By Hillel Goldberg and Shana Goldberg
Israel advocates and supporters who are active online are well familiar with US Representative Ritchie Torres from New York.
A former New York City Councilor — the youngest ever elected — the progressive politician represents one of the smallest districts in the US House of Representatives (NY-15).
But don’t let the size of his district fool you. His voice, presence, vision and ambition are the opposite of small, and since the Hamas invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, he has become one of the most outspoken advocates for Israel, speaking clearly and without equivocation.
The same moral grounding for his views on Israel permeates his other policy priorities, many of which revolve around issues directly impacting his constituency.
Torres is representative of his district — he is mixed race, of Afro-Latino heritage and a proud Puerto Rican. He was raised in poverty and growing up in the district knows first-hand many of the issues he is set on addressing, including poor air quality that creates a high rate of asthma, him being just one of the South Bronx’s residents who has suffered from the respiratory illness.
The Intermountain Jewish News had the opportunity to sit down with Torres during a recent trip of his to Denver.
IJN: Do you feel like you’re a role model for people who are afraid to speak out?
Torres: If you’re Republican or a Democrat in a safe district, it’s safe to speak up for Israel. But if you’re a moderate Democrat. But if you’re a liberal Democrat in New York City, which has become ground zero for anti-Zionism and you’re surrounded by members of the Squad, then it’s much more politically dangerous for you to be pro-Israel.
My argument is: If I am visibly and vocally pro-Israel, then anyone else can be, no one else has an excuse.
I feel like my greatest value lies in sharing an inspirational example that others elsewhere in the country can follow, showing that you can be unabashedly for Israel and not only survive, but thrive politically.
Sinwar was killed in Rafah, a place that President Biden urged Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu not to fight in. There was also a 21-day ceasefire with Hezbollah proposed by France and President Biden on Sept. 25. Yet, a day or two later Israel was able to kill Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other leading Hezbollah terrorists. Was it the right that Netanyahu went forth in the war and got these leading terrorists, weakening the terrorist organization, even though he defied the president of the United States?
For me, there’s a difference between peace and a ceasefire. A genuine peace can change the reality on the ground, whereas a ceasefire can be broken at will by a terrorist organization. If Israel had entered into a premature ceasefire with Hamas, it would have given Hamas the breathing room it needed to regroup and launch an even deadlier terrorist attack than the atrocities of Oct. 7.
The lesson learned from history is that peace does not come from weakness. It comes from strength.
Israeli peace with Egypt did not come from weakness. It came from Israeli strength. Israeli peace with Jordan did not come from weakness. It came from Israeli strength. That’s the logic we should follow, peace through strength.
There’s a sense in which a premature ceasefire is what gave us Hezbollah as the most powerful terrorist organization in the world. After the Second Lebanon War [in 2006], Israel was pressured to enter into a premature ceasefire with Hezbollah and Lebanon [through a UN] Security Council resolution. That was supposed to disarm Hezbollah. Instead, it enabled Hezbollah to emerge more powerful than ever before.
So Israel cannot trust that the world is going to do what is best for Israel’s security. Israel has to do what is best for its population.
And the United States should give Israel the tools that it needs to defend its people and not enter into premature ceasefires that are mistaken for peace.
How many times have you traveled to Israel?
I’ve been traveling to Israel for about a decade. I’ve gone to Israel on six occasions, twice as a New York City Council member. Then on four occasions as a congressman.
There are only two places that I travel to once every year. One is Puerto Rico because I’m Puerto Rican, and the second is Israel — because the US-Israel relationship has become a priority for me.
I’m not simply a pro-Israel vote in Congress. I’m a Zionist who feels it in his kishkas.
When you are in Israel do you also have the opportunity to meet with Palestinian communities? If so, what’s your sense of the possibility for peace?
When I go to Israel, I typically meet with both Israelis and Palestinians, with both Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs. But the delegation that I took after Oct. 7 [2023] was exclusively focused on Israel.
I feel like peace will only ultimately come from strength.
The world has been rid of one of its most wretched war criminals [Yahya Sinwar]. The lesson of Sinwar’s death is that those who have chosen the path of anti-Semitic terror and violence are pursuing not Israel’s destruction, they’re pursuing their own.
October is the month of the High Holidays. It’s the month of new beginnings. I see the death of Sinwar as a new beginning, or it should be a new beginning, not only for Israel, but for the Palestinian national movement. The time has come for the Palestinian national movement to deradicalize itself and to radically reimagine itself. Not in opposition to a Jewish state, but in peaceful coexistence.
