President
Julie Solberg
Vice President
David Levy
Chief Financial Officer
John Carlton*
Secretary
Julie Bank
Board of Governors
Mickey Bernath
Avi Bilu
Julie Gamberg
Lawrence Lurvey
Jeanine Mann
Stuart Miller*
Oran Reznik
* Past Federation President
Executive Director
Jason Moss, MSW, MAJCS
Program and Community
Outreach Director
Rebecca Russell
Cultural Arts
Program Coordinator
Cantor Judy Sofer
Operations and
Communications Manager
Karen Galeana
PJ Library and PJ OurWay
Program Coordinator
Debby Singer
PJ Library and PJ OurWay
Program Assistant
Robyn Brahinksy
Camp Gan Shalom Director
Annabella Tornek
JEWISH
FEDERATION OF THE GREATER SAN GABR\EL
AND POMONA VALLEYS
April 18, 2023
Mayor Andrew Chou
City of Diamond Bar
21865 Copley Drive
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
Dear Mayor Chou,
My name is Jason Moss, and I
am the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of the Greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys. The mission of the Jewish Federation is to build community by strengthening and enhancing Jewish life for the estimated 30,000 - 45,000 Jews living between Glendale and Rancho Cucamonga. We do this by providing programs and services that support the needs of the Jewish community and act as the Jewish voice on issues that affect the greater Jewish community.
It is in this capacity that I am writing you today to share with you that the Jewish community is on edge.
Our country has witnessed an unprecedented spike in antisemitic incidents and attacks over the last several years. In its Audit of Antisemitism Incidents 2021, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 2,717 incidents of assault, harassment, and vandalism. The ADL also recently reported that widespread belief in antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes nearly doubled since 2019 and the highest levels in 30 years. In November 2022, FBI Director Christopher Wray stated, "A full 63% of religious hate crimes are motivated by antisemitism—targeting a group that makes up just 2.4% of our population. Foreign terrorist organizations like ISIS have promoted antisemitic violent extremism for decades, They continue to target Jewish Americans in their attack plots. But we also confront the threat of people here, on our soil, whose hateful views—often paraded online—boil over into acts of violence."
Locally, over the last year, driveways throughout our community have been strewn with hate-laden flyers, blaming Jews for everything from COVID, "how every aspect of Disney grooming," "Trump's Campaign Funding," and linking Jews to the pornography industry.
And the number of antisemitic verbal attacks and confrontations Jewish students are having in local schools has also dramatically increased. As a result of these incidents and others, along with the pervasiveness of antisemitism online, the Jewish community feels like we are being hit from all sides. The very essence of our right to live as Jews is under attack.
In December 2022, I wrote the enclosed Op-ed expressing the local Jewish community's concern about this latest rise of antisemitism and its impact on people's mental health and well-being.
Serving the Greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys
114A W. Lime Avenue I Monrovia, CA 91016 |
626.445.0810 |
Fax 626.445.5977
[email protected] www.jewishsgpv.org
Antisemitism has emerged at all levels of our society and must be confronted through a multifaceted, targeted approach, including at the City, County, State, and Federal government levels.
As the mayor of Diamond Bar,
we need your and Diamond Bar City Council's help, and I am asking you to commit to this effort by taking the following steps:
1. 2.
3. 4.
5. Join over 700+ Mayors nationwide and sign the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and US Conference of Mayors statement to combat antisemitism.
Diamond Bar City Council adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition on antisemitism
Propose, approve, and adopt a resolution denouncing and condemning antisemitism and all forms of hatred (including the jew-hatred flyers thrown on driveways) Appoint a City of Diamond Bar staff member to create and convene a task force made up
of representatives from various ethnic and racial groups to work with the city to:
o Foster relationships between the groups
o Develop a Zero-tolerance policy against all forms of hatred. o Develop an educational plan to train Diamond Bar's staff and law enforcement personnel on detecting and reacting to all forms of hatred.
Allocate resources for initiatives fostering interfaith acceptance, understanding, and harmony.
As an elected official, you are in an important and unique position to affect change through your direct engagement with our local Jewish community.
Now, I know that if the City of Diamond Bar takes each of these steps, there is no guarantee that antisemitism or hatred will be immediately eradicated. However, I do know that if you do nothing, things will continue to get worse.
I urge you to stand with us, and let's show people that antisemitism and all forms of hatred will not be tolerated or accepted in Diamond Bar.
Resp ively,
on Moss, MSW, MAJCS
xecutive Director
cc: Stan Liu, Mayor Pro Tem
Ruth M. Low, Council Member
Chia Yu Teng, Council Member
Steve Tye, Council Member
Dan Fox, City Manager
Serving the Greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys
114A W. Lime Avenue I Monrovia, CA 91016 |
626.445.0810 |
Fax 626.445.5977
[email protected] www.jewishsgpv.org