Yesterday at City Council, 20 pro-Hamas activists spoke during Public Comment, starting at the 3:37 mark.
They were mostly very young and seemed to have acquired their talking points from Tik-Tok and Instagram. A few might have read a bit of Edward Said, Saul Alinsky, or Noam Chomsky–just enough to convince themselves they knew what they were talking about.
The activists demanded that City Council pressure Congress into supporting a ceasefire in Gaza (enabling Hamas to kill more Jews) and that El Paso sever its sister city relationship with Hadera, Israel, which was established May 19, 2015 by unanimous vote.
The speakers, many representing the group Viva Palestina El Paso, claimed that Israel is an “apartheid state” engaged in “ethnic cleansing” and “war crimes” against the Palestinians.
Some invoked the Holocaust, with Raneem Karboji calling Gaza “a large concentration camp” and Sarena Doucette accusing Israel not only of genocide, but also of reviving slavery.
We need to be very clear.
The activist speakers are anti-Semites who support the primary aim of Hamas, which is to destroy Israel and exterminate its inhabitants. Many held signs stating “Free Palestine” or “Palestina Libre,” meaning that “Palestine” should replace Israel and be purged of Jews. In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza and dismantled its settlements there, so the speakers are obviously referring to the Jewish state.
ONLY A SINGLE MENTION OF THE OCTOBER 7 MASSACRE
Of the 20 speakers, only one, Xavier Miranda, made reference to the barbaric slaughter of more than 1,400 Israelis by Hamas gunmen.
The other 19 pretended there is no reason why Gaza is being invaded by the Israel Defense Forces, as if the Jews were seeking to colonize territory and push the Palestinians into the sea.
Without any factual basis, several complained about “Israeli violations of the Geneva Convention,” while ignoring the unprovoked terrorist massacre that violated dozens of international laws.
“RESPECT EXISTENCE OR EXPECT RESISTANCE”
One of the speakers, Marlo Holguin, blatantly justified the October 7 attack, twice declaring “Respect existence or expect resistance” to the cheers of the other activists standing behind him. Evidently, they feel that killing Jews is a form of legitimate resistance against Zionism.
HYPOCRISY
None of the speakers had ever appeared previously before City Council to decry human rights violations in the Middle East, to oppose the mass murder committed by Syria against its own people using poison gas; the systematic execution of homosexuals across the region, including by Hamas; the mass beheadings by Saudia Arabia, Qatar and Yemen for non-violent infractions of their laws; the Turkish persecution of Kurds and Christians; Iran’s deployment of terrorist armies in Lebanon, Yemen, and Gaza; the widespread oppression and abuse of women; honor killings and child marriage; the genital mutilation of millions of female children and women in Egypt and elsewhere; and the absolute denial of voting rights in most Muslim countries, as well as in Gaza.
No, their target is always the Jew and the Jewish ancestral homeland, Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, where Palestinians comprise 20% of the population and have representation in the Knesset, and the rights of women and gays are protected by law.
SPEAKERS ARE ANTI-SEMITIC BY DEFINITION
On November 22, 2022, under item 17 (sponsored by Mayor Pro Tempore Peter Svarzbein), our City Council voted 7-0 to adopt the definition of anti-Semitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which includes justifying the harming of Jews, denying the Jewish people their right of self-determination, and drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis. By the IHRA’s definition, all of the pro-Hamas speakers are anti-Semitic.
LEADER OF “SUNRISE EL PASO” AMONG THE SPEAKERS
We want everyone to know that among the speakers was Miguel Escoto, the main organizer of Sunrise El Paso, which fought to implement Proposition K, that horrific climate ballot initiative that was overwhelming rejected by the voters.
WHO WERE THE PRO-HAMAS SPEAKERS?
The pro-Hamas speakers were as follows: Luz Corral, Summer Masoud, Sarahi Soto Talavera, Bahjat Masoud, Yamid Rivera Velasquez, Morgan Jodoin, Raneem Karboji, Jenna Celeste Marquez, Nazreen Roohi, Desiree Miller, Emma Hagans, Salma Atiya, Xavier Miranda, Sarena Doucette, Zayahary Ortiz, Dolores Clay, Marlo Holguin, Miguel Escoto, Hayley Palafox, and Jose Miguel Reyes.
We noticed that City District 2 candidate Veronica Carbajal was not present, although she posted on her campaign Instagram page a meme stating: “Hey. If you pay taxes, your money is funding the genocide happening in G*za right now. It’s time to offset that sh*t. Donate to emergency aid for Palestine.”
Nor did we see Victor Vasquez, the President of the Westside Democrats of El Paso, who shared a cartoon the group’ page comparing Israeli soldiers to Nazis and Palestinians to concentration camp victims. He has not yet resigned.
On the pro-Israeli side, there were three speakers–Stuart Schwartz, Marla Cohen, and Peter Svarzbein–who made reasoned arguments in support of Israel’s self-defense.
PETER SVARZBEIN SUPPORTS SISTER CITY RELATIONSHIP WITH HADERA, ISRAEL
Peter Svarzbein, current National Chairman of Sister Cities International, the oldest and largest citizen diplomacy organization, told us, “It is disappointing and short-sighted to hear people advocate to terminate any sister relationship, especially during times of crisis. We need to build more bridges, not less, and we advise our member cities to not terminate sister city agreements as it punishes citizens for their government or policies.”
Thankfully, we do not need to worry because there is no one on City Council even remotely thinking about severing our relationship with Hadera, Israel–much less because a group of Jew-haters demand that they do.
SCANT MEDIA COVERAGE
We already reported how the media botched its reporting of the anti-Israel march in downtown El Paso on October 21. As for yesterday’s spectacle in City Council, the mention we could find online was a weak blurb by Sarah Coria of KVIA.
There are those who will think that it is nice that the 20 pro-Hamas speakers took time out of their day to exercise their First Amendment rights. Yes, we fiercely support their right to share their views in public, even though they are absolutely offensive.
But we take the threat they pose to our community very seriously. Anti-Jewish rhetoric is spreading across the United States as a result of the current war, including in El Paso, and there are numerous reports of violence against Jews in New York, California, and elsewhere.
Israel has every right to defend itself against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and we hope the IDF will eradicate Hamas completely while continuing to do its best to minimize civilian casualties.
!עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי
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