrender, so that we can end this violence.”