As Israel’s Assault On Palestinian Civilians Goes Into Warp-Speed, JCRC/BANJO Members and The JCRC Itself Come Into Tighter Focus; Yoav Schlesinger Preview
Hellman-legacy “Berkeleyside” Is AWOL As Citizens Uncover JCRC/BANJO Candidate Hahn’s Biotech Conflicts; Tony Town of Tiburon Supports Your First Amendment Rights; JVP Protest at SFJCRC Offers Insight
As I write this, Israel has now bombed civilian tents outside the already-beleaguered Al-Aqsa Hospital, which resulted in harrowing images of immobilized patients tethered to IV drips being burned alive by US-made munitions. Saturday had brought news that dozens suffocated in unknown gases from Israeli bombs that targeted the Gaza neighborhoods of Tuffah, Zaytoun and Shja’iyya. Meanwhile, Jabalia itself has been turned into a de facto extermination camp. All this leads to the question of, who really cares what happens in local politics? But because this genocide continues to be defended by local politicians promoted by the pro-Israel Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area (aka SF JCRC) which has now spun off its own 501(c)4 lobbying group, it is important to examine how the issue of Israel/Palestine plays out at the local level. This week: Berkeley, Tiburon, and San Francisco.
1.Berkeley: No surprise that those responsible for uncovering what appears to be a serious conflict of interest and undisclosed financial profits of Berkeley mayoral candidate Sophie Hahn are in no way attached to the Frances Dinkelspiel-founded Berkeleyside newspaper. Instead, the conflict was discovered by a government employee, and is being reported by a retired nurse in The Daily Planet. Berkeleyside remains famously averse to some of the most basic principles of investigative reporting. (A recent DM from a Berkeleyside freelance reporter asked me, “What is a form 700?”) What even is the pretense of Berkeleyside, anymore, if they can’t (or won’t) read Form 700’s?
Berkeleyside co-founder Frances (Franny) Dinkelspiel, an heir to the I.W. Hellman/Wells Fargo fortune, has left Berkeleyside, only to be seated on the board of the independent newspaper Mission Local. She is also funding a newer news outlet called “The Frisc”.
Dinkelspiel’s interest in newspapers is in the tradition of I.W. Hellman’s funding of The Globe newspaper in San Francisco; it’s not enough to have tons of cash, you need to control some newspapers to promote policies that favor your existing businesses and assets.
Two Non-Heiresses Step Forward To Do The Work:
In this stifling media environment, it was left to Paola Laverde, a former elected City of Berkeley Rent Board Commissioner and current elelected member of the Alameda County Democratic Party, to discover that sitting Berkeley Councilmember Sophie Hahn, now running for mayor, had failed to disclose considerable holdings in her husband’s biotech company, which may be related to at least one decision she made as a Councilmember.
Laverde filed a complaint with the FPPC last week:
Images from Hahn’s candidate website, above.
I was informed that Berkeleyside had been apprised of the complaint and was “investigating” the issue. Who knows where that will go. In the meantime, a far more perceptive observer, retired nurse Kelly Hammargren, has carefully and very judiciously covered the story for the Berkeley Daily Planet, carefully walking the reader through the process of examining the documents.
(Hammargren’s prior article, on the packed ceasefire item at the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission, is a must-read for those who want nearly every detail of the last-minute machinations forced on the Commission by, you guessed it, the JCRC and its allies.)
Hammargren takes no money for her labor, and her detailed reporting on Berkeley politics deserves your attention.
At the time of this writing, I have been informed that the matter will be reported in The Daily Cal, which has previously declined to report on Sophie Hahn’s undisclosed trip to Israel. Unfortunately, neither Berkeleyside nor The Daily Cal have reported on Hahn's undisclosed trip, even though it’s been nearly a year and a half since she returned. That trip represents a serious undisclosed conflict of interest given Hahn's opposition to a municipal ceasefire resolution.
A Few Notes On The Hellman-Dinkelspiel Legacy; Cousin Warren's Role In Stifling Criticism of Israel on UC Campuses
Frances Dinkelspiel is the cousin of the late investor Warren Hellman, a man born on third base but smart enough to allow others to mistake him for someone who hit a home run. Warren Hellman’s oral history, stored at the Bancroft Archives, is a good deal more frank than anything Dinkelspiel has produced. Hellman openly admitted that admission to “meritocratic” Lowell in his era was a matter purely of class and race (Hellman stated that you only needed to be Jewish and live in the right neighborhood), and on pp. 281-282, Hellman explained part of his role in quashing criticism of Israel on the Berkeley campus by threatening to withhold funding.
