Political Quotes

“On February 27 of this year, about 250 men, women, and children gathered at the Stroum Jewish Community Center on Mercer Island in my home State of Washington. It was a regular evening. The center was alive. People were swimming laps in the pool. They were lifting weights in the gym. Seniors were taking classes like the popular one on Bollywood dancing the center offers on Monday nights. They were assembling peacefully, united by their common faith. Then, they were targeted because of it. On that night, a man, cowardly hiding behind the anonymity of a telephone, called in a bomb threat on the center. Children and their parents and seniors dropped everything and were evacuated as the police swept it with dogs. How did we get to the point where places people come to take an aerobics class or drop off a child for Hebrew school become flash points of hate? The threat to this center is, sadly, not unique. In the first 3 months of this year alone, there were 126 bomb threats called in to 85 Jewish community centers across the country. Imagine the disruption and the fear created by that. Let's talk about the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, an organization that advocates for peace and provides classes and community activities and funds scholarships to Seattle-area students. In 2006, a man walked into the federation's offices with two handguns.…”