Do you have a favorite spot in Israel?
The Old City.
I’m in love with Israel because it’s a paradox. It’s both ancient and modern at the same time. It’s both Western and Middle Eastern. It’s both religious and secular.
I love the Old City because it contains within it thousands and thousands of years of our richest history. In the Old City, you will find a messy mosaic of religious pluralism, a place where the most devout Jews, Christians and Muslims manage to coexist.
Israel has been a great guardian of the Abrahamic tradition in the Holy Land. One of my favorite places is the Church of Holy Sepulchre. There is so much infighting among the various Christian factions that operate the church, that each one does not trust the other to have keys to the church. So the keys to the holiest site in Christianity are held by a Muslim custodian in a Jewish state. That would never happen in a Muslim state. That would never happen in a Christian state. It could only happen in a Jewish state.
[quote]I’m not simply a pro-Israel vote in Congress. I’m a Zionist who feels it in his kishkas.[/quote]
I feel like the Church of Holy Sepulchre is a metaphor for Israel’s stewardship of a holy land that has immense meaning to billions of people across the world.
I was in the room when [the late Israel Prime Minister Menachem] Begin and [the late Egypt President Anwar [Sadat sat down at their peace press conference after they met in Jerusalem in 1977. I saw the two leaders sparring with each other and joking with each other. I heard Sadat say more than once, “no more war!”
Hence the reason I have never lost faith in the possibility of peace. In the early 20th century, Japan and Germany were the greatest threats to liberal democracy. In the 21st century, Japan and Germany are among its greatest defenders
What is it that you like about politics?
When you’re in most professions, you have to be a specialist. You have to focus on one thing to the exclusion of everything else. When you’re a public servant, you get to be a generalist. You get to experience the full breadth of ideas. I find it much more enjoyable to be a generalist than a specialist.
There are few areas in private life that can rival the impact of public life. When you’re in the federal government, what you do matters. What you do has an impact not only on 300 million Americans, but on eight billion people across the world, because the United States sets the agenda for the rest of the world. So I see it as enormously gratifying to be a public servant in the greatest legislature in the greatest country on earth.
You are backing Kamala Harris for president. What’s your reasoning?
I’m a Democrat and I’m supporting the Democratic nominee.
On the subject of Israel, historically there has been a bipartisan pro-Israel consensus that has governed American politics. And I know in my heart that Vice President Harris falls within that. She rejects both the anti-Zionism of the far left and the America First isolationism of the far right.
I have real concerns about Donald Trump. Even if one stipulates that Donald Trump is pro-Israel, I worry that he functions as a gravitational force that will pull America in a more isolationist direction. And if America isolates itself from the rest of the world, it’s going to create a power vacuum that’s going to be filled by the likes of China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. We are going to see the rise of an axis of anti-Americanism to the detriment not only of America, but [to the] Israel-US relationship.
I feel like history teaches us that Israel thrives on American leadership. I support Kamala Harris because she’s a believer in America as the leader of the free world. She recognizes that the conflict between Israel and Iran in the Middle East is part of a broader conflict between the free world and the axis of anti-Americanism led by China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.
Do you believe that Israel should attempt to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities?
Israel should do what it thinks is in the best interest of its security, and I would not presume to tell Israel what to do.
I feel like the United States should provide Israel with the tools that it needs to defend itself from the Islamic Republic of Iran and all Iranian proxies in the Middle East. How that is done should be left to Israel.
Based on what we know, the reason why Israel was able to get Nasrallah is that they had sophisticated 2000-lb. bombs that went off sequentially. If we understand correctly, the United States has not provided the bombs of a larger strength that would be needed to take out the nuclear program in Iran. Should the United States provide those weapons? In other words, it’s not really only Israel’s choice, is it?
We are treading into classified territory, so I might have to decline to answer. There are classified capabilities that I cannot comment on.
You chose not to join the so-called Squad in part because of its support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). When Oct. 7 happened, and shortly afterward, we’ve seen this explosion of anti-Semitism. Were you surprised? Or was that something you had seen possibly coming when you had made that decision not to join the Squad when you were elected?
I was shocked, but not surprised. I’d been observing the rise of anti-Zionists and anti-Semitism in American politics almost from the beginning of my political career 10 years ago.
I’ll give you one example that dates back to the summer of 2020, four years before Oct. 7. The New York City Democratic Socialist of America, which is avowedly anti-Zionist, sent out a questionnaire to New York City Council candidates. The questionnaire was about 15 pages, and the final page was a foreign policy section. The foreign policy section only had two questions. Question number one: Do you pledge never to travel to Israel if elected to the City Council? Question number two: Do you pledge to support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel?
