The Combat Antisemitism Movement launched a national initiative for Jewish elected municipal leaders on Monday that aims to create stronger and safer cities and communities.
Steven Meiner, mayor of Miami Beach, Fla., and founding chair of the Jewish Mayors and Municipal Leaders Association, hosted the group’s inaugural event in Miami Beach.
The association will “connect members across jurisdictions through peer exchange, shared resources and coordinated action on the defining issues of local leadership, public safety, extremism prevention, resilience and the day-to-day work of governing with integrity,” the group stated.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Aventura Mayor Howard Weinberg attended the event, as did Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, and former Florida lieutenant governor Jeanette Nuñez.
“History has taught the Jewish people the cost of silence,” Meiner stated. “As mayors and municipal leaders, we have a responsibility to confront antisemitism, defend democratic values and ensure every resident feels safe and protected in our communities.”
Lisa Katz, chief government affairs officer for the Combat Antisemitism Movement, noted the lengthy history of Jewish mayors and municipal leaders in America and their role in shaping civic life.
“They have governed through wars and depressions, through prosperity and through hatred, guided by a tradition rooted in justice and the conviction that we are each responsible for one another,” Katz stated. “That tradition did not emerge from comfort. It emerged from knowing, across generations, what is at stake when governments fail the people they serve.”
The association released a founding proclamation with several guiding principles, including “to govern as if history is watching,” to “speak plainly about what we see” and to “build cities that belong to everyone.”
“The Jewish historical experience has taught us what it means to be the outsider, the suspect, the scapegoat,” states the proclamation, which bears 20 signatures.
“That knowledge makes us determined,” it says. “Every resident of every city we govern, of every background, faith and circumstance, deserves a government that is working for them.”
