My parents escaped the murderous demonstrations and the Holocaust in Europe. I grew up in Southern California where both the white Nazi party and the KKK had their headquarters. I was handed pamphlets blaming Jews for all the problems in America and calling for them to be deported. At school, I had pennies tossed at me, and I was frequently thrown to the ground for being Jewish.

At the Feb.7 Bend City Council meeting, I experienced a level of antisemitism from a government entity that I’ve never experienced before.

A highly emotional, partisan group demanded an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. All over the country, we see violent protests demanding the same thing. Indeed, we have seen Richmond, Oakland, and Chicago issuing similar demands. The Bend mayor penned a letter for approval by the and recommended the letter be issued prior to oral testimony at the council meeting. Perhaps she believes that Bend citizens should have no say in a matter of such import.

In the last 20 years, Palestinians and Arabs have won the public relations war. They have done an excellent job paying for Islamic education in American colleges, influencing sympathizers in the American government and describing Palestinians as a victimized minority. Israel, a modern, open, free democracy, is described as a white apartheid, colonial, oppressor state.

Anyone who has visited Israel has observed a welcoming, friendly, and diverse people with over 50% with dark skin. It includes Israeli Arabs, who serve as police, judges, soldiers, and members of parliament, the Israeli Arab has more say and thrives more than any other state in the Middle East. Israel lives in a very dangerous neighborhood, has been invaded repeatedly with the intent to exterminate the Jews, and has had to prioritize’ security!

The City Council made decisions based on lies, not facts, and on emotion, not logic. The people who demanded an immediate cease-fire claimed that 100,000 civilians were killed, four times the number claimed by Hamas.

The IDF estimates that over half of those killed were Hamas fighters. Several audience members claimed without evidence that Israel was committing genocide, notwithstanding the fact that collateral damage of 1% of the general population is unheard of in the history of warfare. Israel increasingly take efforts to protect civilians who have terrorists embedded among them.

It is antisemitic that the City Council believes terrorists over the IDF. It is antisemitic that they are focusing on Israel rather than all the other world conflicts. It is antisemitic that they don’t want Israel to have the right to eradicate a self-proclaimed, unrepentant genocidal Hamas. It is antisemitic that they don’t want Israel to decide how to protect itself.

It is antisemitic that the pro-Palestinian side never condemned the atrocities committed by the terrorists. It is antisemitic to not believe in the right of existence of the state of Israel. Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people. If you are against the one Jewish state in the world, which is their only safe refuge, you are antisemitic.

The fact that one of the council members in her summary statement questioned twice America giving financial aid to Israel while failing to mention billions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians (much of which was used to build terror tunnels) is antisemitic.

The rush to get the letter out in one week, giving extra time to the pro-Palestinian side and the failure to pass the logical deferral motion to get more information, indicated the City Council was not interested in a fair hearing.

However, the biggest failure of this city council was to divide this community. They could have chosen a more neutral action, such as calling for a joint prayer vigil or educational forum. Good work, City Council for putting party ideology over community unity.

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