In early January, I traveled to Israel on a Birthright trip with seventeen other Americans between the ages of eighteen to twenty-six. We were the first Birthright trip to Israel since Hamas’ attack on October 7th and unsure what our experience would be. But going in January, when so many chose to stay away, made the trip more profound.We were staying in hotels and eating meals with evacuees from Israeli land near Gaza or Lebanon, talking with soldiers about to return to active duty, and constructing a playground for children forced to abandon their way of life for greater safety elsewhere. What that intense experience revealed though is that truly standing in solidarity with Israel and its people requires more than just meaningless public statements or gestures, or speaking one way to the Jewish community and then hindering Israel’s right to defend itself, as many politicians have done over the past few months. Too many are all talk when it comes to defending Israel.
Fortunately, Congressman Tom Kean, Jr. walks the walk when it comes to supporting Israel. First, he went to Israel as part of the American Israel Education Foundation trip earlier this month. Congressman Kean could have easily stayed in Washington D.C. or New Jersey while pretending to understand the region, as many of his colleagues do. But, like me, he realized that there is something to be said for actually going to Israel, and he took the opportunity to talk with its leaders and its people, including at the sites of Hamas’ murderous assault, and to discuss what the United States should do to provide support. As he put it in a statementafterwards,“Weneedtomake sure that Israel has the time, weaponry and resources necessary to conduct the operations to destroy Hamas.”
Additionally,CongressmanKeanhas repeatedly stood with Israel in the halls of Congress. He supported the banning of funds for the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic U.N. Relief andWorksAgency. He sponsored a bipartisan resolution whichcondemnedIran’sunprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel and co-sponsored another that condemned the support for Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations at American universities. In congressional remarks just weeks after October 7th, while many were already calling for a ceasefire after years of demanding aid be conditioned to America’s strongest ally in the Middle East, Congressman Kean called for Congress to “stand with Israel in its fight for survival and against anti-Semitism in all of its forms.” He has also repeatedly pushed leadership and recalcitrant members of his party to finally provide supplemental aid to Israel, culminating in the recent passage of such aid.
In the end, while most make empty gestures, Congressman Tom Kean, Jr. has always and will always meaningfully stand with our friend Israel and the Jewish people of his district.
Justin Greenman Scotch Plains
