Jewish Congressman Eliot Engel Skips Traditional Handshake With Trump
Image by Getty Images
By Ron Kampeas March 1, 2017
WASHINGTON (JTA) — For the first time in 29 years, Rep. Eliot Engel did not position himself to shake the president’s hand at a joint meeting of Congress, citing Donald Trump’s slowness to comment on threats to Jews, among other reasons.
‘I’ve decided not to stand on the aisle of the House chamber to shake the president’s hand during this joint session of Congress, as I have done in the past through Democratic and Republican administrations alike,” the Jewish New York Democrat said.
Engel said he respected the institution of the presidency but did not feel that respect reciprocated by Trump.
“He’s rejected America’s traditional role welcoming refugees, which have helped to make our country great,” said Engel, known as a moderate. “He’s looked the other way when threats against the Jewish community have increased.”
Engel’s handshake and brief exchanges with presidents, launched in his first year in Congress in 1989, have become a hallmark of State of the Union watchers.
He usually stakes out a seat on the floor early in the afternoon of a speech, and in recent years has conducted his work from a smartphone.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
