Despite Mr. Steven Markowitz’s own admission and taking responsibility for sending a 2015 campaign e-mail using scare tactics and hate language against the Orthodox Jews, a support letter undersigned by “The Officers and Members of the Board of Trustees of Temple Israel of Great Neck” appeared in the Great Neck News in support of Steven Markowitz who reportedly is the former president of Temple Israel. Â
The letter endeavors to give the impression that Mr. Markowitz is pro-Orthodox Jews and he did not write such e-mail.
Mr. Markowitz is the chairman of the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County and his 2015 email is at odds with the mission of a “Tolerance Center.”
Houses of worship should maintain total objectivity and stay away from politics. If anything, as a general rule they should condemn hate language against any group. Â
That would contribute to preventing future acts genocides.
Leon Manoucheri
Great Neck
This is just a weird letter. It’s connotation is that if someone comments about the Orthodox Jews in Great Neck… it could lead to genocide? I don’t get the connection. It seems more likely that Leon has a religious/political agenda of some sort.
He clearly didn’t say that. He’s saying that if houses of worship like mosques, synagogues and churches condemn the use of hate language it could serve to avoid hate crimes. A lot of hate crimes starts from religious bias and rhetorics