Meanwhile, Dinkelspiel wrote an entire tome on her great-great-grandfather, I.W. Hellman, that completely whitewashed his role in fomenting anti-Chinese violence and legislation, both locally and nationally.
(Aside from myself, I don’t know that anyone ever challenged Dinkelspiel on this point. For years, she has continued to deny not only that I.W. Hellman played a role in anti-Chinese violence, but that she is in any way a beneficiary of Hellman’s Wells Fargo fortune – even though the introduction to her book on Hellman emphasizes her connection to that very Wells Fargo fortune, and the privilege that comes with it.)
Hellman's Links To SF JCF Via Tanakh Classes/Israel's Phony "Archeological" Digs
Warren Hellman’s Tanakh bible study classes were organized through Phyllis Cook, an heir to a lesser fortune who played a key role in growing the SF Jewish Community Federation’s massive endowment. Part of the Tanakh classes Cook organized involved Israel’s archeological digs, and it was once my job as a temporary worker assigned to Cook’s office to photocopy the breathless news coverage of the diggings and include it in the Tanakh lesson packets. I did not know at the time that many of Israel’s archeological digs were engineered to further deprive Palestinians of their land.
But I should have asked.
I learned about the “archeological” grift much later through the powerful essay collection “Kingdom of Olives and Ash”, edited by the bestselling author Michael Chabon and his lawyer/author wife, the fierce and funny Ayelet Waldman. Two of the collection’s essays deal with Israel’s “archeological” digs: One is by the best- selling Irish author Colm Toibin, and the other essay, by Hari Kunzru, was also published in Guernica Magazine.
Dinkelspiel’s Role in Berkeleyside, Mission Local, and The Frisc
Berkeleyside, under Dinkelspiel, distinguished itself early by its fetish for publishing mug shots of Black suspects, for its obsession with crime as long as it was committed by the poor and Black residents of Berkeley, and for its obsessive interest in culinary issues that avoided any interest in the workers who produce the cuisine. These workers were and remain majority Latino, and had few employee rights even in “radical” Berkeley. For the most part, Berkeleyside, much like Mission Local, has functioned principally as a tool of gentrification, as Berkeley's and San Francisco’s Black populations continued to be displaced at alarming rates. With Dinkelspiel’s departure from Berkeleyside, the editors have done a better job of reporting certain issues. But not campaign finance issues that involve their powerful friends.
A Missing Eight Years On A Bio for the Berkeleyside-linked “Mission Local” And Links To SF JCF, Which Helped To Fund Canary Mission
The Managing Editor of the Berkeleyside-linked Mission Local is Joe Eskenazi, who was for nearly eight years a reporter and editor at Jweekly’s predecessor, funded by the SF Jewish Community Federation:
But Eskenazi no longer discloses that aspect of his biography on the Mission Local website. This makes a perverse kind of sense: Mission Local studiously avoided any coverage of the spy outfit Canary Mission, which was funded in part by, you guessed it, SF Jewish Community Federation.
For what it’s worth: much of what Canary Mission does is very similar to an earlier doxxing outfit known as Masada2000. And one of the many Jewish critics of Israel targeted by Masada2000? The late, great David Glick.
Former (longtime) Fairfax Mayor Frank Egger has informed me that David Glick’s memorial is planned for October 20, in Fairfax.
2. Tiburon, Comme Il Faut:
The night before Tuesday’s Candidate Forum in Tiburon, I received an email from The Ark newspaper Managing Editor Kevin Hessel, who was hosting the event, which was moderated by the Marin League of Women Voters. Hessel had been forwarded an email I sent to both Marin County District Attorney Lori Frugoli and the Tiburon Police Chief informing them of my planned, peaceful actions for the Tiburon Candidate Forum.
My email reminded the DA and the Chief that each one of the actions I had planned was protected by the First Amendment; and that they were obligated to protect those rights. These rights had not been protected in Sausalito on September 26, when Sausalito Police unlawfully and violently removed me from the Sausalito Candidate Forum merely for peacefully exercising my First Amendment rights at the end of the forum.
Hessel’s email assured me that he had not requested any police presence, and that none of the actions I had planned to take that evening would prompt him to eject me. His email was typical of my prior interactions with The Ark, which maintains an open communication style and a small-town feel (even if median income in that small town is over $200K.)
I arrived at the event early enough to print up some flyers and make some signs at the public library. As I distributed flyers outside the forum to arriving attendees, Hessel came out and introduced himself warmly. He said that he could not imagine hosting a candidate forum that did not respect another reporter’s First Amendment rights. An Ark reporter, Francisco Martinez, then stepped outside to introduce himself and welcome me to the event.
