We are writing from the depths of our grief, in horror at the news of the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh. We feel we must speak out because our Congressional Representative, Steve King, is an enthusiastic crusader for the same types of abhorrent beliefs held by the Pittsburgh shooter.

King’s regular meetings with the white supremacist group in Austria founded by an SS officer are not new. But the recent discovery that King used funds from a Holocaust education organization to meet with a notoriously anti-Semitic propaganda site is shocking beyond any previous outrage. King’s latest cynical machinations are intolerable to us as Iowans and as Jews. King’s long promotion of white supremacist ideology has gone unchallenged by his colleagues for so long that even this most recent outrage—revealed just days before the Pittsburgh massacre—did not elicit comment.

We are proud Iowans who span the political spectrum, but we are united in our condemnation of white supremacy and anti-Semitism and the legislator from Iowa’s 4th congressional district who promotes it. King’s actions and the silence of his colleagues in Iowa and in Congress foster a climate that enables the kind of hateful violence that erupted three times in the last week. We call on all elected officials to stand with Iowa’s Jewish community, denounce King’s actions and hold him accountable. We call on King’s donors to cut off their financial support. Intel and Land O’ Lakes recently took this long overdue step and we expect the same from Berkshire Hathaway, AT & T and the American Bankers Association. We call on King to apologize to all Holocaust survivors, their families and the Iowa Jewish community.

When King promoted white supremacist ideology, many of us were silent. We will not be silent now. Stand with us in denouncing Steve King and the ideology he promotes. 

Signed,

Alan Steckman,

President, Adas Israel in Mason City

John Pleasants,

President, Ames Jewish Congregation