Originally published in Haaretz

Jamie Beran, CEO of Bend The Arc: Jewish Action

The Jewish community must remember that not so long ago, the U.S. shut its doors to Jews during our most dire time of need. Denying visas to Palestinians, per U.S. President Donald Trump's policies, not only fails to address antisemitism; it helps fuel antisemitism

The Trump regime announced it would deny visas to Palestinian officials slated to visit the United States for the upcoming United Nations General Assembly. This comes on the heels of U.S. President Donald Trump's horrific "pause" in approving the visas of two million Palestinians – including children seeking medical care in the U.S. through humanitarian organizations.

When I see the devastating starvation being wrought on Palestinians by the Israeli government, I can't help but think of my great-grandfather's family. And of the millions of Palestinians who our country could aid but for the Trump regime's recent abuse of national security as a false excuse for their cruel denials of visas.

These bigoted government actions against Palestinians are the clear result of Trump's use of antisemitism as a smokescreen for his repressive, discriminatory, dehumanizing anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant agenda.

My great-grandfather Harry Cutler came to the United States in the early 1900s fleeing starvation and antisemitism in eastern Europe. Unable to afford a way to escape for his whole family, he left his wife and son behind with the aim of later rescuing both by placing a foot in the door of freedom, funds and access to influential people.

They tragically starved before they could join him. His son was under two years old. Later, my great-grandfather met my great-grandmother and started a family here in the United States. I am only here today because of the heartbreaking choice he had to make for his survival, a choice many people around the world still face today.

Now, Trump is naming antisemitism a motivator for the latest travel ban, directing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to screen immigrants and visa holders' social media for whatever his regime decides constitutes antisemitism.

I am horrified to see leaders of Jewish communal organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, praise Trump's supposed fight against antisemitism, when in reality none of these measures do anything to actually dismantle bigotry, including against Jews. Instead, these Jewish leaders use our fear and pain to justify Trump's anti-immigrant policies and bolster their selfish proximity to power. These policies not only fail to address antisemitism; they could help fuel antisemitism by inviting an opportunity to turn Jews into scapegoats, blamed for what the administration is doing to immigrants, Palestinians and people of color.

All this at the expense of Jewish safety.

The Jewish community must remember that not so long ago, the U.S. shut its doors to Jews during our most dire time of need. European Jews were denied entry to the U.S. because of antisemitism and xenophobia, often under the false pretense of "national security." These included outlandish claims that Jews fleeing the Nazis were themselves Nazi spies.

Jamie's great-grandfather Harry Cutler, circa the early 1970s

One of the most infamous examples of the human toll of bigotry and exclusionary immigration policy was the MS St. Louis, a ship carrying some 900 Jewish refugees that the U.S. turned away. After being forced back to Europe, many of the passengers were ultimately murdered in Nazi death camps.

The human toll of the status quo for Palestinians in Gaza is unacceptable. The human toll on immigrants in America abducted, denied visas and separated from their families by roving bands of masked federal agents in our cities is unacceptable. The idea that any of this keeps any Jews anywhere in the world safe is unserious. And the continued use of antisemitism by the Trump regime to promote authoritarianism here at home is an existential threat to millions of American lives and the project of democracy that keeps us safe.

Decades ago, my great-grandfather Harry made it to the U.S. in the hopes of finding the resources to save his family. I imagine him closing his eyes every night, hoping what he had said to those in power would result in his wife and son being able to dock safely on our shores. Up until now, I felt his struggle ended in tragedy, having lost both of them to starvation before they could arrive.

But that struggle never ended.

Great-grandfather Harry Cutler surrounded by his grandchildren and great grandchildren in 1982. Jamie is the baby to the right of him.

Because tonight, I, his great-granddaughter, will close my eyes and continue to hope. I hope that tomorrow, immigrants, unjustly detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, are released from detention. I hope that tomorrow, Palestinian families and children in dire need of emergency health care will be allowed to reach our hospitals before they lose limbs or die by forced starvation like my great-grandfather's baby so long ago. And I hope that tomorrow American Jews will finally speak with one voice to end the harm being committed in the name of our security, both in the U.S. and in Gaza.

It is long past time to refuse to enable the criminalization of immigrants seeking refuge here in the United States in the false name of Jewish safety. Our crumbling democracy here at home, the one my multi-racial, multi-faith colleagues and I work for every day to build and defend, the one we need to protect American Jews and all Americans, depends on it.

As American Jews, many of us have our foot in the door of freedom, funds and access to influential people. We should be vocally opposed to and actively fighting these policies. Jewish history and my great-grandfather Harry showed us why.

Jamie Beran is the CEO of Bend The Arc: Jewish Action, the largest national Jewish organization that works exclusively on U.S. domestic policy.