Safety, security and high taxes are crucial issues for voters in the upcoming Special NY 3rd Congressional District election that will be held on Feb. 13. Illegal immigrants have made their way to NYC and Nassau County. Millions of unvetted illegal immigrants continue to enter the U.S. through our open southern border, bringing with them gang violence and terrorism risks.
Nassau County Legislator Mazi Pilip is the best candidate to help our community in Congress with these and other issues.
Mazi has consistently fought against any tax increases and consistently voted against any tax increases. With no exceptions.
On the other hand, professional politician Tom Suozzi instituted major tax hikes and proposed even more tax hikes when he was the Nassau County executive, and made Nassau County into the highest taxed county in America. (Suozzi Proposes 20% Increase In Taxes For Nassau – The New York Times) Politifact says that it is true that Suozzi raised taxes by hundreds of millions of dollars when he served as county executive. (https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/sep/23/national-republican-congressional-committee/suozzi-passed-major-tax-hikes-nassau-county/ )
In addition, Suozzi knows that his pledge to advocate in the House of Representatives to restore the SALT state and local tax deduction is a worthless stunt. The House of Representatives has already passed the bill to restore the SALT deduction, but the Senate blocked it. So we would gain nothing by electing Suozzi, and would risk paying a lot more taxes by electing a known tax-hiker such as Suozzi.
Mazi will advocate for tax relief, including restoring the SALT deduction and other relief, and will also continue to vote against tax increases.
Regarding immigration, Suozzi’s immigration plan to build a large processing center in the United States for illegal immigrants is likely to increase illegal immigration into the United States and make the problem even worse. Illegal immigrants should remain in Mexico and should not be encouraged to enter the United States in the first place. It also says a lot that Suozzi called for Jewish pro-Israel official Stephen Miller to be fired, and falsely implied that Miller was an antisemitic white supremacist. (“Suozzi wrong to call on Miller to resign.”) The real reason Suozzi seems to have attacked Stephen Miller is because Mr. Miller strongly opposes illegal immigration.
n the other hand, Mazi will work to restore a secure southern border.
Also, no one in Congress should praise or give credibility to terror-linked groups. I’m extremely concerned about Suozzi’s public letter to CAIR saying that he “applauds” and “appreciates” the Hamas-linked organization CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations). [The letter is online at CAIR journal, page 78, https://www.scribd.com/document/443221667/Cair-PDF-Full#from_embed ]
The federal government named CAIR as an unindicted conspirator that funneled money to Hamas. [https://www.investigativeproject.org/1854/doj-cairs-unindicted-co-conspirator-status-legit ] In response to the unprovoked massacre of Oct. 7, CAIR’s national executive director said that Palestinians have the right to “self-defense” while Israel does not have a right to self-defense, and that he was “happy to see” the people of Gaza “breaking the siege” on Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel and massacred 1,200 people including over 30 Americans and took Israeli and American hostages. CAIR organized disruptive antisemitic pro-Hamas demonstrations throughout the country that shut down streets, airports and bridges in recent months. Then CAIR condemned the New York City police for dispersing the disruptive pro-Hamas demonstrators.
Although people urged Tom Suozzi to retract his letter praising CAIR and to instead denounce CAIR, Suozzi still has not done so. [Times of Israel blog by Elchanan Poupko: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/rep-tom-suozzi-must-retract-support-for-terror-affiliate/ ]
In 2020, Suozzi’s primary opponent, pro-Israel Democrat Michael Weinstock, said: “I was shocked to learn that Suozzi recently sent a beautiful letter of support to CAIR…Suozzi’s endorsement of this anti-Semitic organization tells us that his support of the Jewish community is completely transactional. When he supports us, it’s never heartfelt.” [https://archive.theisland360.com/weinstock-calls-for-suozzi-to-rescind-letter-in-support-of-organization-with-alleged-ties-to-terrorism/]
This is not where it all begins and ends. Just last year, Suozzi announced publicly that he wanted to become an “Honorary member of the Squad.” Suozzi has voted with the Squad 95% of the time. It is no secret that the Squad members, especially Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, are venomous defamers of Israel and America. During a speech for CAIR, Omar trivialized the terrorists who killed thousands of Americans (including some of my friends and many people in our district) on 9/11 as “some people did something.”
