The board members of the Democratic Jewish Outreach PA today welcomed the vote by Bucks County’s U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) to hold U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) accountable for her antisemitic and racist comments, dissemination of QAnon conspiracy theories, and threats of political violence, including against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
In her last-minute speech to the House, presumably intended to save her committee membership, Greene neither apologized for her behavior nor expressed any remorse for it.
Fitzpatrick was one of only 11 Republican representatives to join with their Democratic colleagues in removing Greene from her committee assignments.
“It is disappointing, and even alarming that only 11 Republicans would deal with what U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell described as a ‘cancer’ to the Republican Party,” Jill Zipin, DJOP Chair, and Martin Raffel, DJOP board member who lives in Bucks County, said today in a letter to Fitzpatrick. “It also is clear that the Republican Party did not condemn Greene’s irresponsible comments, and that it maintains responsibility for her behavior.”
Before Thursday’s vote, the DJOP sent a letter to Fitzpatrick reminding him of his special responsibility to act against Greene. “Especially as a former FBI agent, you should be concerned about a colleague who wants to carry a loaded weapon onto the floor of the House. A vote for Greene’s committee membership would be incompatible with your position as cochair of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combatting Anti-Semitism,” the letter said.
DJOP was formed in 2008 to support progressive candidates and legislation and sponsor educational programs on contemporary issues. Its work is driven by the traditional Jewish values of the pursuit of justice and the principle of tikun olam, Hebrew for “repair of the world.”
Serving with Zipin and Raffel on the DJOP board are David Broida, William Epstein, Brett Goldman, Steven D. Irwin, Adam Kessler, Dina Lichtman, Sharon Perelman, Rabbi Seymour Rosenbloom, Nina Rosenthal, Rabbi Joshua Runyan and Burt Siegel.