Monroe County officials in Rochester, New York received a letter last week claiming that Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 is “well-earned thanks to Israel’s decision to solve the ‘Palestinian Question with state terror and apartheid.”
The letter was unsigned, but was stamped with the logos of the Green Party of Monroe Country and the Party for Socialism and Liberation Finger Lakes. The letter begins with claims that “before October 7, the IDF and Israeli settlers routinely committed acts of violence, subjugation, and humiliation against Israel’s Arab subjects.”
While the letter acknowledges the tragedy of October 7 to the Israeli people, it justifies Hamas’ terror attack and puts into question Monroe County’s solidarity decision to display the Israeli flag on the city’s main street. The author of the letter claims that this act of solidarity with Israel “is simply to engage in propaganda on behalf of our nation’s most conspicuous vassal state,” which is – according to the author – “utterly intolerable.”
The letter further argues that the flag harms the community and is an “ongoing insult … to the Arab and Muslim residents of our county.” It further makes the comparison between the Israeli flag and the Confederate flag.
The letter claims that their decision to display the Israeli flag proves that they “know which side of their toast is buttered.” The letter continues to say that “after the long, horrifying months of Israel’s pitiless revenge on the Palestinians … that flag must now come down in the name of PEACE.”
The author threatens that if the flag is not taken down, they will “move this conversation to the front page of the Democrat & Chronicle” where the legislators “may defend [their] support for apartheid and ethnic cleansing.”
To finish the letter, the author chose to include a graphic and troubling cartoon in which Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester Executive Meredith Dragon is portrayed in dominatrix gear adorned with Israeli flags, subjugating County Executive Adam Bello. It also featured Monroe County Legislature Majority Leader Michael Yudelson, who is also Jewish, branding Bello with a Jewish Federation logo.
Condemning the letter
Jewish Federation’s VP of Community Relations Evan Bernstein compares the attached cartoon to those that “were commonplace in cartoons in Nazi Germany.” He further said that “we cannot allow this pernicious antisemitism to become normalized and pervade our civic spaces."
The Monroe County Legislature released a statement on Wednesday titled “Statement Condemning Antisemitic Mailing.” In this letter, they state that the officials, including Yudelson, received a letter “filled with antisemitic tropes and misrepresentations.” It further claims that the unsigned letter’s allegations of supporting apartheid and ethnic cleansing are false and that the cartoon “is drawn so offensively that it [cannot] be displayed in most public mediums.”
The legislature’s letter includes Majority Leader Yudelson’s response to the antisemitic letter. Yudelson terms the letter as “ugly behavior” and states that “we can not normalize actions by those two seek to divide the community rather than find common ground.” Yudelson adds that while he wishes for the end of the war, “this blatant antisemitism cannot be allowed to stand.”
When Yudelson reached out to the groups Green Party of Monroe Country and the Party for Socialism and Liberation Finger Lakes, they both replied that they had nothing to do with the letter and that it “was sent by an individual who does not represent their organizations.”
Legislature President Yversha Román responded to the cartoon saying that “the content disseminated by an individual presenting themselves as an agent of the Green Party … does not advance the cause of peace that we all hope for.”
“Republican Legislators stand with members of the Jewish community … in disgust at this latest act of antisemitism.” Said Steve Brew, Republican Conference Leader. “Such despicable acts have no place in the fabric of our modern society” Brew adds, finishing with a statement that individuals such as the letter’s author “must be held accountable.”
Meredith Dragon, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester, and one of the cartoon’s subjects, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the cartoon was “really, really problematic.” Dragon also said that she objects to both the cartoon’s use of antisemitic tropes, and its crude nature, “The antisemitism is bad enough, but the sexualization of it is incredibly degrading … As a woman, as a professional, it’s gross.”
Dragon also stressed that neither she, nor the federation has asked county officials to fly the Israeli flag, but rather it was a county executive who reached out in search of a flag to fly. Dragon added that the cartoon “calls on the trope of Jews having power and control, and it makes me look like I have some sort of power and control over the county executive, which obviously I don’t. And it’s his choice.”
Andrew Lapin/JTA contributed to this report.