Attacks on Israel and American democracy through city councils must stop – Orange County Register | #citycouncil

The Irvine City Council meets in Irvine on Tuesday, November 28, 2023. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Since October 7th, city council chambers across the country have been besieged by “ceasefire” protestors. Speakers utilize open meetings laws to accuse Israel of genocide and of being an apartheid state. The protestors hijack city council chambers, school boards, and labor union meetings, all of whom have no authority over international relations, to demand a “ceasefire resolution.” 

Playbooks published online from pro-Palestinian organizations guide “protestors” through the steps of how to effectively introduce ceasefire resolutions with locally “aligned politicians” and how to effectively grind the functioning of local government to a halt. 

The CEASEFIRE NOW manuals stress that the ultimate goal is to turn Israel into a pariah state and completely divest from Israel. Activists are instructed to return to city council chambers to seek the economic isolation of Israel after an initial ceasefire resolution has been passed. The national, and indeed international organizations, who are directing these movements are openly hostile to Israel’s existence and have weaponized cracks in American democracy.

In California, the open meetings law, called the Brown Act, specifically allows for non-agendized comments from the public. “Ceasefire protestors” utilize this access to tie up city councils for months even without a government official placing the conflict on the agenda. Cities are allowing hate speech to flow from the official speakers podiums of our local governments. Jews are labeled as baby killers, pedophiles, and human sex traffickers. City council chambers are overtaken by crowds shouting “From the River to the Sea Palestine will be Free,” “Globalize the Intifada,” and “resist by any means necessary.” The hate speech and chaos is not only sanctioned by local governments, but often broadcast to communities on local access television channels. 

City Councils are easy pressure points for the “activists.” Councilmembers cave to the mob’s demands simply so that they can get back to the jobs to which they were elected, namely the day to day governing of American cities. Local politicians are not subject matter experts on the conflict, have no access to classified briefings, and are easily manipulated by the distorted facts presented by hundreds of shouting protestors in their chambers. 

In some cities, local council members are harassed and have even received death threats. Protestors show up to locally elected leaders’ personal homes to intimidate them into submission. This tactic of harassment is referred to as “bird-dogging” in the agitators manuals. Although legal, this intimidation of elected officials to elicit their votes undermines legitimate democratic processes. 

The anti-boycott, divest, and sanctions legislation that have passed in both the U.S. federal government and most states often do not apply to municipalities.

The U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights is actively tracking which cities have passed ceasefire resolutions and which municipalities, labor unions, and school districts have divested from Israel. 

Shortly after passing its ceasefire resolution, the city of Hayward divested its pension funds from companies allegedly associated with Israel. Each “success” is used to drive the “ceasefire resolution” and divestment campaign in the next neighboring town. 

The ceasefire activists insist that the 1st amendment’s guarantee of free speech protects the spreading of their vicious hate. This is simply not true. 

City councils are limited public forums. The courts have clearly held that guarantees of free speech are not absolute in such a setting. Although city councils cannot limit speech based on content, they can absolutely use their decorum codes to mute speakers who espouse racist, bigoted, and hateful rhetoric. If a speaker used the city council podium to call African Americans, Latinos, Asians, or LGBT community members derogatory slurs we would expect the city council to silence the speaker. The same must be expected here. 

Indeed, in California, the same Brown Act that guarantees open meetings specifically permits councils to remove disruptive speakers or even shut down chambers to the public entirely if speakers are disrupting council business. 

Virtually every city in America has a founding charter and a prevailing municipal code which limits the scope of authority the government body is to act upon.

Clearly, the war between two foreign powers is not within the proper purview of any American city. Ceasefire agitators are instructed in their manuals to connect their tax dollars spent on aid to Israel to make the issue of ceasefire a local one. Local taxes do not support foreign aid or the U.S. defense budget. More importantly, city councils and city attorneys are failing to uphold their constitutional duties when they do not properly limit their council’s discourse to matters within their jurisdiction. An issue does not become “local” simply because people care about it. Furthermore, “local” is not the same as “municipal.”

City councils were elected to further the work of municipal, i.e. city, business. They were not empowered to act upon every issue that concerns residents bring to their attention.   

City councils are being used as pawns for organizations who intend to spread anti-Jewish and anti-Israel propaganda. The intent is to introduce “ceasefire” resolutions into local government bodies where such actions may have no legislative authority, but do have maximum public relations effect. 

The “ceasefire resolutions” further distort the narrative being painted against Israel and aim to legitimize efforts to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel. As the ceasefire manuals make clear, the next stop on their “tour” is local school boards with the aim of influencing curriculum.