All of this was not just good PR, it was common decency.
I had protest signs for Tiburon, but had not brought any for Sausalito, and did not want to hold signs inside the forum, despite Hessel’s reassurances. So before and during the forum, I held the signs outside the Town Hall, and listened closely to the proceedings through an open side door. The public Town Hall was brightly lit, which allowed the many older residents in attendance not only to see the candidates’ faces clearly, but to take notes. In contrast, the Sausalito candidate forum had been held at a private venue, The Spinnaker, and it was so dark in the room that it was hard to write down notes or even see the full expressions of the candidates.
Unlike the forum in Sausalito, the Tiburon candidate forum questions did grapple with the issue of race and policing. I think it’s worth hearing the questions and the answers, viewable here.
“How Is This Relevant To Here?”
At the end of the Tiburon event, several couples stopped to chat with me about my flyers, and about the war. Although they didn’t agree with me, they were open to hearing a different opinion. This was everything that attendees in Sausalito should have been allowed to engage in, but were not, because of the actions of the JCRC/BANJO and Sausalito Police.
I have long worked in Marin, where I was raised, so I was not surprised when one well-kept older white woman in Tiburon asked me very earnestly about my protest sign, “But what does any of this have to do with here?”, as if concerns about the US providing material and military support for a genocide were somehow irrelevant.
But to her point, “here” is still an important question, easily answered. Every locality in the US is paying for this “war” that Israel is engaged in, at the expense of local infrastructure needs. The financial aspect made sense to her, perhaps more so in a week when we saw hurricane victims unable to evacuate from Florida, and a week after entire towns in the Appalachias had been washed away in flooding.
And of course local politicians should disclose their ties to pro-Israel lobbying groups such as the “nonprofit” JCRC. The fact that they don’t is why I still show up; someone needs to tell the public.
Why were First Amendment rights handled so differently in Tiburon than in Sausalito?
It seems obvious that The Ark newspaper played the most visible role in protecting First Amendment rights that evening. It also helped that Tiburon itself is averse to controversy, and likely didn’t want a fuss. But worth considering who councilmember (and candidate) Holli Thier is.
Thier is a JCRC/BANJO member who has done work for JCRC and at one point served on its board. I’ve criticized Thier’s pro-Israel, anti-ceasefire activities far more than I ever criticized Blaustein, and I’ve been a frequent critic of Tiburon’s policies. But while Thier may not be shiny and cute like Blaustein, the new darling of the local Democratic machine, Thier, decades older than Blaustein, is an experienced political hand inured to a healthy amount of criticism – both dishing and receiving. Old 1998 video of her shows her as a younger attorney and Dem party operative defending bilingual education. It’s a reminder that a younger generation of female politicians were required to bring something more than just a video-friendly persona to the table.
There’s something a little old-school about Thier that is out-of-step with the current political machine in Marin County. Has she had to work harder for JCRC out of fear of being unseated? Do any of the women on JCRC’s BANJO group actually believe in the "war" they’re promoting? How could a woman who so endearingly defended bilingual education turn a blind eye to the tens of thousands of children killed by Israel in just the last twelve months?
On the long ride home after the Tiburon forum I wondered whether it was inevitable that the JCRC BANJO members would have to change positions. Wouldn’t it be better if they did so earlier rather than later?
3. San Francisco: A Jewish Voice For Peace Protest Outside The JCRC Offices on October 8, Six Days Before The Presidio Mutiny Anniversary
56 years ago today, a bedraggled gang of 27 soldier-prisoners held at the Presidio Stockade in San Francisco broke ranks during morning formation, sat on the lawn, and sang “We Shall Overcome” in protest of the US war on Vietnam. They were immediately court-martialed, with some of the leaders facing the death penalty. It wasn’t the first antiwar protest of that era from within the military. There had been the Fort Hood Three; the unbreakable Dr. Howard Levy; and God only knows how many others we never heard about because their protest didn’t garner media attention.
The 50th anniversary in 2018 for the brave survivors of that 1968 mutiny was an unforgettable night of memories, stories, and passing the torch to a new generation of anti-war veterans. Like the story of David Glick, there is too much to tell about them. Not all of the Presidio 27 believed the war would ever come to an end – they weren’t even sure they weren’t going to be shot for their protest. But they knew they had to resist as a matter of conscience.
