Sam Litvin penned the following letter to Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-CA-53):
By Sam Litvin
Dear Congresswoman Jacobs,
I am sure you are aware that the Tigray and Oromo rebels are two hours from entering Addis Ababa. What you may not know is that they are the sworn enemy of the Jewish community of Ethiopia and have conducted many atrocities against them. The last large group of Jews in Ethiopia are in Addis Ababa. Should the Tigray and Oromo defeat the democratically elected government of Ethiopia, we may be witnessing a genocide of Jewish people we have not seen since the famines of the 1980ies.
This civil war is our fault. It was created by fomenting hate through the spread of misinformation using Facebook, an American company that uses hate to fuel profits. The last defense of this government is the support of the American government for democracies. That support was taken away today by President Biden.
President Biden’s reason for this was his dissatisfaction with the negotiations. This is not right. We do not take support from Israel because we don’t like how they negotiate with Hamas, we should not do this for the government of Ethiopia. Should the government of Prime Minister Ahmad fall, what will take over will not be a democracy, but the return of a ruthless authoritarian and sectarian regime at best and slaughter of thousands at worst.
I beseech you to please contact the office of the President and make the case for the sake of Ethiopian democracy and the Jewish community. Failure to do so may be as regrettable as our failure to act in Rwanda.
Thank you and respectfully yours,
Sam Litvin
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Sam Litvin, a Ukrainian immigrant to San Diego, is a world traveler, finding Jewish stories wherever he goes.