Santa Monica may be some 7,000 miles removed from the war in Gaza, but the implications of the conflict are reaching local shores. Council will take up the issue Tuesday night with a request by Councilmembers Jesse Zwick, Caroline Torosis and Gleam Davis to adopt a resolution condemning the violence.
“The City of Santa Monica supports the resumption of a negotiated bilateral ceasefire, which must include humanitarian aid for the immediate provision of desperately needed food, water, medical care, clothing and emergency shelter to Palestinians, the end of Hamas’s rule in Gaza, due process for all prisoners, and the immediate release of the remaining 132 Israeli hostages taken by Hamas,” says the proposed resolution. “The City of Santa Monica is appalled by the acts of violence, vandalism and intimidation against the Palestinian and Jewish diaspora in the United States, and reiterates its condemnation of all antisemitism, anti-Arab racism, Islamophobia, and all forms of hate and incitement to violence.”
The proposal comes after advocates packed City Hall last month demanding the City oppose Israel’s military actions and comes as widespread protests in support of Palestine have gripped university campuses.
While the attention has been on large scale protests at major institutions, Santa Monica has also seen similar sentiments at local schools. Santa Monica College (SMC) was added to a list of educational institutions under investigation by the federal government for civil rights violations in December of last year.
SMC was one of six schools added to a list of investigations after an initial group of educational institutions were identified by the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights as under investigation for alleged violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in November. The local accusations centered on the exclusion of a Jewish student group from campus activities by the student government organization. While the administration reversed that decision and allowed the Jewish students full access, the incident still drove the filing of a federal complaint.
The educational conflicts haven’t been limited to higher education
Several weeks ago, a group of students at Crossroads school engaged in an antisemitic conversation via text message. In screen shots of the conversation one student posts an Instagram story about the first Jewish marching band to perform at Disney World. In response another student says “bomb them” and goes on to advocate for the murder of the individuals pictured in the post.
In response, the student who made the threats was removed from campus, the entire school went through mandatory programming regarding hate speech and school officials sent a letter to parents reiterating their stance against this kind of behavior.
“Every person of good conscience should be horrified by the targeting of Jewish people, whether by word or by deed. It is a sobering reminder that the work of educating our students about the long and brutal history of antisemitism, and its increased prevalence today, is never done,” said Head of School Mariama Richards in the letter. “I am heartbroken for our Jewish families who feel the threat of antisemitism all too deeply. We will do everything in our power to ensure that your children feel safe and loved at our school, as all children should.”
While the Crossroads incident occurred months ago, it gained new attention recently when the conversation was posted to various social media channels drawing the attention of national political figures.
Journalist and commentator Karol Markowicz tagged Elon Musk in her post about the school referencing the billionaires past criticism of the school.
More recently, Santa Monica has seen instances of antisemitic graffiti around town but while the public awareness of hate incidents is at an all time high, the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) said the number of actual calls remains steady.
The SMPD catalogs all instances of hate crimes and said that 2024 is on pace with 2023 so far.
“They are fairly few and far between which is great, but we also know they are under-reported,” said Lt. Erika Aklufi of the SMPD.
matt@smdp.com
