Important Community Updates
Tuesday evening, the San Marcos City Council rejected in a 5 to 2 vote an anti-Israel, antisemitic resolution. The resolution, which was blatantly one-sided without even recognition of the State of Israel or even the potential for two states, saw over 160 people testify, most of them in support of the resolution. The nearly seven hours of testimony was partially filled with diatribes about Israel and the Jews. In statement after statement, the resolution supporters failed to acknowledge the horrific attack on Israel on October 7, nor did they call for Hamas to surrender.
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Lisa Epstein, JFSA Jewish Community Relations Council Director, coordinated many of the individuals who appeared to testify and collected more than 4000 emails against the resolution that were sent to City Council members. She also worked with partners at Shalom Austin to send a letter to the Council from Rabbinical and Jewish organization leadership up and down I-35. Rabbi Ari Weingarten, leader of the Chabad of San Marcos, spearheaded the campaign against the resolution and welcomed the partnerships from the nearby Jewish communities while working behind-the-scenes to educate the Council members. While many of us tend not to focus on what is taking place in the halls of city and county governments, it was an eye opener. Many local governments begin their sessions with the pledge of allegiance. San Marcos does, too. Yet, two of the seven councilmembers did not stand to participate. The efforts of the San Antonio community to rally for our sister city of San Marcos was met with exclamations of gratitude and truly shows how we are STRONGER TOGETHER.
Shabbat Shalom
Randall Czarlinsky
Interim CEO, Jewish Federation of San Antonio