Letter to the Editor: Susan LaMont

Letter to the Editor,

I condemn in the strongest possible terms the cold-blooded killing of fifteen Jews, and serious injury of many more, at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia, Dec.13. The victims were targeted simply because they were Jews. This murderous assault occurred on the heels of two years of intensifying Jew-hating attacks in Australia on synagogues and other Jewish establishments and institutions, since the Oct. 7, 2023, Tehran-backed Hamas pogrom in Gaza.

This and similar attacks are a threat to the labor movement and working people worldwide. History teaches us that Jew-hatred is used to divert attention from the convulsive cycle of crises endemic to capitalism — the root cause of growing wars in the world, unemployment, financial meltdowns and other ills that are devastating working people’s lives. The unions must stand in solidarity with the Jewish community everywhere.

This must include defense of Israel’s right to exist as a refuge for Jews. We cannot look to Washington to protect Jewish people or defend Israel. Despite Trump’s rhetoric, Washington seeks only to defend its own economic and political interests, seeking more stability for the sake of U.S. profits at all costs. Only Israel is capable of eliminating the Nazi-inspired, Jew-hating Hamas group, which is terrorizing Palestinians and reorganizing to advance its plans to destroy Israel, home to half the world’s Jews.

My party, the Socialist Workers Party, stands in solidarity with all who speak out against Jew-hatred.

Sincerely,

Susan LaMont, 2025 SWP candidate for Atlanta mayor