On Tuesday, November 12, a well-coordinated consortium of extremist groups swarmed Oakland City Hall demanding the City Council divest from companies involved in "security and defense" and from companies doing business with Israel. The Jewish community urges our City Council to focus on fixing Oakland's problems, not on making sanctimonious gestures or scapegoating Israel.
Oakland has real problems, like crime and homelessness, that haven't been addressed and led to recalls of the Mayor and the District Attorney. Show us that you care about our real problems rather than making empty gestures. Boycotting Israel singles out Israel, the most liberal democracy in the Middle East. It ignores human rights violations by its neighbors and holds Israelis and Jews to a different moral standard than others. Oakland has already made international news for its massive spike in anti-semitism. Boycotting Israel will further incite hatred, engender division, and lead to an increase in antisemitic actions against Oakland's large Jewish community.Just as the Defund the Police movement was an unmitigated disaster that Alameda County rebuked with its recall of DA Pamela Price, so divesting from "security and defense" companies will only weaken the U.S. and allow enemies like Iran to spread their fanatical ideology.
On Tuesday, November 12, a well-coordinated consortium of extremist groups swarmed Oakland City Hall demanding the City Council divest from companies involved in "security and defense" and from companies doing business with Israel. The Jewish community urges our City Council to focus on fixing Oakland's problems, not on making sanctimonious gestures or scapegoating Israel.
Oakland has real problems, like crime and homelessness, that haven't been addressed and led to recalls of the Mayor and the District Attorney. Show us that you care about our real problems rather than making empty gestures. Boycotting Israel singles out Israel, the most liberal democracy in the Middle East. It ignores human rights violations by its neighbors and holds Israelis and Jews to a different moral standard than others. Oakland has already made international news for its massive spike in anti-semitism. Boycotting Israel will further incite hatred, engender division, and lead to an increase in antisemitic actions against Oakland's large Jewish community.Just as the Defund the Police movement was an unmitigated disaster that Alameda County rebuked with its recall of DA Pamela Price, so divesting from "security and defense" companies will only weaken the U.S. and allow enemies like Iran to spread their fanatical ideology.