A Disturbing Visit That Misrepresents Our City
I was shocked to learn that a current member of Stamford’s Board of Representatives, Maureen Pollack, also one of my former colleagues State Rep. Christie Carpino, recently joined a delegation to Israel organized and funded by the Israeli government, meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This was not an independent mission of inquiry, it was a foreign-government–orchestrated tour with the express aim of shaping U.S. state-level politics. Stamford’s name should never have been used to legitimize that.
The Scale of the Atrocity
As of October 7, 2025, Gaza’s Health Ministry, cited by the United Nations, reports about 67,000 Palestinians killed and approximately 170,000 wounded since October 2023, and children have suffered disproportionately. Reports from Save the Children indicate over 20,000 children have been killed, and UNICEF warns that tens of thousands more are at immediate risk of dying from acute malnutrition or dehydration if aid access remains blocked. Many sources indicate the death toll is much higher with many missing people left in the rubbles, not by choice.
These are not political abstractions, they are catastrophic human losses that demand moral clarity, not political gamesmanship.
A Delegation Without Accountability
Representative Pollack claims she traveled “to see for herself.” Yet she did not visit Gaza. She says she was “not invited.” That is impossible to accept as a serious defense. A delegation empowered by the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Consulate in New England, visiting only Israeli-controlled areas, hearing only curated narratives, and meeting with Netanyahu, cannot be called oversight. It is political influence masquerading as diplomacy.
To represent Stamford in that capacity gives the appearance that our city implicitly supports or condones these actions, which is antithetical to the values many residents hold dear.
Timing and Moral Blindness
Pollack traveled between September 14 and 18, 2025, weeks before the current ceasefire that took effect on October 10. She traveled amid international warnings of famine and mass displacement. To meet with the head of a regime accused of genocide while the war raged, in her capacity as an elected official, is more than tone-deaf, it is a deliberate political choice.
Judaism Is Not on Trial — Fascism Is
This is not, and must never be, about religion. Judaism is not a monolith. Many Jewish Stamford residents have marched, spoken, protested, and demanded justice in Gaza. I will never conflate criticism of a state’s policies with criticism of faith. But in public life, we must call out moral blindness wherever it appears.
I also bring a deeply personal history to this moment. My paternal grandfather survived the Holocaust, and he and my grandmother escaped from German concentration camps. My maternal grandfather was a leader in the French Resistance, a former Maquisard, and served in the Chasseurs Alpins. I draw from their courage and memory when I speak today about genocide, torture, starvation, and the rise of fascism or religious nationalism. They would not stand silent in the face of what is happening in Gaza.
A Troubling Encounter with the Jewish Federation
Locally, we must also reflect on how political influence operates in our own city. In 2024, I met privately with Stamford’s United Jewish Federation. I gave them my time and came prepared to engage in good faith. Instead, over ten individuals, many who identify with the local and state Democratic establishment, interrogated me in a hostile and disrespectful way.
They scrolled through my social media posts, read them aloud, and challenged me for sharing award-winning journalism from Democracy Now! and other investigative outlets, declaring that such reporting was “fake news.” These were not far-right partisans, but people who publicly align themselves with our local Democratic Party. That contradiction should trouble every voter in Stamford.
The Federation publicly states that it strengthens ties “to Israel and global Jewry.” At the same time, its national umbrella organization, the Jewish Federations of North America, openly advocates for continued U.S. military aid to Israel and opposes sanctions against Israeli policies. Those are political stances, not neutral community positions. The public deserves clarity. What is the Federation’s stance on the U.N. genocide findings, on the death tolls, on the use of starvation as a weapon, and on city officials who travel under Stamford’s name to legitimize collective punishment?
The Shadow of Project Esther
Across the United States, Project Esther has quietly shaped political narratives. Born from conservative think-tank strategy documents, it aims to reframe pro-Palestinian advocacy as a “security threat.” Investigations by The New York Times, Democracy Now!, and civil-rights organizations have revealed how it pressures universities, journalists, and legislators to suppress dissent and equate criticism of Israeli policy with antisemitism.
This campaign overlaps with state and local politics, including right here in Connecticut. Stamford’s leaders are not immune to such pressure, and residents deserve transparency about how these influence networks shape our political discourse. Democratic Hypocrisy and Moral Dissonance
Pollack is a Democrat. Netanyahu now leads one of Israel’s most extreme right-wing governments, dismantling democratic institutions and overseeing policies of occupation, siege, and starvation. For a Democratic city to align itself, even symbolically, with that regime is politically incoherent and morally indefensible.
This pattern of Democratic complicity, visible from national leaders to local committees, shows how party loyalty can outweigh conscience. Some refuse even to acknowledge the reality of famine, as if admitting the suffering would break ranks. That silence is complicity.
A Call for Accountability
I call for the following:
- Stamford leaders at every level should publicly disavow participation in foreign-government–funded propaganda delegations and pledge not to travel in any future mission under city titles.
- The United Jewish Federation and related organizations should declare publicly their position on the Gaza war, the U.N. genocide findings, and Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon. Silence or avoidance is a political act.
- City officials should convene public hearings with Palestinian, Arab, Jewish, and human-rights advocates from Stamford to ensure all perspectives are heard.
- The Stamford Democratic establishment must confront how it enables or excuses alignment with authoritarian and violent regimes, especially when such alliances betray our core values of justice, equity, and human rights.
The Legacy of Resistance
I fought for a ceasefire as a state representative, and I still believe that Stamford should stand for humanity, not against it. If this genocide is ever to be remembered honestly, and if accountability is ever to reach those responsible, then we must refuse to lend our names and institutions to its cover-up.
We owe that not only to the many more than 20,000 children who have perished, but also to the moral legacy of our grandparents, survivors, resistors, and witnesses, and to all the residents of Stamford who demand that their leaders act with courage, not complicity.
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Michel served as State Representative from 2019-2025 and was co-author of the Connecticut General Assembly’s 2024 Ceasefire Letter