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Last week, a strong correlation occurred between two events on different sides of the world. The first was the appearance of major Democratic Party presidential contenders Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg at J Street’s annual conference, where they promised in some degree or another to radically shift American policy towards Israel. The second is the renewed rocket fire from Hamas terrorists in Gaza, who lay dormant for nearly a month.

In addition to choosing a Public Advocate and a Queens District Attorney on Tuesday, we will vote on five ballot questions. The most important of these is Question #1, which would implement ranked choice voting in primaries and special elections for city offices. This would profoundly change the nature and results of our elections.

The Queens Jewish community breathed a collective sigh of relief when the final ballots were counted in the Democratic Primary race for Queens DA. Tiffany Cabán, a progressive socialist in the same ilk as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (who endorsed her) frightened people so much that there was an immediate voter registration drive with an urging to register as a Democrat. If Queens is so deeply Blue, then logic would dictate that even the conservative voter should register as a Democrat so that a more mainstream politician would reach the general election. The Democratic mainstream, however, has gone so far to the left that a lifelong Democrat is now running against Melinda Katz as a Republican.

We have just finished nine days of celebrating the beautiful holy days of Sukkos, Hoshana Rabbah, Sh’mini Atzeres, and Simchas Torah. In the inspiring and joyous words of Hallel, there is one line that should serve as a warning for our time. “It is better to trust in Hashem than to trust in princes.”

As I write this column, reports are that negotiations over a national unity government in Israel led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have broken down. Prime Minister Netanyahu may return the mandate to form a government to President Rivlin, who would then task Benny Gantz with forming a national unity government. By the time you read this column, the situation may have changed. One possible outcome is a Gantz-led government, which would include Blue and White, Likud, and Yisrael Beiteinu. Such a government would be somewhat more amenable to concessions to the Palestinians and far less accommodating or even downright hostile to the needs of the Torah-observant community.

The third Democratic debate was last week, and in the two and a half hours, many topics were discussed. Healthcare, guns, China, education, and of course, Trump, were just some of the flashpoints of argument between the candidates. One topic that wasn’t discussed at all, and barely discussed in the ten hours of debate so far in 2019, was the Middle East and Israel.