When CNN needed a Jewish voice to stand in for the pro-ceasefire movement, it knew exactly where to turn. The network turned to a man who calls himself Jessica Rosenberg, a rabbi who, earlier this month, heckled Joe Biden at a campaign event in Minnesota.
"Mr. President, if you care about Jewish people, as a rabbi, I need for you to call for a ceasefire, right now, in Gaza," he told Biden.
Thankfully, most everyone else in the room jeered his remarks, though Biden ultimately agreed with the bearded man wearing a dress.
"I think we need a pause,” Biden told him.
This is the so-called Rabbi:
This is Rabbi "Jessica" Rosenberg https://t.co/dSStYtyfOF pic.twitter.com/PMDBaIZr6l
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) November 2, 2023
On Sunday, he was invited to speak on "CNN This Morning” with host Amara Walker. Walker played a clip of him heckling Biden, and asked, “What would you say to the President now?"
“Thank you so much for having me,” Rosenberg began. "I called for [a] ceasefire and I continue to call for a ceasefire because we cannot bomb our way to peace. We need a political solution, not a military solution. Palestinians are fighting for equal rights in the land. And as someone who learn[ed] from Jewish tradition that all life is sacred, that is what I'm fighting for, as well. And that's why I'm calling for a ceasefire."
“As you know, Rabbi, there are many in the Jewish community dealing with the trauma of the massacre and of course, the hostages who have yet to return home,” Walker noted. "But they're also dealing with anti-Semitic attacks; perhaps you have dealt with that as well. We are seeing that just disturbingly across the world. While you're calling for peace, what do you say to people in the Jewish community who are still dealing with all this pain?"
"Well, first of all, we get to grieve. We take all the space and time we need to feel the extreme grief and rage of the violence on October 7. And to acknowledge all of what comes up when this happens, which is centuries of anti-Semitism,” he replied. "And killing Palestinians does not honor or bring back any of the lives of Israelis who were lost on the seventh. And I want to say I know there's many non-Jews who believe that supporting Israel in this war is how to stand in solidarity with Jews or even make repair[s] for the atrocities of the Holocaust. And I want to say that ending anti-Semitism in all the places that Jews live everywhere, that is how you stand in solidarity with Jews."
So destroying Hamas, which wants to destroy Israel, isn’t the answer? What he’s saying here is nonsensical. It’s pro-Palestinian rhetoric sprinkled with the bare minimum of sympathy for Jewish people to make it sound neutral. Walker then made the point that Hamas is an "existential threat to Israel” and asked Rosenberg if he is at all concerned about how a ceasefire could put more Jewish lives at risk.
His response was, as you could expect, atrocious.
"I'm concerned for Jewish lives and Palestinian lives and all lives," he declared. "And looking towards what is the future we're envisioning. It needs to begin with an end to occupation and equal rights for all people in this land. And until we have that, if Hamas is eradicated, a different group will emerge like that. That is when people are living without basic rights. That is the fundamental threat to safety in the region."
When CNN needed a “Rabbi” who sympathizes with Hamas and the Palestinians, they found a man pretending to be a woman. pic.twitter.com/PIrjGNYnQu
— Matt Margolis (@mattmargolis) November 20, 2023
Why is CNN giving Rosenberg a platform at all, as if he is any way, shape, or form representative of the Jewish community? He certainly is not. In fact, Rosenberg is a member of the group Jewish Voice for Peace — one of the Soros-funded organizations behind the pro-Palestinian, pro-ceasefire insurrection at the Cannon House Office Building last month.
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