Emotions poured out into the Richmond City Council chambers on Tuesday night as more than 100 people spoke in support of and in opposition to the mayor, who is embroiled in a scandal stemming from antisemitic posts on LinkedIn.
An effort to censure Mayor Eduardo Martinez failed when the council declined to add it to the agenda, which would have required an “emergency” motion because the public had not been formally notified.
The censure resolution, co-authored by councilmembers Cesar Zepeda and Jamelia Brown, will return at the Jan. 20 meeting.
Brown and Zepeda, who is also vice mayor, spoke in support of the emergency motion. It failed 5-2 after a number of councilmembers said they had not read the document.
“To say that you didn’t have an opportunity to read a resolution does not negate the fact that we have a responsibility as a council to answer to the community,” Brown said. “If you have a pulse and you’re in the city of Richmond, then you know what’s transpired. You know what’s going on.”
When the emergency motion was voted down, pro-Palestinian members of the audience erupted in cheers.
First reported in J. on Dec. 18, the antisemitic social media posts circulated widely in the local and national press. They prompted immediate calls for the mayor’s resignation and sharp condemnations from scores of Bay Area elected officials.
Most of the posts at the heart of the controversy were shared or reposted by the mayor, not written by him. The mayor promoted conspiracy theories, including that the Hanukkah massacre at Bondi Beach in Australia was part of a “false flag” operation or was committed by a former Israeli soldier. Sydney police have attributed the attack to a father and son motivated by extremist ideology linked to the Islamic State.
Another post shared by the mayor said “the root cause of antisemitism is the behaviour of Israel & Israelis.” Days later, J. reported on additional LinkedIn posts that echoed antisemitic tropes about Jews and money. Martinez’s LinkedIn page was filled with hundreds of other posts criticizing Israel and Zionists.
Although the council did not take up the censure resolution on Tuesday, members of the public seized on the opportunity to speak about the controversy at the first public council meeting since the posts surfaced.
More than 160 speakers signed up at the outset of the meeting, which required overflow seating in an adjacent room.
Tensions flared and insults flew as some speakers described the mayor as a bigot. Others, including a large number of pro-Palestinian activists wearing kaffiyehs, condemned Jewish community officials, particularly the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area for what they characterized as a smear campaign against Martinez.
The mayor is a staunch progressive and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. He has emerged as a vocal pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activist, particularly since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023.
Advocacy groups, including JCRC Bay Area, the Palestinian Youth Movement and Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area, issued urgent calls to their supporters to speak at Tuesday’s meeting.
Two mayors of nearby cities spoke at the meeting against the mayor’s posts, as did the rabbi of a Richmond synagogue. Representatives of the anti-Zionist groups Palestinian Youth Movement and JVP spoke in defense of the mayor, as did members of the Richmond Progressive Alliance.
The meeting was frequently interrupted by cheers and shouting. Attendees held signs, such as “Richmond Jews against genocide” and “Mayor Martinez: resign now!”
Many speakers — staunch defenders of Martinez who cited his progressive record — excoriated those in the Jewish community who had, as one put it, made a “big fuss” over the social media posts.
“We will not be forced into a manufactured debate over a meme,” said one speaker, who described JCRC as a “racist, Zionist organization.”
The word “genocide” was used repeatedly throughout the more than three-hour meeting, as activists described Martinez as a peace activist fighting for the well-being of Palestinians.
“Today, American pro-Israel genocide thugs are here, participating in a nationwide public relations campaign to silence supporters of Palestinians’ right to exist,” said Harry Wiener, a Jewish Richmond resident.
“I just want to say thank you, Mayor Martinez, for all the work you’ve done for Richmond,” said a speaker named Theresa. “Complaining about feelings over a repost,” she said, “is white supremacy.”
Other speakers, including members of the Jewish community, spoke out against the antisemitic posts, and some called on the mayor to resign.
“When our mayor echoes antisemitic conspiracy theories that Jews carried out their own mass murder at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, the harm is real, and it lands on real people in our community,” said Mindy, a 20-year Richmond resident. “This isn’t about Palestine or Gaza. It’s about fitness for public office, and your responsibility as a governing body.”
Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller, who leads Temple Beth Hillel in Richmond and wore a kippah, addressed the mayor directly from the podium.
“After the numerous posts, which many councilmembers, as well as the mayor, have acknowledged have spread antisemitism — mayor, you’ve reached out to me and I will meet with you,” she said. “In Judaism, repair is called teshuvah. It means return and it also means answer. It starts with acknowledgement and apology, and it completes with a full building of relations and repair of harm done.”
“We are in desperate need not to be divided by antisemitism,” Saxe-Taller added.
Saxe-Taller lingered at the podium after her allotted time had expired. She was jeered at by audience members who shouted “Time!” and a man who yelled “Leave, lady!”
“Mayor, you caused great harm,” said Elaine, a teacher who said she instructs her students about the harmfulness of lies. She called on the mayor to resign and for the council to be the “adults in the room.” The harm has “gone far beyond the perimeters of Richmond. It has spread throughout the entire world,” she said.