As the Jewish holiday Shavuot approaches, we commemorate the giving of the Torah as a set of legal and moral requirements.  Many of the laws and precepts of the Torah apply to both Jews and non-Jews, and this is especially true as to the ethical requirements of honesty with one’s neighbors. As constituents in Congressional District 3, we can’t help but reflect on the approaching holiday and to conclude that the lawless and unethical Rep. George Santos cannot be permitted to continue to sit in a seat of power.

It’s difficult to overstate the lengths to which Rep. Santos has gone to steal power. Santos’s lies have made national headlines; and misled voters. They include campaign finance violations of $365,000 in unexplained spending, lies about a defunct animal rescue charity’s donations, and sexual misconduct. All these, and more, are currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.

While the rest of the country watches on – whether in amusement or horror – those of us who are his constituents are left with no real democratic representation in Congress.

Santos is no joke to our Jewish community in District 3: he’s directly exploited us for his benefit. Santos falsely claimed that his Jewish grandparents had fled Ukraine to Belgium, and then to Brazil because of the Nazi campaign against the Jewish residents of those countries. However, an investigation by the Jewish Daily Forward confirmed Santos’ grandparents were not Jewish and were born in Brazil before the Holocaust. When confronted with his lies, Santos claimed vague Jewish ancestry and characterized himself as “Jew-ish.”

Both the original lie and his “Jew-ish” fallback are an affront to our identity as a Jewish people. These lies specifically harm our multiracial Jewish community,  particularly those whose ancestors were victims of Nazis and anti-Black racism. This demonstrates both cynicism and an indifference to human suffering, misrepresents his district on Long Island and in Queens, and deeply offends Jews everywhere.

Perhaps most troubling, Santos has explicitly linked himself to white nationalists throughout his campaign and time in office. This includes  sharing stages and podiums with people like  Steve Bannon, who was sentenced to prison time for refusing to testify in congress regarding his role in the January 6th attack on our country, and ‘neo-Nazi’ conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec.

Santos continues to lie about his education, qualifications, and history of swindling and cheating.

The Torah instructs us to “Keep far from falsehood” (Ex. 20:16). Falsehoods include praising yourself for virtues you do not possess (Zechariah 3:13) and misleading neighbors to believe they are friends to cause harm to or to steal something of value from them (Jeremiah 9:8). Santos has proven himself guilty of both of these things.

By lying about his past, he has misled his constituents into believing he is someone other than who he really is.

Taken together, all of this  makes him clearly unfit for office. We are disgusted that Santos is treated like any other member of the House of Representatives — we deserve better representation from our elected officials. As constituents in his district, we need a true voice in Congress and access to representation.

Rep. George Santos must be condemned by House leaders in the strongest possible terms and removed from Congress. We are deeply disappointed that Santos’ lies have been ignored by the vast majority of the Republican Party and have not been sufficiently condemned by Democratic Party leaders. We need to see our Democratic leadership actively calling for his expulsion.

Because of his lies, the harm he has caused the Jewish community in his district and across the country, the harm he has caused to all of our neighbors in District 3, and the damage he has caused to the office and public trust with which he was entrusted, the House of Representatives must expel him immediately, and allow voters in New York’s 3rd Congressional district to elect someone who will serve them with honesty and integrity.

Jeanette Walowitz and Paula Frome are members of the NY-3rd District Jewish community and volunteers with Bend the Arc: Jewish Action.