The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation is shocked and disappointed that Wisconsin Democrats have refused to acknowledge the actions of Hamas on and since 10/7, including their murder of over 1,200 Israelis and the taking of hundreds of hostages. On the same weekend in which Israel has accepted a United States endorsed ceasefire deal, the Convention refused to include in their ceasefire resolution a demand that Hamas accept any agreement which includes the release of innocent hostages.
The Wisconsin Democratic Convention also voted against including factual evidence of antisemitism in America. The Anti-Defamation League has confirmed that 8,873 antisemitic incidents occurred in 2023—representing a 140% increase since 2022 and the highest number on record since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979. We are stunned that the Convention could, in one breath, vote on a resolution condemning antisemitism but refuse to acknowledge the significant rise in incidents following October 7. Facts are facts.
On the same weekend that four hostages were rescued from two residential apartments in Nuseirat, the Convention resolution falsely accuses Israel of genocide while entirely ignoring that Hamas is in violation of humanitarian law by embedding hostages amongst civilian populations in order to use civilians as shields.
To call for a ceasefire without demanding the release of all the hostages is a great injustice. Israel is not engaging in genocide; it is responding to the greatest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust and is acting to bring its citizens home.
What began on October 7 appears to have been lost on the delegates who voted on these resolutions. Hamas continues to use the Israeli hostages and the people of Gaza as human shields, putting their lives at risk. Hamas’s willingness to sacrifice civilians as a war tactic reveals much about the evil of this organization.
It is profoundly misguided to refuse to hold Hamas responsible for rejecting a ceasefire and returning the hostages.