Report
'
S AFTERMATE-,
Fevered Rhetoric from page 13
ads with targets saying 'remove
Gabby Giffords' and a young man
with issues," Mark Rubin, a Tucson-
area lawyer and a Democratic
Party activist, told JTA. "You're
going to spend a long time con-
vincing me it doesn't have some-
thing to do with it."
Spencer Giffords, the congress-
woman's father, wept when the
New York Post asked him if his
daughter had enemies.
"The tea party," he said, referring
to the conservative insurgency that
targeted her, resulting in one of last
November's closest elections. Local
tea party leaders condemned the
attack, but also reportedly rejected
the notion that they needed to tone
down their rhetoric.
Giffords supported gun rights,
but it didn't stop opponents from
identifying her with her party's
efforts to increase restrictions
on possession. Police in 2009
removed a man carrying a gun
from Giffords' meet-the-voters
event in 2009; and her opponent,
Jesse Kelly, hosted a campaign
event inviting supporters to shoot
with him titled "Get on Target for
Victory in November."
It wasn't just Democrats, howev-
er. The Washington-based Jewish
Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), a
public policy umbrella body bring-
ing together Jewish groups across
the religious and political spec-
trum, also made the connection.
"While we do not know the
motives for today's attack, we
do know that it cannot be viewed
apart from the climate of violence
and the degradation of civil society
that are anathema to democracy,"
the JCPA said.
Richard Nodel,
president of
the Jewish
Community
Relations Council
of Metropolitan
Detroit, added,
"The horrific inci-
Richard Nodel
dent in Tucson
was an attack
not only on the victims there, but
also on the fundamental values of
our democracy. The lesson to be
learned from this tragedy is that
a lack of civility in our political
process creates an environment
in which certain people can feel
justified in taking such extreme
measures." Ll
14 January 13 2011
'So Heimishe' from page 13
relations maven whose shop represents a
slate of Jewish groups.
"She was so heimishe, so down to earth,"
Rabinowitz, himself from Tucson, recalled
of his fundraiser last spring.
Immigration Issue
Almost as soon as she was elected to the
state Legislature, Giffords was enmeshed
in Arizona's signature issue — rights for
undocumented immigrants — according
to Josh Protas, who directed the Tucson-
area Jewish Community Relations Council
for years before moving to Washington in
2009 to direct the D.C. office of the Jewish
Council for Public Affairs.
Protas recalled meeting with Giffords
as part of the area faith coalition promot-
ing immigrant rights. "Understanding the
complexities of the immigration situation
was something important to her," he said.
It came from "a sense of the Jewish value
around how we treat the stranger, a history
of the Jewish community — but she had
recognition of the strong need for security"
It was a posture that led Giffords to hit
both the state and federal governments
last year: She blasted the Obama admin-
istration for not doing enough to secure
the border, but also slammed as repressive
a new Arizona law that allowed police to
arrest undocumented immigrants during
routine stops.
"She was very moderate in her views
and willing to meet with folks on all sides:'
Protas said. "She took a lot of heat, par-
ticularly the last couple of years from both
the far right and the far left."
In the end, her greatest vulnerability
might have been her openness.
Despite representing a swing district, she
survived the Republican wave in November.
And just three days before the shooting she
was back in Washington — with one hand
up and one hand on the Jewish Bible, grin-
ning at her swearing-in at the Capitol. On
Saturday, she was back in Tucson.
Peters Connection
U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, D - Bloomfield
Township, served on the House Science
and Technology Committee with Giffords
during the last Congress, where they
worked together to promote investment in
solar energy. She invited Peters to attend
an upcoming space shuttle launch.
Peters' staff shared a connection with
the staff member in Giffords' office
who was slain in the attack on Saturday.
Peters' outreach coordinator, Hy Safran,
knew Gabe Zimmerman, who worked
in Giffords' Tucson district office as her
constituent services
director. In 2003, Safran
attended a fellowship
program in Washington
with Zimmerman and
maintained contact with
him afterwards.
On Monday, Peters
Rep. Peters
told the IN: "Not only is
Gabby an outstanding
representative for her district, but when I
was elected to Congress, I looked to her as
an example of how to be truly open and
accessible to my constituents!'
He added, "Gabby is a strong sup-
porter of the State of Israel, and I have
been proud to work with her to sup-
port increased foreign assistance and to
strengthen the relationship between the
United States and Israel. She also cares
deeply about the Jewish community here
at home; and she was one of the first
representatives to sign on to my resolu-
tion honoring the life of Rabbi Charles
Rosenzveig [who founded the Holocaust
Memorial Center in Farmington Hills]."
When Peters proposed an amendment
to Giffords' solar energy bill that would
create jobs producing solar panels in
Michigan, "she was happy to work with me
to include it in her legislation." II
U.S. Hints Giffords' Judaism A Motive In Attack
Washington/JTA
U.S. Department of Homeland
Security memo reportedly notes
that Gabriel Giffords is Jewish in
describing the motives of the Arizona
congresswoman's alleged assailant.
The memo, obtained by Fox News
Channel, says that Jared Lee Loughner
mentioned American Renaissance,
an extremist anti-immigrant group, in
some of his own postings.
"The group's ideology is anti-gov-
ernment, anti-immigration, anti-ZOG
(Zionist Occupational Government),
anti-Semitic," says the memo sent
to law enforcement, which also notes
that Giffords, a Democrat, was the first
Jewish congresswoman from Arizona.
Loughner, who is being held by
the FBI and has been described by
authorities as "unstable," reportedly
listed Mein Kampf and the Communist
Manifesto as two of his favorite books
on his MySpace page. Several hours
before the shooting, he reportedly left
a "Goodbye friends" message, which
also said, "Please don't be mad at me."
Bryce Tierney, 22, a friend of
Loughner, however, suggested other
reasons to Mother Jones magazine.
A
He said Loughner once asked
the attack was motivated
Giffords at an open meeting,
by political ideology, "it
"What is government if words
is critical to determine
have no meaning?" and was
whether the alleged
dissatisfied with her answer,
shooter, Jared Lee
thinking of her as a "fake."
Loughner, acted alone or
Tierney told Mother Jones
with others, and whether
Loughner did not display any
he was influenced by
specific political or ideologi-
extremist literature, pro-
Jared Loughner's
cal bent, but after he gave up
paganda or hate speech."
drugs and alcohol, "he was just mugshot: Pima
Giffords attends the
County Sheriff's
off the wall."
Reform Congregation
Office
Asked to speculate on a
Chaverim in Tucson. The
motive, Tierney told Mother
Union for Reform Judaism
Jones, "I think the reason he did it was
declared in a statement that "dehuman-
mainly to just promote chaos. He want-
izing language and images of violence
ed the media to freak out about this
are regularly used to express differenc-
whole thing. He wanted exactly what's
es of opinion on political issues."
happening."
"Such language is too often heard
The Arizona Regional Board of the
by others, including those who may be
Anti-Defamation League issued a state-
mentally ill or ideologically extreme, to
ment calling the attack an "uncon-
justify the actual use of violence," the
scionable and horrific act of violence,"
URJ statement said. "It continues to be
noting that Giffords served on its board
far too easy to acquire guns, including
from 2002-5 while serving as a state
the weapon used in today's shootings.
representative and senator. It said her
Americans must be able to have robust
service on the board "contributed to
and healthy differences of opinion while
her awareness of the nexus between
respecting the humanity and patriotism
hate ideology and violence."
of those with whom they disagree." I !
The ADL statement acknowledged
that while it was still not clear whether
The JN staff contributed to this package.