Which brings us to a recent, brave protest by Jewish Voice for Peace and its allies outside the San Francisco office of the Jewish Community Relations Council. This occurred on October 8, 2024, a year after Israel began bombing Gaza in retaliation for the October 7 Hamas attacks.
The pro-Israel, pro-war, and definitely neoliberal JCRC is now housed on the site of the Great Strike of 1934, the site of “Bloody Thursday”, the site of the West Coast waterfront strike. Whatever JVP protest took place there last week had to be considered mild in comparison, and it was. But it did arguably involve an act of temporary defacement/“vandalism”, and it was noteworthy that the JCRC, which is tightly linked both to local law enforcement and the FBI, does not appear to have called the police on the JVP protesters. There’s a reason for this, and it’s not what you might think.
Seth Morrison Provides Important Details
Seth Morrison, one of the hardworking organizers at Jewish Voice for Peace, explained that there was no vandalism of the building, as nothing was permanent. I agree with Morrison’s point, and he agreed with my point that often such temporary defacements are still charged as vandalism, depending on race/class/circumstance. Morrison explained that the protest, which he was not able to attend, was a symbolic tashlich, in which bread is thrown into the river to cast off the prior year’s sins.
In this protest, Jewish activists rended pieces of cloth and affixed the cloth scraps to the doors of the JCRC using the bread as a kind of paste. On the video, you hear one of them announce, “We cast off the JCRC for falsely claiming to speak for the entire Bay Area Jewish community.”
And:
“To JCRC and the Jewish Federation, we say, ‘you don’t speak for us, you don’t act for us. Your interests and your agenda oppose our commitment to justice and collective liberation.”
And: “May this year be the year that we see true freedom, justice, safety, and liberation for Palestine, for the broader region, and for our own communities right here at home. May it be so.”
Lack of Police Presence Raises Questions About JCRC Strategy
This necessary and admirable protest involved a large crowd that was temporarily defacing private property. So why, when the JCRC had been so eager to have police violently remove me from the candidate forum when I wasn’t engaged in anything remotely as provocative as the JVP protest, was there not even police presence when the protest and minor act of temporary defacement was occurring right outside the door of the JCRC?
Three possible explanations:
1. The JCRC is far more afraid of investigations that compromise its candidates and elected reps than it is of symbolic protest;
2. The JCRC knew it could benefit from the temporary defacement by the JVP protesters as it gives the JCRC a potential fundraising opportunity; JCRC will have security video of the incident and can claim that they are the victims of antisemitic protesters (never mind that the protesters themselves are Jewish);
3. It is more important for the JCRC to shut down public dissent at the local candidate level where voters can be swayed.
What exposes the JCRC more during election season? A protest outside its doors in a not- too-traveled block of San Francisco when most people work from home? Or a relentless, semi-gonzo campaign to expose their candidates directly in front of their own voters?
Jose Vega’s Roasts
All this brings to mind a young protester currently challenging pro-Israel congressman Ritchie Torres in the Bronx. Jose Vega’s constant interruptions of candidate and other public events are largely solo acts. But unlike me, Vega doesn’t wait for the event to end to make a polite statement to the departing crowd. He loudly, rudely and with real gusto takes verbal aim at politicians during the event. One thing I find heartwarming is how his more in-your-face activity is allowed so much more time before he is dragged out. New York City is not Marin County!
Vega’s rude, impromptu roast of Paul Krugman is one of the funniest, and most on-point, protests I've ever seen. For all those demanding more “civility” in politics, spare me your pearl-clutching, we need the civility in terms of an arms embargo. Until then, the only decent people are the ones who are “interrupting” the “decorum”.
Preview: Yoav Schlesinger, The Man From AI
There’s a lot more going on this week, I hope to be able to do a late-week update after the Mill Valley Candidate Forum. I have an article coming on the San Anselmo City Council race, and the campaign of one Yoav Schlesinger, the “Senior Director of Responsible AI at Salesforce” (there’s an oxymoron for you!) who was involved in shutting down the San Anselmo library presentation on Middle East history by Dr. Boodrookas. The cancellation of that presentation was a serious violation of First Amendment rights, so it (naturally!) went totally unreported in local media.
How Is An AI Promoter Endorsed By The Sierra Club?
It’s a little bit jarring that Schlesinger is endorsed by the Sierra Club. Does the Sierra Club not understand the environmental impacts of AI? These concerns have been covered at considerable length, including in this Scientific American article. It’s not just the emissions, it’s the impact on already scarce water resources.
Schlesinger's donors are an entirely different mess… but more on that later.
As always, thanks to readers for their many suggestions and insights.
©️2024 Eva Chrysanthe