By Donald H. Harrison in San Diego
INTERNATIONAL
Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, invited Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet face-to-face in Moscow with Putin with security for Zelenskyy guaranteed. Zelenskyy has rejected a meeting in Russia in the past but has indicated he’s willing to sit down with his adversary in a neutral setting.
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Confusion reigns over whether Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has ordered a pause in her country’s oil shipments to Cuba under pressure from the United States to do so. Asked at her daily news conference on Tuesday whether she had done so, she replied. “It is a sovereign decision, and it is made in the moment when necessary.” Follow-up questioning about the prospects for resuming oil shipments to Cuba drew the response, “In any case, it will be reported.”
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Israel’s President Isaac Herzog will make a 5-day goodwill visit to Australia starting Feb. 8 on the invitation of Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Anti-Israel forces have announced a nationwide protest. Besides meeting with Australian government officials, Herzog plans to visit Jewish leaders throughout Australia to express solidarity in the wake of the Bondi Beach massacre Dec. 14 of 15 people at a celebration coinciding with the onset of Chanukah.
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The American Jewish Committee’s CEO Ted Deutch praised the announcements of France, Italy, and Spain that they will vote to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran as a terrorist organization when the European Union’s Council on Foreign Affairs meets on Thursday. Earlier this month, AJC’s leader called on the UN Human Rights Council to publicly and unequivocally condemn the Iranian regime’s crackdown on demonstrators. Deutch commented: “The situation in Iran matters far beyond its borders. A regime that systematically violates the rights of its own citizens, exports extremism, and fuels regional instability poses a direct challenge to the principles of human dignity, international law, and global security. Through its terror arm, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and support to proxies and surrogates ranging from Hezbollah and the Houthis to Hamas, Iran has for decades destabilized the region and targeted Jewish life specifically, whether by attacking Israel or Jewish communities around the world. Silence or inaction in the face of such abuses only emboldens further violence and impunity.”
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NATIONAL
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) on Wednesday accused President Trump, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem of lying to the American public and refusing to take responsibility for the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. In a press release issued by his office Padilla also “demanded ICE and CBP officers and agents obey the law and stressed that they do not have absolute immunity. He also criticized the Administration for refusing to open an unbiased, independent investigation, instead allowing DHS to investigate itself.”
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The Jewish Democratic Council of America was the lead author of a letter to Congressional leaders — Senators John Thune and Chuck Schumer and Representatives Mike Johnson and Hakeem Jeffries — urging Congress to investigate the deaths in Minneapolis of Renee Good and Alex Pretti “as well as meaningful oversight over ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and any other agencies putting armed federal agents in local communities. … We call on Congress to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities by conducting rigorous oversight of ICE and DHS, demanding clear answers about what occurred in Minneapolis, and taking concrete steps to prevent further harm. Independent, transparent investigations are essential, as is accountability for any officials whose actions, policies, or rhetoric contributed to this loss of life.”
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Deann Forman was appointed on Wednesday by the JCC Association of North America as executive director of its newly established Center for Innovation and Impact. “In this role, Forman will provide founding leadership to strengthen organizational effectiveness across JCC Association and the JCC Movement, drive innovation, and support JCCs and JCC Camps across North America in achieving intentional and measurable impact,” according to a JCCANA press release. Forman will start in her new post February 1st.
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STATE & LOCAL
The San Diego City Council’s Rules Committee on Wednesday voted 3-2 in opposition to Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera’s proposal to levy an $8,000-a-year tax on short-term vacation rental properties and additional homes that are kept unoccupied by a single home’s owner. Elo-Rivera was joined in support of the measure by Council President Joe LaCava. Councilmembers Kent Lee, Raul Campillo, and Vivian Moreno voted against the measure. Responding to the measure’s death in committee, Elo-Rivera said he was “disgusted by the tactics used by our opponents today and in the lead-up to today’s meeting. The decision to recruit and pay low-income members of the public for fake ‘community engagement’ is an insult to the democratic process. And the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on deceptive advertising was another example of unscrupulous billionaires scaring working-class people who are being harmed by corporate greed.”
Turning their attention to another proposed ordinance – to ask city voters in June to decide whether parking in Balboa Park should be free to everyone – members of the Rules Committee deadlocked 2-2 because Elo-Rivera had absented himself from the discussion. The measure thus fell short of the three affirmative votes necessary to move it from committee to the full council.
La Cava and Lee opposed the measure saying that they preferred an alternative ordinance which the full City Council is scheduled to decide Monday, Feb. 9. It would charge non-city residents for parking but allow City of San Diego residents to park for free. Along with Elo-Rivera, Lee and LaCava had proposed that solution on Tuesday, Jan. 27.
Campillo and Moreno on Wednesday voted in favor of letting city voters decide the controversy in the June 2 election.
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The San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday unanimously approved an $8.75 million appropriation to ameliorate the sewage crisis in the Tijuana River. It approved $4 million for air purifiers for residents of neighborhoods adjacent to the river, and $4.75 million for structural improvements at Saturn Boulevard and for epidemiological studies.
Calling the sewage pollution, “the regional crisis of our time,” Terra Lawson-Remer, who chairs the five-member board, commented: “We don’t need any more reports to know what’s at stake. We can see it, we can smell it. If your home or your work is nearby, you live it every single day.”
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A bill by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) to enable Californians to sue federal officials, including federal immigration enforcement agents, over violations of their constitutional rights cleared the Senate on Tuesday and goes now to the state Assembly. According to CalMatters, Wiener, who is running to succeed the retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi, “argued that residents’ inability, under current law, to hold federal officials accountable is ‘unfair and deeply harmful.’ It also makes it harder for local law enforcement to carry out their jobs, Wiener said.”
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Hillel at UCLA on Jan. 25 honored a father and son who have publicly opposed antisemitism. They are Finance and Real Estate Professor Stuart Gabriel, the father, who chaired UCLA’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, and Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, the son, who chairs the California Legislative Jewish Caucus. For the open-house fundraiser, Stuart said in prepared remarks: “Universities cannot be neutral when students are targeted for who they are. Protecting students is a test of institutional leadership.” Jesse commented “Jewish resilience isn’t abstract. It’s built through laws, resources, and the willingness to stand up when it matters.”
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World