TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: Lori Stone, Council Member
PREPARED BY: Kristen Crane, Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT:
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Proposed Resolution Declaring the City’s Stance against Antisemitism
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RECOMMENDATION
recommendation
Review, discuss, and consider the adoption of proposed Resolution 25-4809, drafted by Council Member Stone at the direction of the City Council, and revised by staff, entitled: A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Murrieta, California, Declaring the City’s Stance against Antisemitism; and
Discuss and consider providing staff with additional direction on actions intended to address antisemitism.
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PRIOR ACTION/VOTE
None.
CITY COUNCIL GOAL
Foster and promote an engaged, connected and caring community.
BACKGROUND
At the December 17, 2024, City Council meeting, Mayor Stone requested and received City Council consensus to bring forth for consideration a resolution regarding the City of Murrieta, declaring the City’s stance against antisemitism. Attachment 1 includes a proposed resolution for City Council consideration.
Considering the overall context, examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and the religious sphere could include but are not limited to:
• Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion;
• Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as a collective - such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions;
• Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews;
• Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g., gas chambers), or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust);
• Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust; and/or
• Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
Examples of the ways in which antisemitism manifests itself with regard to the State of Israel, taking into account the overall context could include:
• Denying Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor);
• Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation;
• Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis;
• Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis; and/or
• Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with this action.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Draft Resolution No. 25-4809