Ed Koch, RealClearPolitics: [...] some time ago Mr. Sanchez invited me to appear on his program. The major question he asked me was whether Jews have a dual loyalty, to Israel and the U.S.? The question was not intended as friendly. I answered it the same way that I had answered the same question by a group of Christian Congressmen at a prayer breakfast when I was a member of Congress. I told them, you never ask that question of Italian, German or Polish-Americans (I should have also included Cuban-Americans) who treasure their ancestry, traditions and the countries from which their ancestors came; you only ask it of Jews. Let me tell you why the security of Israel means so much to many Jews. We know that when Hitler offered in the 30s to allow the Jews to leave Germany, if any country would take them, few countries agreed to accept the Jews and then only in small numbers. Indeed, in 1939 the U.S. under F.D.R. turned away the 900 or so Jews on the SS St. Louis who had earlier been turned away by Cuba (from which country Mr. Sanchez hails; he was not born at the time). F.D.R. refused to allow them to land in the U.S., and even sent a Coast Guard cutter to make sure no one jumped overboard and tried to swim ashore. So the Jews were sent back to Europe, where the majority perished in concentration camps. If Israel had existed then, it would have taken in every single Jewish refugee, no matter how sick or old or incapacitated or poor. Then I said to my fellow Congress members, raising my right hand, and this is literal, "I swear to you, if Israel ever invades the U.S., I shall stand with the U.S." My fellow members of Congress applauded.
Read the full piece by Ed Koch here. See also: Mayor: An Autobiography
, Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (Columbia History of Urban Life)
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