California mayor urged to resign for spreading antisemitic Bondi Beach conspiracies

Jewish Community Relations Council of the Bay Area says Eduardo Martinez ‘can no longer effectively serve’ after he reposted claim that Hanukkah attack was a ‘false flag’ by Israel

JTA — The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Bay Area is calling for the resignation of a local mayor who reposted conspiracy theories to his LinkedIn account that claimed the Bondi Beach attack on a Hanukkah celebration was a “false flag” perpetrated by Israel.

“When an elected official’s words and actions make a segment of the community feel unsafe and abandoned by their government, that official can no longer effectively serve,” the group said in a statement.

“For these reasons, Mayor Eduardo Martinez must resign,” the statement continued. “No community should be led by someone whose conduct contributes to fear, division, and exclusion. This is a stark example of where toxic social media, unchecked rhetoric, and the constant demonization of Israel and Jews can lead—and why it must be confronted.”

Martinez, 76, is the mayor of Richmond, California, a city north of Berkeley that is home to one Reform congregation, Temple Beth Hillel. Elected in 2022, he has been a longtime and vocal critic of Israel.

It is unusual for a Jewish group to call for the resignation of a local elected official. But Martinez’s rhetoric about the Bondi Beach attack, the JCRC said, was “dangerously antisemitic, deeply offensive, and wholly unacceptable.”

Following the attack in Sydney that left 15 killed and dozens injured, Martinez reposted several antisemitic sentiments and conspiracy theories on his LinkedIn page.

“The root cause of antisemitism is the behaviour of Israel & Israelis,” read one since-deleted post shared by Martinez, according to J. The Jewish News of Northern California.

Another post shared by Martinez compared the Bondi celebration with hypothetical Hanukkah displays at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, writing that both should be seen as “performative assertions of dominance.”

The post continued: “Hanukkah, traditionally a time of personal and private reflection, has in recent years been appropriated by Jewish Zionist organisations and weaponised as a political tool.” In his repost, Martinez commented, “What are your thoughts?”

Martinez appeared to issue an apology for the post about Israel on Wednesday, as a backlash grew.

“I want to apologize for sharing my previous posts without thinking. Of course we know that antisemitism was here before the creation of the state of Israel,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “As I’ve said many times before, we should not conflate Zionism with Judaism. They are two separate beliefs.”

In another apology on Thursday, Martinez distanced his rhetoric from his role as mayor.

“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,” he wrote. “Once again, I apologize for posting in haste without full understanding of the posting.”

Following the attack on Sunday, the online antisemitism watchdog Cyberwell said that it had seen a “surge of hatred and incitement” on social media. Australian officials said the two attackers were motivated by “Islamic State ideology.”

“We are also seeing a dangerous denial narrative online that blames the Jewish community itself, falsely labeling the attack a ‘false flag’ or ‘Mossad’ operation, orchestrated to divide Australians,” said CyberWell founder and CEO Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor in a statement.

The latest controversy was not the first time the Richmond mayor has landed in hot water over his commentary on Israel.

In August, while speaking at the People’s Conference for Palestine, Martinez compared Hamas to a child bullied on a playground and said whether he supports Hamas was a “complicated question,” according to J.

“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,” Martinez said at the time. While there, he also wore a hat with the letters “DDTTIDF,” an acronym calling for “death to the IDF.”

In the JCRC’s letter, the organization also noted that under Martinez’s leadership, Richmond had passed a resolution two weeks after October 7 condemning Israel and “affirming Richmond’s support and solidarity with the Palestinian people of Gaza.”

Martinez’s rhetoric following the Bondi attack was also condemned by the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Central Pacific, Marc Levine.

“There’s no excuse for an elected leader to be amplifying warped antisemitic conspiracy theories that seek to blame the victim,” Levine said in a statement to J. “The Australian community has already faced enough tragedy over the last few days. We hope Mayor Martinez will reconsider his hurtful words, which have absolutely no place in public discourse.”