U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, who recently returned from visits to Israel and Saudi Arabia, met in Rockville with leaders from the Jewish community to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas.
Cardin, who is also Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he went with a bipartisan delegation expressing bipartisan support for Israel, and outrage toward what Hamas has done.
“The depravity of their actions — you never thought you would see in 2023,” Cardin said following the meeting Friday. He said Hamas needs to be eliminated and leaders stand with Israel and its defense.
“We want to make sure there’s not an escalation of the conflict in other regions, we want to make sure that the hostages are released.”
Leaders want to make sure those who are being victimized by Hamas — including Palestinians — have a safe place to be and that humanitarian supplies get in to help them, Cardin said.
He joined leaders Friday at the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Washington.
Ron Halber, JCRC Executive Director, said the Jewish community is traumatized. He said he recently spoke to a Jewish leader.
“He told me last night on the phone, he said ‘I used to tell people, don’t compare anything to the Holocaust.’ He said, ‘I went down and I saw what happened — it was the Holocaust.'”
Halber is confident that at the end of the day, Hamas will not exist, Israel will rebuild and the Jewish people will be secure.
“The one thing Hamas misjudged was the unity of the Jewish people,” Halber said.
He asked those who have Jewish friends to reach out and tell them, “I’m here for you.”
Montgomery County has expedited more than $300,000 in nonprofit security grant funding to Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Zoroastrian communities. The county council also approved $900,000 in funding through the program as part of the county’s operating budget.
