San Bruno Jewish community members are asking the City Council to address antisemitism and to affirm they won’t get involved in foreign policy decisions, citing tensions over cease-fire resolution discussions as vitriolic and intimidating.
A May 9 letter to the City Council, which said it was signed by more than 93 community members who did not share their names — citing safety concerns — had six major requests, including that councilmembers pass a resolution to prevent future councils from taking foreign policy stances and acknowledge “a rise of antisemitism in San Bruno, and across the United States.”
The May 9 letter also requested the City Council state support for a U.S. Senate resolution that posits the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as antisemitic and a California Assembly bill that prevents businesses from working with the state if they implement policies boycotting, divesting or sanctioning the state of Israel.
At a May 14 City Council meeting, Mayor Rico Medina proclaimed May as Jewish Heritage Month and said that Jewish Americans have experienced a recent increase in antisemitism.
“In recent years, Jewish Americans have increasingly experienced antisemitism, including but not limited to physical attacks, vandalism, verbal and physical harassment and hateful comments posted on social media,” he said.
Medina said, however, that some of the requests within the letter were out of the City Council’s purview, affirming their decision to not involve themselves in foreign affairs. Vice Mayor Michael Salazar had a similar sentiment.
“We don’t want to take actions that are not specifically related to municipal affairs,” Salazar said.
“Related to adopting, defining, banning slogans … they may be considering [that] at a congressional level, definitely not something a city should take a position on, for the same reasons we chose not to issue a resolution regarding a cease-fire.”
Jason Pollard, a San Bruno resident and president-elect of Peninsula Temple Sholom, said he believed supporting state and federal policies was “very different” than making foreign policy determinations.
He said San Bruno’s Jewish community was fearful of attending City Council meetings based on “antisemetic and anti-Zionist rhetoric,” and he’d recently spoken to around 20 Jewish community members who were too intimidated to attend a recent City Council meeting to share their opinions.
“They are too scared to do that. I myself am scared to do that, even though I do that, it is scary when we get up to speak,” he said. “Overall, it’s a very scary time to be Jewish in the community. It’s not so much, I fear for physical safety or well-being, [it’s] the mental intimidation and mental security.”
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