For the past year or so, the Pasadena City Council has been caught in a storm of pro-Palestinian activism. Week after week, these activists have gathered, demanding that the city cut ties with companies that do business with Israel. This local push is part of a much larger, organized movement known as Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), which aims to challenge Israel’s legitimacy and, in the eyes of many, ultimately dismantle it as a Jewish state. The tension has been building, and the City Council now faces a critical decision at its upcoming meeting on May 11th.
During these passionate council meetings, activists have often used powerful and emotive language, accusing Israel of grave offenses like “genocide” and “apartheid.” While these accusations are fiercely debated and rejected by the U.S. government, they are central to the activists’ calls for Pasadena to join the BDS movement. Disturbingly, some of the rhetoric has veered into coded language, using terms like “globalist” and a distorted understanding of “Zionist.” This language, often deployed to alienate and denigrate Jewish people and non-Jews who support Israel’s right to exist, has drawn parallels between Zionism and colonialism, effectively disregarding thousands of years of Jewish history and their ancient ties to the land.
Ironically, Pasadena currently has no direct investments in Israeli companies or even in companies that specifically focus on doing business with Israel. This fact highlights a crucial point: if the city were to comply with the BDS demands, it would have little to no real-world economic impact. This raises a fundamental question for many: if there’s no tangible financial gain or loss, why is this demand being made so vehemently? The answer, according to many observers, lies in symbolism. This entire exercise is seen as political theater, a strategic move within the broader BDS movement to symbolically isolate and delegitimize Israel, mirroring what groups like Hamas and Hezbollah have attempted through violent means. Across the country, BDS campaigns often target local government bodies, universities, and pension funds, seeking to pass resolutions that paint Israel and its supporters as moral outcasts, collectively blaming anyone who upholds Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.
Adding another layer of complexity, California actually has legislation (AB 2844, passed in 2016) that prohibits public agencies receiving significant state funding (over $100,000) from divesting from foreign nations, specifically citing Israel in the legal text. The rationale behind this law is to prevent discrimination. Any entity that chooses to divest risks losing crucial state funding, which further complicates Pasadena’s position. This legal backdrop means that even if the City Council were inclined to heed the BDS calls, there could be significant financial repercussions for the city itself.
The current escalation of these demands closely follows the horrific events of October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a brutal attack on Israel, resulting in the murder of 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of 250 others. Despite the immediate and devastating nature of these attacks, the narrative blaming Israel quickly took hold among a segment of activists. For those pushing for BDS in Pasadena, these critical events and their context are often seen as irrelevant, as they continue to transform City Council meetings into protest rallies, prioritizing their singular agenda over the broader function of local governance.
For the local Jewish community in Pasadena, this ongoing activism has created a deeply painful and challenging reality. They find themselves increasingly targeted, often seen as proxies for Israel, which has led to a noticeable increase in anti-Jewish hatred, both in frequency and intensity. This is not just a matter of political disagreement; it’s a deeply personal experience of feeling singled out and blamed. In a heartfelt letter to the City Council in February, the Jewish Federation of the Greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys powerfully articulated these concerns. They echoed a warning from the Pasadena Jewish Center and Temple, which itself had recently been defaced with antisemitic graffiti. The message was stark: when anti-Israel rhetoric becomes normalized, it creates a dangerous environment, a “permission structure,” for those with violent antisemitic sentiments to act. It essentially makes anyone who supports Israel—which includes a vast majority of Jewish people—a target for hatred and violence. As they put it, “By cloaking evil with ‘ethics,’ it gives those who wish to do harm license to do so.” These are not mere political arguments; they are deeply felt fears rooted in historical persecution and contemporary threats.
Given the weight of these concerns, it’s clear that the Pasadena City Council cannot simply dismiss them or take them lightly. Many believe it’s imperative that the council resists being swayed by the constant pressure to single out Israel in any official action. The upcoming May 11th meeting will specifically address potential revisions to the city’s existing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment policy. It is crucial, from this perspective, that any updates to this policy do not unfairly target Israel or create a double standard not applied to other countries. The city’s primary mission, after all, is to govern Pasadena and serve its residents. Getting entangled in complex foreign policy debates or adjudicating distant international conflicts, especially when such actions could harm a segment of its own constituents, deviates from that core responsibility. Ultimately, symbolic sanctions against Israel are unlikely to benefit Pasadena residents in any tangible way. Instead, they risk amplifying the targeted hatred towards Jewish people, a distressing reality that continues to unfold day after day, as noted by former Pasadena Mayor Terry Tornek.