Monica Schipper/Getty Images Editor’s note: This speech was delivered at Carnegie Hall via video on March 13 by former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo at a memorial service for Eleanor Esther Elka Paul, mother of Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, head of the World Values Network. It has been edited for length and clarity.
The world is in crisis. We’re in the midst of a storm, a storm of antipathy, anxiety, and antagonism.
Russia, Ukraine, China, Iran, the Middle East, everywhere you look.
Yes, even in the mirror, in this country: growing division, unrest and fear.
And fear can make people dangerous.
In the midst of the storm, antisemitism is increasing. No, antisemitism is exploding.
We see it in the shadows, we see it in subtlety, and we see it in vicious and violent displays.
Well, they say now there are reasons why antisemitism is increasing, it’s not because people just don’t like Jewish people. There are reasons.
Yes, that’s what they have always said throughout history. There was a reason.
Hitler had a reason.
Jews were genetically inferior, that’s why. They carried diseases. That’s why.
There was always a reason.
It’s the Israel homeland, but they forget that the world closed its doors to the Jewish community, Britain in 1905, the United States in 1924, Latin America in 1930.
It’s not antisemitism, it’s that the government is too far to the right, it’s apartheid policies.
They always find a reason. But there is no reason, no reason that justifies antisemitism.
We can have political disagreements with Israel. Fine. We have political disagreements with many allies, but we don’t condemn the people for the politics.
My friends, it is time to stand strong against the storm because we remember the lessons of history.
We remember how when this world allowed seemingly small slights against the Jewish community to go unanswered, the slights increased, and the slights metastasized to assaults, and attacks, and yes to mass murder.
We learned important lessons.
It was not just the actions of the bad, it was the inaction of the good.
Where were the good people when this country was begged to bomb the rail lines to concentration camps but FDR did nothing.
Where were the good people when this country turned away a ship – the St. Louis – with Jews fleeing extermination.
Where were the good people when Jews rose up against the Germans in the Warsaw ghetto and resisted for 30 days with no one coming to help.
The silence of the good was deafening and deadly.
And I ask you today, where are the good people after Poway California, after Monsey New York, after Los Angeles California, after Lakewood New Jersey, after Chicago Illinois, after Pittsburg Pennsylvania.
Where are they? Not with platitudes of condolence, not with pandering press releases, but with meaningful action for justice?
Well, they say, the politics are hard, it’s controversial. Excuses, excuses, excuses.
I know it’s easier to stay seated, but when it’s this important you have to take a stand.
We must demand accountability. You can’t be pro-Israel and have dinner with Nick Fuentes and Kanye West, stand with white nationalists or have members of your own party make anti-semitic remarks and refuse to denounce them.
It’s time for our officials to condemn antisemitism not just with their words, but with their actions.
You cannot denounce antisemitism but waver on Israel’s right to exist and defend itself.
And it shouldn’t just be our Jewish officials but it should be the non-Jewish officials who speak first and loudest.
Why? Because we learned.
In the words of Martin Niemöller:
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Last point. Tonight my father the late great Mario Cuomo is sitting with the late great Eleanor Esther Elka Paul. I will tell you what he is saying. He is saying it is time for the Shabbos goy. The Shabbos goy can do work that benefits both the Jewish community and the non-Jewish community. The Shabbos goy can turn on the lights on the Sabbath because it benefits everyone.
The Shabbos goy can do work that benefits both the Jewish community and the non-Jewish community. The Shabbos goy can turn on the lights on the Sabbath because it benefits everyone. I will stand and turn on the lights. I am starting an organization called Progressives for Israel.
I will stand and turn on the lights. I am starting an organization called Progressives for Israel and I am going to call out the question for Democrats:
Do you stand with Israel or do you stand against Israel? Because silence is not an option.
Never again is not a prayer, but rather a call to arms.
It is not passive, it is active.
It will never happen again, because we will never allow it to happen again.
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