Political Quotes

“Today is the twenty-third of Adar, 5762 on the Jewish calendar, the Yahrzeit, or anniversary, of the passing of Ari Halberstam. It was 8 years ago today that he died as a result of wounds suffered in a terrorist attack on the Brooklyn Bridge March 1, 1994. America awakened to terrorism on September 11, but for years there were Imams in mosques in the United States, who were inciting hatred and glorifying terrorism. For years, there were voices trying to bring this to our attention, one of the loudest of which was Devorah Halberstam, the mother of Ari. When she was told that her son's death was a result of simple road rage, she refused to let the authorities whitewash history. It was not just because of her son, it was because she realized back then what so many of us did not realize until September 11, that terrorism can happen in the United States and that, unless we are willing to confront terrorism, we are doomed to see it happen again. On December 5, 2000, the FBI finally classified Ari's death as a terrorist incident. While it was heartening to see that they had abandoned their dogmatic view, this was a hollow victory. For 6 years, the FBI did not admit what it truly was. So today, as the candles burn in honor of Ari Halberstam, let us pause to remember the boy who was taken from us and let us stop to think of the lessons we should learn and let us pray that we have the wisdom to prevent attacks such as these from happening again.”