The following is a transcript of remarks made by Nassau County Legislature Deputy Minority Leader Arnold W. Drucker (D – Plainview) at the start of the Wednesday, Dec. 17 meeting of the full Nassau County Legislature. Full video - https://vimeo.com/event/5597539
Sunday was the first night of Hanukkah, and because of the time change, I learned later on in the day about the massacre that took place in Bondi Beach in Australia, and it really ruined the first night of Hanukkah for me personally and I’m sure for many, many others here. It cast a shadow of darkness over a holiday that’s a festival of light, and I was just really, really depressed about it – thinking about how we don’t seem to be making progress on defeating hatred and antisemitism, which seems to be breeding, growing, and becoming more pervasive.
But I woke up on Monday and felt a lot better because, really, the story of Hanukkah is a story of redemption and resilience. I think throughout the history of the Jews, myself, over thousands and thou of years, we’ve managed to come back from atrocities, from massacres and horrible things. Sunday’s massacre, although it was on a smaller scale, evoked the memories of October 7th, and I feel we have an obligation, each and every one of us on this legislature and in our society – to use our voices to stand up and condemn hatred in all forms, and it’s got to start from us, from instilling it in our children, in our grandchildren, in our friends and in our neighbors because it can only happen with us. Hatred can only be extinguished by love and by light, and that s what we have to do, each and every of us.
I have renewed hope that, with our voices, we can do more to stand up and condemn this type of hatred and antisemitism that I certainly feel, and many others feel. I look forward to progressing from this and getting back to the type of world that I want to live in, that I want my children and my grandchildren to live in. Because, right now, there I times I don’t recognize the world that we live in – seeing the shootings that happened at Brown University – it’s just senseless and reprehensible, and I don’t understand why it happens. We must never become numb to it – let’s vow to never become numb to this, to become outraged, to speak up about this every chance we get.