The latest authority on Judaism and Zionism — a believer that Israel killed 15 people in Australia.
Get used to it.
Eduardo Martinez, 76, the mayor of Richmond, California, says that the Bondi Beach attack in Australia was a “false flag” perpetrated by Israel.
The massacre, perpetrated by Israel, was orchestrated to divide Australians. Mayor Martinez’ words: “The root cause of antisemitism is the behaviour of Israel & Israelis.” When this didn’t play well, the mayor deleted his post.
So what?
It’s what he wrote. It’s what he thinks. Need more? “Chanukah, traditionally a time of personal and private reflection, has in recent years been appropriated by Jewish Zionist oranisations and weaponised as a political tool.”
Even blunter in the hatred and paranoia in this message from the mayor of an American city is the ignorance. Chanukah, private? Chanukah, personal? The mayor has obviously never heard of the “publicization of the miracle” (pirsumei nisa), the Jewish stricture that requires the Chanukah menorah to be lit with a public face.
Martinez seems to be another one of those who arrogate to themselves the right to define Judaism, not as it is, but as they want it to be. In Martinez’ case, Chanukah is not to be public. Chanukah is not to be about the renewed independence of the ancient State of Israel. Chanukah is not to be about a war in which the wicked attacked the righteous, and lost. Chanukah is not about a rededicated temple in Jerusalem. Chanukah is not to be Chanukah.
That is the anti-Semitism of the likes of Richmond, Calif. Mayor Eduardo Martinez.
The anti-Semites of today include those who, like Martinez, write — in an apology, no less! — “we should not conflate Zionism with Judaism. They are two separate beliefs.” Obviously, Martinez has never read the Torah and never learned that the centrality of Israel fills the Torah. Obviously, the mayor’s rank ignorance does not prevent him from pontificating on what Judaism is and is not.
It goes deeper. A Jew does not get to define Christian belief. A non-Christian may study Christianity and strive to understand it, but a non-Christian does not get to define Christian belief. That right is reserved for a Christian (so, too, analogously, for a Muslim, Hindu, etc.). A non-Jew like Eduardo Martinez does not get to define Jewish belief. In his case, he didn’t even study the religion that he presumes to understand well enough to define. The bottom line: Jewish religious belief is an intimate experience defined by its own integrity. Martinez has no place there. All religious belief is ultimately incommunicable to the non-adherent.
Even those of us who never heard of Eduardo Martinez before his obscene and absurd assertion that Israel was behind the murder of 15 Chanukah celebrants at Bondi Beach could guess that this was not Martinez’ first foray into anti-Semitism. Another nugget from this American mayor, last August:
“If Palestine were a schoolyard playground, I would be a Palestinian, and that part of me that couldn’t endure the abuse anymore would be Hamas.”
In the warped mind of Mayor Martinez, Hamas — the organization whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel — is the bullied, not the bully. Just in case one misread Martinez’ playground analogy, he wore a hat at the August event (“People’s Conference for Palestine”) with letters sewn on that stood for “Death, Death to the IDF.”
This far out extremism in an American mayor is, well, extreme. But anyone who has followed the resurgence of anti-Semitism in the past 10 years knows that yesterday’s extreme can become today’s norm.
Get used to the likes of Eduardo Martinez: “Once again, I apologize for posting in haste without full understanding of the posting.” Uh, who posted the post, Mr. Martinez? It was you. You did understand. You understood fully. It’s just that you got caught by the likes of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Bay Area, which called you out loud and clear. The JCRC called Martinez’ words “dangerous anti-Semitic, deeply offensive and wholly acceptable.”
This was good — as far as it went. But the JCRC, for whose standing up to an elected official we are grateful, missed the main point.
The main point is not that Mayor Martinez’ words were “dangerous” or “offensive” or “unacceptable.”
The main point is that they were untrue. It only goes so far to call out “anti-Semitism” for being “offensive” and “unacceptable.” What one person considers offensive, another person does not. What one person considers unacceptable, another person considers acceptable. The only unambiguous weapon against the likes of Eduardo Martinez’ fulminations is the truth. Do not beat around the bush. Say, straight out: You do not know what you are talking about. You are ignorant. You are contradicted by facts. Your remarks are false. You spread lies.
Facts alone — stated baldly, unapologetically — have a chance of countering such lies as “false flag” and “Zionism and Judaism are two separate beliefs.”
Jews need to say who we are and where we came from. Wherever we go, we go to Jerusalem. It’s right there in our founding document, the Hebrew Bible (Tanach), and it’s right there in our 3,500-year history.
Standing firm, we may still need to get used to the likes of Mayor Eduardo Martinez. But at least we can do so with our dignity and integrity intact, and with some hope of ultimate victory.
Do not be fooled by “apologies.” Two weeks after Oct. 7, before Israel’s ground response to Hamas’ atrocities, Richmond, California passed a resolution condemning Israel. Having faced heavy backlash, Martinez can post all he wants that “these postings are . . . not statements from my office or the city of Richmond.”
That will only be true if Martinez is voted out of office and the city’s post-Oct. 7 anti-Israel resolution is rescinded. Otherwise, the residents of Richmond, like Jews around the world, will have to get used to the rantings of the Eduardo Martinezes of the world.
It is a new world. Jews must face it straight and call it out for filling itself with falsehoods. Only that way do we have a chance to right its course.
© IJN 2025
