4 | JULY 6 • 2023
for openers
Hyperbole In Action
O
verstatement is one
way to get a point
across. I have written
about exaggeration before,
but I was reminded by some
readers that I left
the field untilled.
Therefore:
When you
make something
seem much
better than it is,
you are trying
to gild the lily or
pull the wool over someone’s
eyes. They may realize that
you are trying to build castles
in the air and calling you on
this may cause you to die of
embarrassment.
Body shaming is not
PC. Therefore, to describe
someone as skinny as a
toothpick or tall as a beanpole
is not going to be endearing.
Are you familiar with
those hot summer days when
you could fry an egg on
the sidewalk? Nothing like
blowing a description out of
proportion or laying it on
thick.
Some days those grocery
bags seem to weigh a ton,
don’t they? Maybe you bought
so much because you were
hungry as a horse. Not good to
shop under such conditions.
Can you recall a speaker
who seemed to go on forever?
Listening could make you
want to spit bullets. Not to
toot your own horn, but you
were just dying to try your
hand at the subject; you did
not because you were scared
stiff.
Someone who picks at their
food may be said to eat like a
bird. If they can move rapidly,
they can run like the wind.
If they have had too much to
drink, they are said to be as
high as a kite.
Sometimes when it is quiet,
you could hear a pin drop.
Don’t push the panic button;
just take a deep breath. Going
off the deep end may add fuel
to the fire and cause folks
to think you have lost your
marbles.
Well, as I have told you a
million times, it is a jungle out
there, so be careful. Rein in
your hyperboles!
Sy Manello
Editorial
Assistant
PURELY COMMENTARY
opinion
The Democratic Party’s Anti-Zionist
Wing is Growing. Here’s How.
I
n recent weeks, the New
York political scene roiled in
the wake of three separate
but significant controversies
revolving around
American
support for
Israel: city and
state legislatures
divided over
two separate
votes relating
to antisemitic
violence and charities
supporting Jewish victims of
terror, and a City University
of New York (CUNY) Law
School valedictorian delivered
a fiery polemic against Israel,
the United States and the rule of
law itself.
Each of these controversies
derived from a growing split
within the Democrat Party
between older, moderate lib-
erals who have traditionally
supported the Middle East’s
strongest democracy, and an
ascendant, far-left wing of
younger Democrats opposed in
principle to Israel’s existence as
a Jewish state.
New York is seen by Jews all
over the world as a kind of sec-
ond home and major center of
Jewish life. Yet while Israelis and
diaspora Jews may think of New
York as a place where Jews may
live safely and unapologetically
both as Jews and fully invested
Americans, the rise of hardline
leftists in New York politics and
their views regarding Israel,
challenge these assumptions
and have serious implications
for the future of the Democrat
Party.
“Personnel is policy” is a
familiar axiom in politics.
Today’s leftist city council and
state assembly members are
tomorrow’s mayors, governors
and members of Congress. And
there are strong indications
that the Democratic Party’s foot
soldiers — staffers, campaign
workers and activists — who
will eventually run for low-
er-level positions are even fur-
ther left than their bosses.
While the aging old guard
of the Democratic Party at
the national level has tamped
down some (but not all) of the
anti-Israel stridency of Rashida
Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio
Cortez, Ilhan Omar and the
rest of the “Squad” for the time
being, their young Democratic
Socialists of America (DSA)
cohorts at the state and local
level in New York are embold-
ened, with indications that
their hostility to Israel extends
to even liberal Jews who dare
support the world’s only Jewish
state.
END JEW HATRED
In the wake of antisemitic
attacks in the city, the New York
City Council recently passed
a resolution establishing April
29 as “End Jew Hatred Day,
” a
continued on page 6
E J Hare
Times of
Israel