Due to pressure from multiple community groups including hundreds of phone calls and emails sent by community members to the Aliso Viejo City Council prior to the June 2nd meeting, the author of the pro-apartheid resolution Councilman Mike Munzing decided to drop his proposed resolution from the agenda (item 6.2), which demonized Palestinians and conflated criticism of Israel’s apartheid and military occupation with antisemitism.
During the meeting, Aliso Viejo Councilman Munzing stated the following:
“…with a very heavy heart that due to some threats we got contacted by the sheriff’s department, and my agenda item 6.2, which is in support of Israel and combatting Anti-Semitism, in support of our local Jewish Community, we’ve, uhm, not exactly direct threats but certainly a lot of chatter, which implied risks to our critical infrastructure and other areas such as (inaudible) and cyberattacks, protests, and other damage possibly to the city. As well as potential threats to the Council, the staff, and the City as a whole. I am going to, for now, pull this item and not pursue it tonight. So 6.2 has been pulled.”
We believe that dismantling antisemitism go hand in hand with pushing for Palestinian rights and freedom. Antisemitism — like anti-Asian, anti-Black, anti-Palestinian, and Islamophobic attacks and rhetoric — is fostered and exploited by rightwing movements in the US and around the world. While we must continue to fight bigotry in all its forms, the City of Aliso Viejo had no business supporting Israel’s apartheid regime, its ethnic cleansing campaign in East Jerusalem, or its recent massacre of hundreds of civilians in Gaza, including more than 60 children.
Many thanks to partner organizations such as the Palestinian Youth Movement and Yalla Indivisible, and hundreds of activists who worked hard to stop this racist resolution.
