On a day filled with commemorations, the Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO) hosted a memorable event of its own for the Beverly Hills community. Attendees gathered in the ballroom of the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel on Oct. 7 for a morning of reflection, inspiration and calls to action.
The audience heard from Congressman Brad Sherman (CA-32), senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Co-Chair of the House Israel Allies Caucus and member of the House-Knesset Parliamentary Friendship Group.
Sherman began his remarks by lauding the mission of WIZO, adding, “I was a Zionist since before my bar mitzvah and that was a while ago.”
He then reminded the audience that in addition to the travails currently facing Israel on the ground, another front is equally crucial, that of world public opinion.
“I don’t have to tell you how important that front is,” said Sherman.
He explained, “While the IDF is on the front lines, we are also on the front lines. We don’t have to take the physical risks. They do, but we have to work just as hard. We have to remind Americans that Oct. 7 was the worst holocaust for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. When you see these kids shouting, ‘river to the sea,’ most of them don’t know which river, which sea. But their leaders know full well and what their leaders mean is from the river to the sea, every Jew should be expelled or killed.”
Sherman then turned to the subject of Iran, which earlier this month launched nearly 200 missiles into Israel.
“We need to respond to what Iran did. I am a strong advocate of also funding every dissident group that’s working for democracy in Iran because this regime is not popular. And finally, we have to make sure that Iran never has nuclear weapons,” he said.
Following Sherman, a panel discussion on antisemitism focused on issues close to home, edifying the audience on several topics in the news. Moderated by Beverly Hills Courier Publisher Lisa Friedman Bloch, the panel featured Beverly Hills Mayor Lester Friedman, Los Angeles County Supervisor Chair Lindsey Horvath, Los Angeles City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky (District 5) and State Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Hollywood).
Bloch opened the discussion by asking the participants about their first memories of being Jewish or meeting others who were Jewish. Friedman recounted growing up in the Fairfax District, the son of Polish immigrants and Holocaust survivors. Yaroslavsky spoke of her grandparents, founding members of Stephen Weiss Temple. She now has three children of her own who go to Jewish day school and preschool.
“Right now, it feels like we as Jews are very vulnerable,” Yaroslavsky said. “I walked my kids to school this morning, and there was a whole group of parents walking their kids. We all sort of looked at each other, and I think we all quietly said a prayer. That’s what we’re focused on, that’s what my team is focused on, making sure all of us are safe. We’re doing what we can to make Los Angeles a safe space for everybody, uplifting everybody. That’s the core of who I am, and Judaism is a big part of that.”
The other two panelists are not members of the Jewish faith but represent areas with a significant Jewish population. Zbur spoke of growing up on a small farm in New Mexico. He fondly recalled that his school guidance counselor—a man who helped shape his life—was the only Jew in the entire region.
“Every day when I get up, I understand the responsibility I have to listen to the constituents of my district, which is to not only fight antisemitism, but to make sure Israel is strong as well,” said Zbur. “I want to represent this district in the same way I would hope someone who’s not LGBTQ represents the LGBTQ members of my district,” he said.
Horvath spoke of the traditions of her Catholic upbringing, beginning with the recognition that Jesus was a Jew. The fact that she can attend religious services weekly without security concerns, but her Jewish constituents cannot, has weighed heavily on her for some time. Earlier this year, it inspired her high-profile motion to create a so-called “bubble zone” ordinance for houses of worship and other sensitive sites.
Yaroslavsky noted the importance of connecting the Jewish community with other faith groups. “We are stronger together, and we need each other,” she said.
She also expressed enthusiasm for the newly appointed LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell.
“He’s wonderful. I saw him last night at an event at the Museum of Tolerance. We’ve fully funded LAPD, and it’s his job now to go hire recruits and bring those numbers back up to approach where they were a decade ago. I’ve authorized overtime money from my own discretionary dollars to focus particularly on the High Holidays and around houses of worship during this time,” Yaroslavsky said.
The topic of college campus protests also elicited discussion. Horvath described lessons learned during the UCLA protests this spring.
“We learned that while the Sheriff is in charge of deploying and operating a mutual aid declaration on that campus, the order of operations was campus police, then CHP, because they are the state officials, then LAPD, because UCLA is in the city of Los Angeles, and then the Sheriff’s Department. So even though mutual aid is led by the sheriff himself because he is the highest-ranking law enforcement official for the region, that was the order of operations. We are working to make sure that there is a practice in action about how we keep people safe,” she said.
Yaroslavsky noted that she recently sat down with the new chancellor of UCLA, Julio Frenk.
“I think he’s going to be a great addition to UCLA. We had a serious conversation. We mostly talked about what happened in the spring and how unacceptable it was. He is Jewish, and the institution that he was running at the time in Florida didn’t have any of the problems UCLA had because he was clear at the outset what the rules of engagement were going to be, and then they followed the rules. And so, he is doing that now at UCLA,” she said.
Horvath added that the events at UCLA strengthened her commitment to the bubble zone concept. That county ordinance, approved by the full Board of Supervisors in August, will make it a misdemeanor to, among other things, obstruct, hinder or block the entry to or exit from educational or healthcare facilities, as well as places of worship.
“We saw what happened to students on campus [UCLA], which was part of what prompted our motion. And this is based on a policy that was passed in the state of Colorado, which protected people who were attempting to access healthcare centers. There are laws already to protect our buildings. I am interested in protecting people. And so, the bubble zone creates around a person an 8-foot bubble when you are walking into a healthcare center, a place of worship or a school,” said Horvath.
Yaroslavsky said that she is pushing through a similar ordinance, acknowledging that Horvath “led the charge.”
“Unfortunately, the city takes a little longer,” she admitted.
Horvath said her office has received pushback on the county ordinance, on grounds that the proposed bubble zones threaten free speech rights. To that pushback, she responds, “If you can’t figure out how to express your point of view without physically touching someone or harassing them when they are accessing their place of worship, a healthcare center or their school, you’re doing it absolutely wrong.”
Horvath also urged members of the audience to engage with her office on this topic.
“The organizers of the opposition are already hard at work, and we are going to continue because we know how important it is to keep people safe,” she said.
On the topic of First Amendment rights, Friedman described the delicate position the city of Beverly Hills is in.
“We are a target because if somebody is going to protest, why not protest in Beverly Hills, because then you’re going to have media coverage. And that’s a problem. People do have a right to protest. They don’t have a right for hate speech. They don’t have a right to interfere with the enjoyment that people have in the community. And unfortunately, the people who come in know their rights. They have a right to protest, and what they’re looking for is to have confrontation within our streets.”
Friedman said that while he reluctantly thinks the best course is to “ignore them because engaging with them is just going to give them the purpose to come back again,” he did add a caveat.
“When I say ‘ignore,’ I think we have to stand up for our rights. Don’t get me wrong, when I hear people say that they don’t want to wear their Star of David around their neck or their lapel pins, or I have even heard people wanting to take down their mezuzah from their door. Absolutely not,” he clarified, emphatically.
Striking a positive note, Friedman said that approximately 200 U.S. mayors will gather in Beverly Hills in December for an antisemitism conference.
“What we hope people see is what is going on in our community, how we support the right of the Jewish people to exist. Yes, Zionism is not a dirty word. Point two percent of the world’s population is Jewish, and for us to call a small strip of land in the Middle East our homeland is not asking a lot,” he concluded.
