Union Veterans Council Condemns Antisemitism in New York Congressional District 11 Race
Antisemitic attacks against veteran, candidate and former Congressman Max Rose are unacceptable
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Union Veterans Council, AFL-CIO (UVC), the labor movement’s organization for union veterans, decries the antisemitic, hateful and vulgar attacks against New York Congressional District 11 candidate and US Army veteran Max Rose.
On the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, a campaign poster of former Congressman Rose was defaced to invoke an antisemitic trope that depicts Jewish billionaire George Soros as controlling Jewish Democrats. Just a few weeks ago, another Rose campaign sign was defaced with a swastika.
The Union Veterans Council is calling on the police to bring the perpetrator to justice.
“Max Rose is a patriot who served our country as a member of the Army, and continued to serve back home as a congressman and community leader,” said Will Attig, Executive Director of the Union Veterans Council, “No candidate, no matter who they are or what faith they practice, should be subjected to religious slurs or stereotypes to intimidate them from running for office and serving the American people.”
For far too long, Americans have stood by as religious minority veterans face vitriol and unconscionable discrimination simply because of their religious faith.
“Our organization stands in support of New York Congressional candidate Max Rose in the face of recent antisemitic attacks targeting him and his campaign,” said union veteran and New York City Central Labor Council President Vincent Alvarez, “It is disheartening to see a candidate so committed to serving others be targeted, not for his policy positions, but for his religious beliefs. We must work to rid our political discourse of the religious, ethnic, racial, and xenophobic animosity that has become all too common.”
Antisemitism and religious hate are alive and well. No human should have to face these attacks simply for being Jewish – let alone a veteran, former congressman, and community leader running for public office. The Union Veterans Council calls on the entire veteran community to strongly and firmly denounce this attack to one of our own and work to face this matter of religious hate head-on as a veteran issue that can no longer be ignored.