Share Your Thanks with the White House

We, the Jewish people, have just observed Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is a time not just for Jews, but for all people to remember and reflect on how blind hatred gives rise to a shattering violence and separates us from our humanity.

On Sunday night, May 1st, President Obama announced that one of the most odious modern purveyors of that hate, Osama bin Laden, has been removed from the world. He not only masterminded the deaths of thousands of Americans on September 11, 2001, but he continued to lead the machinery of terror and death in the ensuing years. Today, America, the world, and particularly the families of bin Laden’s thousands of victims can breathe more easily. Bin Laden, a man who demonstrated utter contempt for human life, will no longer be able to bring about the deaths of innocents in the name of his cause. As President Obama said: ‘Justice has been done!’

We must stand united and firm in the face of wanton terrorist violence. We must recommit ourselves to confronting those who breed intolerance and cultivate hatred. And so we ask you to join us in expressing appreciation to President Obama, to former President George W. Bush for efforts undertaken during his administration, to the members of our country’s armed services and security agencies, and to all those who--often at great personal risk and loss--continue to stand up against these threats in order to protect life and pursue justice.