LA protest against city funding Zionist vigilantes

For Immediate Release

PRESS CONFERENCE: Over 20 Organizations to speak at LA City Hall against a proposed resolution in City Council that would provide upwards of $1 million to Pro-Israel vigilante/security companies for Zionist Defense training.

When: 7:30AM Tuesday, July 2nd

Where: Los Angeles City Hall steps on Spring St.

Contact: John Parker (323)899-2003 (English), Ron Gochez (323)450-6113 (Spanish)

What: Over 20 organizations including Jewish, Palestinian, human rights and anti-racist organizations will demand that LA City Council members vote against a resolution that has been introduced by Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky that would provide $1 million of public funds to racist Zionist vigilante groups such as Magen Am that are composed of former IDF and US military soldiers. Magen Am trains Zionists to use guns, tasers, batons and hand-to-hand self-defense.

Israel Defense Forces Veterans Hired To Protect Jewish Communities In Los Angeles (standwithus.com)

The proposal is supposed to provide funding to protect pro-Israel Zionists from violence but the reality is that even mainstream media outlets have clearly reported that the majority of the violence that took place at UCLA and at the Adas Torah Synagogue Palestinian land auction event was clearly committed by pro-Israel counter protestors.

How Counterprotesters at U.C.L.A. Provoked Violence, Unchecked for Hours – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Unmasking Counterprotesters Who Attacked UCLA’s pro-Palestine encampment | CNN

The proposal also vilifies Pro-Palestinian activists who continue to protest against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Said Lulu Hammad, co-founder of Yalla Indivisible and the SoCal Ceasefire Coalition: “We are deeply concerned that Mayor Bass and the LA City Council are disregarding the concerns and experiences of the Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities in LA. Their actions are escalating tensions rather than fostering understanding. This motion and the Mayor’s statement painfully echo the bias we saw from then-Mayor Garcetti and the LA City Council in May 2021, when they condemned a supposed antisemitic attack at a sushi bar involving two pro-Palestine men—charges that were quietly dropped in 2023. (https://forward.com/opinion/557568/los-angeles-jewish-diner-attack-sentence/)

One would expect Mayor Bass to diligently understand the dynamics of her city, but her actions are making Los Angeles less safe. Allocating public funds to private armed groups like Magen Am, implicated in violent incidents at UCLA, without addressing these attacks, amounts to funding local terrorism.”

Lisa Katz explained: “I grew up hearing stories about my family members who were murdered in the holocaust by the Nazis. It is my sacred obligation to do whatever I can to ensure no people anywhere ever experience what my ancestors did. Never Again means to anyone. Starving children to death, bombing families in their homes, destroying houses of worship and places of learning, these are Zionist values, not Jewish values. Zionism does not represent me, my family, or our Jewish values of tikkun olam and the sacredness of every life. This is a TERRIBLE idea. As a Jewish resident of this city, I and my family are completely against this absurd, reckless proposal.”

One of the organizers of the press conference, John Parker of the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice said: “If the city of Los Angeles funds violence and repression of constitutional rights of peaceful pro-Palestinian activists and assemblies, that would make LA Mayor Karen Bass and councilmembers complicit in genocide. What needs to be stopped is the ongoing violence by the LAPD and Sheriffs against Palestinian, Black and Brown victims here in Los Angeles County. The proposed resolutions to fund vigilante groups promoting white supremacy and genocide only empowers and encourages the systemic violence against our working class.”

Last year the South African Government, which also has a history of apartheid, successfully brought the case condemning humanitarian violations in the occupation by Israel in Gaza with the International Court of Justice warning that any enabling of genocide in Gaza is a war crime against humanity.

Attendees will go into city council’s hearings demanding that money should be used instead for social necessities, like the housing of unhoused students, and pointing out that Mayor Bass’ role in exacerbating tensions only encourages Zionist violence against protesters.