Midwood/Boro Park City Councilman David Greenfield‘s impromptu and impassioned response against “Naked, Blind Anti-Semitism” after Pro-Palestine protestors heckled the city council at its’ commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau has gone viral with over a million views around the world in less than a week.
The speech came last Thursday, Jan. 22, after dozens of Pro-Palestine protesters seated in the New York City Council gallery waited through nearly an entire session of the Council’s meeting to time their attack of council members during the council’s memorial for the 1.1 million victims of Auschwitz.
While the Holocaust memorial resolution was being discussed, the protesters jumped out of their seats, unfurled a Palestinian flag and started shouting insults and abuses at council members by name. They also yelled about the council’s upcoming trip to Israel sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council and the UJA-Federation.
Greenfield, the grand-son of Holocaust survivors, wasted no time in responding to the hecklers in his speech that has since gone viral with over a million views between Facebook and YouTube.
“Thank you Madam Public Advocate. You know, I waited my turn here. I’ve followed protocol in the New York City Council and haven’t spoken out because I respect this chamber. I have to tell you, I’m still shaken to my core. I am upset. I am angry. But I’ll tell you honestly, I am actually somewhat pleased at what we saw here today. If you’re wondering why I’m saying that, it’s because for the last few weeks we’ve heard from people who said, ‘Oh we don’t dislike Jews, we only dislike the state of Israel. We have no problem with you, we simply don’t want you to go to Israel.’
“But we know that’s not really at the core of what they were saying and today they proved it. While we were discussing a resolution regarding the murder of 1.1 million human beings – I will point out that 90% of whom were Jewish, but the other 10 percent were political dissidents, they were Jehovah’s Witnesses, they were gays. Those were the people who were being killed together in Auschwitz-Birkenau. While we were discussing that, they had the nerve, the chutzpah, the temerity to unfurl a Palestinian flag and to yell at us while we’re discussing that.
“And so the reason why I am pleased is because we can stop pretending that this is about Israel, when the reality is that every Middle Eastern country that is in existence today is not Democratic and persecutes people of other faiths, and persecutes gays, and persecutes people who disagree with them, and persecutes people on Twitter and persecutes women who drive, except for one country – which is the State of Israel.
And so what you saw here today was naked, blind Anti-Semitism. That’s what you saw. That’s what you watched. That’s what you witnessed. People who are upset for one reason. Do you want to know, know why they are angry? Do you want to know why they are unfurling that flag today? Because Hitler did not finish the job. He only wiped out half of my family. And only by the grace of God is the other half, me, the grand-child, still alive today. That’s why those people are upset. Shame on them! Shame on them for hating Jews! Shame on them for hating people! Shame on them for disrespecting the most diverse, democratically elected body in the United States of America.
And that’s why we go to Israel. We go to Israel to make a message that is clear: that we will not be cowered by this fear and by this hatred that we have, where these are people who will celebrate the death of Jews rather than mourn the death of innocents. I am embarrassed at what happened here today but I am pleased that we finally see what this is all about: good old fashion Anti-Semitism. Thank you.”
To view the speech go to the following link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpGPzoaNVCU
