Newsom: Some who rip Israel are just anti-Semitic

Friday, May 9, 2008 | by

herb keinon

Some of the anti-Israel, anti-Zionist rhetoric in the Bay Area is simple anti-Semitism, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said this week.

Newsom said he expected to see some people protesting against his trip to Israel when he gives a commencement address next week at San Francisco State University.

Asked in an interview how he answered his constituents who argued that he should not be visiting Israel at a time when it is “oppressing the Palestinians” and “bombing Gaza,” Newsom said, “I think of the old adage, ‘Seek first to understand, then to be understood.’

“To those who make that assertion, I would like to see it backed up in the context of the capacity of understanding. I think there is a lot of bias and bigotry, and frankly a lot of anti-Semitism,” he said. “I hear it a lot; not as much, thank God, as probably some other mayors in other cities, in spite of the reputation of the Bay Area. But it still exists.”

Sitting on a stone ledge at the entrance to Yad Vashem, Newsom said he “absolutely” believed some of the anti-Israel speech emanating from San Francisco and the Bay Area was anti-Semitic, and that Israel faced a “generational challenge” in the United States.

“I see a new generation of younger people who don’t have a connection to this country that they should,” he said, adding that he has seen an increase in the phenomenon on college campuses over the last five to 10 years.

As to how to combat this, Newsom said, “That’s one of the reasons I came here — I think it sends a message.”

By seeing the relative quiet of the Old City and the greenery of Jerusalem, he added, he was gaining a perspective of Israel not available to most Americans.

“I can assure you that these are not the regular images of Israel,” he said. “For most Americans, [what the media provides] is usually violence, stress, frustration, angst, political issues — that is the narrative that we get.

“But this,” he said with a sweep of his hand of the scenery around Yad Vashem, “is a little different.”

While there have been some boycott and divestment motions against Israel in Berkeley, Newsom said this issue had not gained much traction in his own city council.

The divestment issue being discussed now in San Francisco is divestment from Iran, though the mayor said no decision had been made.

Newsom goes to bat for Israel in first visit by an S.F. mayor