Mid Rivers Newsmagazine 1-10-24

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STAR PARKER
Mazi Melesa Pilip:
A fantastic republican to
replace George Santos
January 10, 2024
MID RIVERS NEWSMAGAZINE
I OPINION I 3
A special election will be held in New
York’s 3rd Congressional District on
Feb. 13 to replace George Santos, worldclass
conman, who Republicans recently
expelled on ethics charges.
Republicans have picked a uniquely
exciting candidate to run for this now open
seat in Mazi Melesa Pilip.
Pilip is a Black Orthodox Jew and a
mother of seven children who arrived to
Israel at age 12 from Ethiopia, grew up
there, served as a paratrooper in the Israel
Defense Forces and continued on to earn
a degree in occupational therapy at Haifa
University, where she met her husband,
and then earned a master’s in diplomacy
and security at Tel Aviv University.
Her husband immigrated to Israel from
Ukraine, and subsequently they moved to
the U.S. where he continued his medical
studies and now works as a cardiologist.
With five children and pregnant with
twins, she ran two years ago for a seat in
the Nassau County Legislature, won the
seat – defeating a Democrat incumbent –
and then was reelected, winning 60% of
the vote.
Pilip effervesces her belief in the “American
dream” and the importance to keep
government limited, keep taxes low and
fight crime. As an immigrant, she is particularly
passionate about this issue and the
importance to control our border.
She will run against Democrat Tom
Suozzi, who held the seat for three terms
before leaving in 2022 to enter the race for
New York governor.
In an interview with Israeli newspaper
Israel Today, Pilip explained that she
became motivated to enter American politics
when flare-ups with Hamas produced
antisemitism endangering her children to
walk freely and openly as Jews in their
neighborhood in New York.
“My story is the story of America and
Israel together. Israel is a diverse state,
there is not just one color, and in the U.S.,
any dream can become reality. ... This is
my second immigration. I had to learn culture
and a new language twice. It wasn’t
easy for me.”
Pilip is a poster child who speaks forcefully,
disabusing distortions and ignorance
about Israel being spread, particularly on
university campuses.
Recently, for instance, a program was
held at UCLA labeled as an “Emergency
Teach-In on the Crisis in Palestine.” One of
the UCLA professors depicted Israel as a
“colonial power driven by an exclusionary
racial ideology.”
Just looking at this impressive Black
Ethiopian Jewish woman, who grew up in
Israel, who speaks warmly about her love
for and the beauty of the country where she
grew up, says everything about the absurdity
of such outrageous allegations.
I recall on my own first trip to Israel
noting the full spectrum of color in the
population – white, brown, black.
Israel literally was founded as an ingathering
of Jews dispersed in the four corners
of the globe.
The parents and grandparents of today’s
Israelis came from Eastern and Western
Europe, the Middle East, North America,
Latin America, North Africa and Asia.
Pilip arrived to Israel as part of Operation
Solomon in 1991 in which, over the
course of 36 hours, Israel airlifted over
14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel out of concern
for their safety as result of political
instability in Ethiopia.
There is now an estimated more than
160,000 Ethiopian Jews in Israel.
Around the same time, 1990-91, after
considerable pressure, the Soviet Union
released over 300,000 Jews to leave for
Israel.
How Jews who returned to their historic
homeland from all over the globe, after so
many years of oppression, persecution and
murder, could be accused of either racism
or colonialism should give everyone great
pause regarding what is happening on our
college campuses.
Meanwhile, Mazi Melesa Pilip is a presence
Republicans and all Americans need
in the U.S. Congress.
Let’s hope and pray that in February she
will be adding her important voice to those
on Capitol Hill.
• • •
Star Parker is president of the Center
for Urban Renewal and Education and
host of the weekly television show “Cure
America with Star Parker.”
© 2024 Creators.com
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