SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins speaks at a menorah lighting on the seventh night of Hanukkah at Union Square in San Francisco, Dec. 13, 2023. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)
SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins speaks at a menorah lighting on the seventh night of Hanukkah at Union Square in San Francisco, Dec. 13, 2023. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff)

DA Jenkins accused of anti-Palestinian bias for accepting Israeli wine gifts

By Gabe Stutman | August 22, 2024

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Is San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins under the thumb of the Israeli government?

An ambitious defense strategy by lawyers for 26 protesters who stopped traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge in April has caused a stir in city politics.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, the aphorism goes, and many people in San Francisco believe they have found some, in the form of two bottles of wine gifted by the Israeli Consulate to the DA in recent months. Lawyers for the pro-Palestinian protesters, who have been charged with crimes for blocking the bridge for more than 4½ hours, say as a result of those gifts and other evidence of “bias against Palestinians,” Jenkins should not be allowed to prosecute their clients.

The argument has unleashed some anti-Israel vitriol online following coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle under the headline, “Lawyers for Golden Gate Bridge protesters seek DA recusal over wine gifts from Israeli government.” The story was very popular, dramatically outperforming other news stories shared on X by the Chronicle that day, earning more than 148,000 views. (Most stories shared by the Chronicle on X get only a handful of likes and fewer than 2,000 views).

The wine bottles are listed on a “Statement of Economic Interests” form filed with the city. One $17 bottle was just labeled “wine,” and a $60 bottle was labeled “Mid Bar Syrah,” likely a reference to the Midbar winery in Israel’s Negev Desert (“midbar” is a Hebrew word meaning wilderness). The same statement shows Jenkins received “beauty and skincare items” from the cosmetics company Sephora worth $146 on Nov. 9, as well as a book called “Trauma Stewardship” on April 7. 

The story explains that defense lawyers are calling on Jenkins, San Francisco’s district attorney elected in 2022, to recuse herself from the case, citing public documents that show the gifts from the Consulate of Israel. The lawyers also claim that Jenkins met with Israeli officials in “at least two unpublicized meetings.” Israeli Consulate officials declined to comment for this story.

The lawyers say the wine gifts are part of a pattern of alleged anti-Palestinian bias from Jenkins. They cite the fact that Jenkins’ director of public affairs used to work for AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying organization, and that in October of last year Jenkins referred to a protest in downtown San Francisco as a “pro-Hamas” rally in a social media post that she later deleted.

“Our public prosecutors are charged with an important and solemn duty to ensure that justice and fairness remain the touchstone of our criminal justice system,” the lawyers said in a letter to Jenkins’ office. “Where a conflict of interest is of such gravity as to render it unlikely that defendant will receive a fair trial, recusal must be ordered.”

On Aug. 12, the district attorney’s office announced 26 individuals had been charged with a bevy of crimes after blocking both lanes of traffic on the iconic bridge on Tax Day, April 15, part of the so-called A15 protest, a “coordinated economic blockade to free Palestine.” Protesters linked themselves together, chanted and held a giant banner that said “Stop the world for Gaza.” Eight people were charged with felonies for conspiracy, in what the DA’s office described as a “coordinated disruption to the economy across the country.”

“As a result of the protest, hundreds of motorists were trapped on the Golden Gate Bridge and US 101, who had no choice but to remain imprisoned on the freeway for several hours,” the DA’s office said, adding that victims told harrowing stories; one said they missed a pre-op appointment for brain surgery, a mother said she was trapped without water for her infant’s formula, and a surgeon was forced to cancel their entire schedule for the day.

For its part, the district attorney’s office said in an emailed statement to J. that the DA frequently meets on request with consular staff of world nations that have offices in San Francisco, as well as with activist groups, to hear their concerns.

“DA Jenkins, like other elected and public officials, and previous elected DAs has met periodically, on request with the consular staff of several nations including El Salvador, Estonia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, the Philippines, Switzerland, and the SF Consular Corps,” the statement said. “Meetings involve discussions around safety of consulates, consulate staff, and their citizen populations.”

The effectiveness of this particular defense strategy remains to be seen; lawyers representing the protesters sent Jenkins the letter but have not filed an official motion to bar her from the case.

But in the meantime, the widely shared story has become catnip for Jenkins’ opponents.

Ryan Khojasteh, an attorney running to unseat the DA, shared a photo of the Chronicle headline. “Another day, another scandal,” he wrote. “It is imperative that the top law enforcement official be impartial and unbiased at all times.”

Nadia Rahman, a San Francisco activist, chimed in with an X post sharing excerpts from the story. “Why is the San Francisco District Attorney accepting gifts from the Israeli government?” Rahman wrote in a post that garnered more than 64,000 views. “The DA’s office is clearly biased & cannot proceed with this case which is clearly politically motivated.”

Others on social media shared hatred.

“For israel, by israel. The new American way,” wrote one account, referencing a conspiracy theory that the American government is under the control of Zionists. “Bribery is legal when Israelis do it,” another posted.

In its statement, Jenkins’ office pushed back strongly on the claim by defense lawyers, adding that any recusal motion would be litigated in court, “not in the press.”

“We do not pursue political prosecutions under any circumstances at any time,” the statement said. “This case is being handled like every other case based on the facts, evidence and the law.”

Gabe Stutman
Gabe Stutman

Gabe Stutman is the news editor of J. Follow him on Twitter @jnewsgabe.