Judaism In Hawaii Politics
A newspaper in Israel writes about the surprising number of Jewish politicians in the islands.
The Times of Israel has a recent article headlined聽.
“Josh Green, a Democrat and the state鈥檚 Majority Whip, is among a handful of politicians with Jewish ancestry holding office in the Pacific archipelago,” the story explains. “Perhaps Hawaii鈥檚 best known Jewish elected official is its former Republican governor, Linda Lingle, now a senior advisor to (non-Jewish) Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner.”
Lingle left that job a couple of weeks ago, but no matter.
Hawaii鈥檚 current elected officials “with Jewish ties” include Democrat state Sen.聽Russell Ruderman and Republican incumbent Sam Slom.
“At least two other lawmakers, State Representative Nicole Lowen of Hawaii, the Big Island, and State Senator J. Kalani English of Maui, were both born to Jewish fathers,” says the Times.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat, is also identified.
鈥淲e joke and kibitz, we kid each other a little bit,鈥 Ruderman told the newspaper. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 bond specifically in a Jewish way. It鈥檚 more of a cultural identity.鈥
In a related聽development, a Times of Israel publication partner in New Jersey called the Jewish Standard on how the Republican National Committee shut down a live chat following the convention remarks聽made by Lingle because it was “bombarded with anti-Semitic comments.”
Lingle spoke about “the division in Democratic leadership on support for Israel,” the paper wrote. “She contrasted it to the Republican Party鈥檚 position on the Jewish state.”