So according to the [DSA] worldview, it is permissible to travel to China, which is committing genocide against Uighur Muslims, or to travel to Russia, which has invaded a sovereign nation state, Ukraine, or to travel to Iran, which is the leading sponsor of terrorism in the world, or travel to North Korea, which is a totalitarian regime with nuclear weapons, but travel to the world’s only Jewish state — that is strictly forbidden.
If that is not evidence of anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism, then I’m not sure what would be.
So to answer your question, in light of the DSA questionnaire dating back to August, 2020, I was shocked, but I was not surprised by the outburst of anti-Semitism.
If one cared deeply about the Palestinian people, one would have to travel to Israel to visit those communities.
I find that that the most vociferous critics of Israel have never been there, have never experienced both the majesty and the complexity of the country with their own eyes.
Because if you go to Israel, if you speak to both Israelis and Palestinians, if you speak to both Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews, if you go to Yad Vashem and Masada and the Gaza Envelope, and to a place like Sderot and see the facts on the ground with your own eyes, I guarantee you that you will come to a view of Israel that is far more nuanced, far more complex than the cartoonish portrayal that percolates on social media platforms, on college campuses.
So the DSA questionnaire reveals a fear of the truth.
I take it you didn’t get the endorsement.
I affirmatively rejected it, even the possibility of the endorsement.
Robert Moses is seen as the master builder of New York City —thousands of parks and roadways and so on. He’s also seen as a person who destroyed many neighborhoods and seemed rather indifferent in doing so on the basis that he was going to build something very large and new. How do you see Robert Moses?
Robert Moses was a man of contradictions. He was a paradox. He was both the builder and a destroyer.
Robert Moses built the largest network of parks, green spaces in the United States, which remains the envy of the nation. But at the same time, he was known to demolish whole neighborhoods in the name of urban renewal.
There’s a quote that’s often attributed to William Faulkner. “The past is not dead. It’s not even past.” Nowhere are those words more true than in the Bronx, which is haunted by the ghost of Robert Moses, whose legacy includes the Cross Bronx Expressway. It split the Bronx in half and left behind decades of disinvestment and dislocation and environmental degradation.
Every day to and from the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, there are about 15,000 diesel truck trips, and there are thousands of diesel trucks that create congestion on the Cross Bronx Expressway that unleash vast quantities of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.
If you’re a young kid who is lives near the Cross Bronx, or who attends school nearby, you are — through no fault of your own — breathing pollutants that cause you to have respiratory diseases like asthma.
The Bronx has the highest rates of asthma hospitalization in the City of New York, and one of the highest in the country. That’s not an accident. It’s a consequence of the Cross Bronx Expressway, which is the legacy of Robert Moses.
So I’m on a mission to “cap” the Cross Bronx. [The highway would be moved] underground, you could cover it with a park and install electrostatic filters that prevent the air pollutants from recirculating in the air.
There is a cap in Boston,, Massachusetts, in Austin, Texas.
One of the concerns about diesel truck traffic is the emission of particulate matter pollution (PM 2.5) because it’s microscopic enough to invade the lung. If you cap the Cross Bronx and install filters that prevent the recirculation of those air pollutants, you can radically reduce asthma.
During COVID, when everyone was sheltering in place and staying at home, there was a traumatic decline in asthma hospitalizations, which to me is indicative evidence that the greatest factor in causing asthma is not the indoor environment, it’s the outdoor environment. And when it comes to the outdoor environment of the Bronx, the 800 pound gorilla in the womb is the Cross Bronx Expressway.
I partnered with a majority leader Chuck Schumer to secure a multimillion dollar grant for a feasibility study, which is going to lay the groundwork for an eventual capping of the Cross Bronx Expressway. It’s ambitious, but I’m not here to simply act incrementally. I’m here to act boldly.
This goes back to what you were saying about having that impact.
Yes, a systemic impact. And it could be a while.
When I was in the New York City Council, I could easily pass a bill. You get instant gratification. In Congress, the legislative process is cumbersome. It’s more of a marathon than a sprint. But when you do get something done, it can be far more systemic than anything you could ever do at the state and local level. I’m playing the long game, and I’m going to be as bold in every aspect of my congressional career as I am in my Zionism.
What are your thoughts on Puerto Rican statehood?
I’m passionately pro-state. To me it’s an issue of equality.
© IJN 2024