During another televised interview, Omar justified terrorism as a reaction to “our involvement in other people’s affairs” and laughed about and mocked how Americans say the names of terror organizations Al Qaeda and Hezbollah. Omar and Talib and company are also known for shamelessly espousing antisemitic tropes, and have been making antisemitism “acceptable” in America. I can never vote for Suozzi after he said that he wanted to be an “honorary member” of that Squad.
On the other hand, Mazi Pilip initiated the Nassau County Legislature Task Force on Combating Antisemitism, organized numerous events and efforts to stop antisemitism, fought against terrorism when she served in the Israeli army before immigrating to the United States, and will be a strong fighter in Congress against terrorism and the Squad’s shameful bigotry.
Suozzi also falls short in other ways. Souzzi voted for the dangerous anti-Israel House Resolution 326. H. Res. 326 wrongly insists that creating a Palestinian-Arab state on lands to which Israel has the historic and sovereign legal right is the “only” solution!”
In addition, Suozzi’s first ever speech in Congress in 2017 called for creating a Palestinian state, said he will “never abandon” calling for a Palestinian state, and criticized some of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria for existing, even though Jews have lived in these areas for thousands of years. Suozzi repeated this in more speeches in Congress. [https://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA13/20170202/105508/HHRG-115-FA13-Transcript-20170202.pdf].
Suozzi has no military background nor any training in the relevant sciences such as missile guidance, missile defense and electronic warfare. Suozzi has not fought against terrorists as Mazi has. None of Suozzi’s experiences in Nassau County and Washington, DC, qualify him as an expert or warrants him jeopardizing the lives of those who live in Israel, a totally different “neighborhood” than Nassau County.
Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis are continuing to shoot barrages of missiles every day at Israeli civilians, American troops in Iraq and the region and international shipping. After the Oct. 7 massacre, it is obvious even more than ever that giving up Israeli control over the Judea-Samaria-the West Bank to create a Palestinian state there and in Jerusalem and Gaza is too high a security risk.
Hamas is the most popular group among Arabs in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank celebrated murdering Israelis and Americans on Oct. 7 and also pays Arab terrorists to murder Jews and could do this even more if it becomes a state. A Palestinian state would encircle Israel and would endanger the entire region with another state controlled by powerful terror groups that do Iran’s bidding.
Judea and Samaria-West Bank is a significantly larger territory than Gaza. It is clear now that if Israel ever removes its presence from the West Bank, there would be an even “grander war” starting from the West Bank than the Oct. 7 massacre and the battle in Gaza. Pushing for withdrawal of Israel’s presence from Judea and Samaria-West Bank by irresponsible individuals like Suozzi is a recipe for disaster by several orders of magnitude, for both the Israelis and the Arabs who live there and for American interests.
Suozzi needs to totally stay out of Middle East politics. We cannot afford his simplistic slogans calling for a “two-state solution.” We cannot afford a congressman who tries to dictate to Israel, and will “never abandon” a Palestinian state.
The situation in Israel and America has drastically changed after the Oct. 7 massacre. We cannot afford a congressman like Suozzi who clings to dangerous “solutions” that would make matters worse, and who has failed to retract his support of the Squad and CAIR.
Tom Suozzi’s pattern of disturbing conduct towards the Jewish community, American security and high tax record are unacceptable.
It is also unacceptable that Suozzi is now allowing the Democrats to run dirty, racist and sexist attack ads that falsely call Mazi Pilip a “rubber stamp” for invented positions. Mazi Pilip is an impressive, intelligent woman. Mazi Pilip is an Ethiopian Jew who was rescued by Israel, grew up in Israel and served in the Israeli military, and later immigrated to the U.S. and admirably served in the Nassau County Legislature. I would be very proud to have Mazi serve as our Congresswoman.
Catherine Goldman
Manhasset