Jewish group calls for Richmond mayor to resign over posts
Jewish group calls for Richmond mayor to resign over social media posts
A Bay Area Jewish organization called for Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez to resign after he shared a series of controversial social media posts related to a recent mass shooting during a Hanukkah celebration in Australia.
RICHMOND, Calif. - A Bay Area advocacy group is calling on the mayor of Richmond to resign, citing a series of controversial social media posts about a recent mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration in Australia.
The Jewish Community Relations Council said Mayor Eduardo Martinez shared multiple posts that included an allegation the attack was a "false flag."
"Such rhetoric is dangerously antisemitic, deeply offensive, and wholly unacceptable—particularly coming from a sitting mayor," the JCRC wrote in an open letter. "Words from public officials carry weight and when those words echo antisemitic tropes they place people at risk."
The JCRC also noted that earlier this year, Mayor Martinez spoke at a conference in Detroit where he compared himself to Hamas and wore a hat that read "DDTTIDF," an acronym calling for "Death, Death To The Israel Defense Forces (IDF)."
He also led Richmond to become the first city in the United States to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Israel, without including any condemnation of Hamas, the JCRC pointed ou.
In a follow-up post on LinkedIn, Martinez said he shared the content without thinking and apologized.
In the apology, Martinez said Zionism and Judaism should not be conflated, asserting "they are two separate beliefs."
The mayor said he planned to keep the posts on his profile so he wouldn't appear as if he was trying to hide, but ultimately deleted them. The JCRC made screenshots of the posts and made them public.
"I want to assure everyone that these postings are my opinions (or my mistakes) and mine only. They are not statements from my office or the city of Richmond. If I make a mistake, that mistake is mine only. Once again, I apologize for posting in haste without full understanding of the posting," Martinez wrote.