Resolution Condemning the Anti-Jewish Racism of the
Richmond (CA) City Council Majority
Whereas, Jew-hatred, a particularly malignant and pathological form of bigotry, is the world’s oldest extant form of racism; and Whereas, Jew-hatred, aka antisemitism, is on the rise in the United States and, unlike most other forms of racism, is exhibited on all sides of the political spectrum; and
Whereas, the Jewish People are indigenous to the Middle East and Israel; and
Whereas, Israel is a Jewish state in the ancestral homeland of the Jewish People; and
Whereas, the City of Beverly Hills supports Indigenous rights; and
Whereas, the Beverly Hills City Council unanimously adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism; and
Whereas, the IHRA working definition states that a
manifestation of antisemitism is:
“Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” And
Whereas, furthermore the IHRA working definition states that another manifestation of antisemitism is:
“Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.” And Whereas, on October 7, 2023, which fell on a major Jewish holiday, Simchat Torah, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel from Gaza; and
Whereas, the Hamas charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel, the only Jewish nation on the planet; and Whereas several thousand Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel through the heavily fortified Gaza border in several locations by air, land and sea; and
Whereas, these terrorists brutally attacked and slaughtered innocent communities as well as musical festival attendees, including many women, children, elderly, and infirm, including mothers, daughters, sons, fathers, grandmothers, and
grandfathers, and tortured and murdered and violently raped, dragged around, and desecrated their lifeless bodies; and Whereas, these terrorists committed unimaginable acts of savagery including beheadings, mass rape and the systematic massacre of whole families and the brutalization and slaughter of babies and small children; and
Whereas there were joyful celebrations of the massacre of Jews in Gaza and elsewhere by Hamas and their supporters; and Whereas these terrorists took hundreds of hostages, including women, children, and the elderly, across the Gaza border to be further brutalized, murdered, or used as human shields and leverage against the Israeli defense forces seeking to stop the terrorist attacks; and
Whereas the Richmond (CA) City Council passed a one-sided resolution “Affirming Richmond’s Support and Solidarity with the Palestinian People of Gaza,” which distorts facts,
weaponizes historical inaccuracies, ignores and implicitly condones Hamas’s ongoing terrorism, and scapegoats Israel with false accusations, echoing the blood libels of the past used to demonize the Jewish People; and
Whereas the Richmond (CA) City Council refused to condemn Hamas’s savagery and the slaughter of innocent Israelis, Americans and citizens of other countries and has refused to acknowledge the right of Israel to defend itself, and
Whereas the anti-Jewish racism of the Richmond (CA) City Council and other expressions of the world’s oldest extant form of racism show exactly why the state of Israel is vital to the safety of the Jewish People and critical for Jewish survival in a world with a more than 2000-year history of inquisitions, pogroms, and genocide directed at the Jewish People; and Whereas, in addition to its denial of Jewish history and erasure of Jewish identity, the Richmond (CA) City Council has invoked and co-opted the Shoah, implicitly drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis, which is another unambiguous example of Jew-hatred, as made clear in the IHRA definition; and
Whereas, the false narratives and propaganda reflected in the Richmond City Council majority’s resolution serve to make America’s Jewish population less safe by stoking Jew-hatred in America and by inflaming antisemitic racists to threats and violence against America’s Jewish population;
Now, therefore, be it resolved that the City of Beverly Hills condemns the hypocrisy and the anti-Jewish racism of the Richmond (CA) City Council majority.
Be it further resolved that the City of Beverly Hills calls upon the Council of the City of Richmond (CA) to recognize the Jewish People’s right of self-determination, as well as its status as an Indigenous People in the Middle East and Israel.
Be it further resolved that the City of Beverly Hills calls upon the Council of the City of Richmond (CA) to renounce its antisemitic racism, as well as its erasure of Jewish identity and to recognize the right of Israel to exist as a sovereign Jewish nation, in keeping with the right of self-determination of Indigenous Peoples.
Finally, be it resolved that the City of Beverly Hills opposes all forms of racism, bigotry, and discrimination, and calls upon the City Council of the City of Richmond (CA) to enact, accept, and act in accordance with the IHRA working definition of
antisemitism.