"LA Politicians Endorsed by DSA Go Silent After It Celebrates Anti-Semitic Terror Attacks on Israel" by Daniel Guss
Camaraderie or comrade-ery: Will they demand Mayor Bass also illuminate City Hall for Palestinian deaths?
@TheGussReport - There are 18 elected officials in the city of Los Angeles, not including those representing us at the county and state levels.
Of them, Controller Kenneth Mejia and Councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez and Nithya Raman, each of whom is in their first term, proudly boasted of their endorsements from the Democratic Socialists of America, DSA, which, along with the DSA’s well-established social media game, was critical to their victories.
So far, they have championed the DSA’s goals in words, but infrequently in deeds, like their pledges to defund the LAPD (which got more moolah), and stopping homeless camp sweeps (which continued), etc.
Apparently, the reality of legislating, or auditing in Mejia’s case, quickly softened their promises along with the (ironic-for-socialists) free luxury travel, a free car, multi-million-dollar slush funds for pet projects and City Hall camaraderie over comrade-ery, so to speak. Also, they recently saw the consequential flipside, like when Mejia’s superbly qualified nominee to the city’s already-rigged Ethics Commission, Jamie York, was — unanimously — rejected by City Council, most notably without Hernandez speaking up, with subsequent finger-pointing between the two. According to the LA Times’ David Zahniser, Hernandez blamed Mejia because he should have “provided more introductions” for his nominee despite City Council’s supposed independence from other city entities.
Along Came Hamas
Over this weekend, Hamas launched terror attacks on Israel.
As local mainstream politicos raced to tweet their full support for Israel and condemnation of Hamas, there was a noticeable silence — or fence-sitting in Raman’s case — from these City Hall newbies as DSA-led celebrations of the mass murders, kidnappings and rapes of children, women and the elderly were posted by Hamas on the victims’ social media, underscored by their anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and anti-American chants and flag burning. DSA says it is because the government of Israel has apartheid policies toward Palestinians.
Nithya Raman’s Fence-Sitting
Raman tried to ride both sides of the fence by waiting until Saturday afternoon, hours after the Hamas attacks, taking her cues from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), AOC, whose call for peace after the attacks but before Israel started its counter-offensive, pissed off pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel crowds alike:
Jacob Woocher, a Jewish Los Angeles communist and attorney, is a well-known voice in LA political and activism circles who wasn’t buying what Raman was selling.
Neither, for that matter, were those on the side of Israel.
So far, nothing but silence from Mejia, Hernandez and Soto-Martinez, which you can reasonably infer is an endorsement of the DSA’s views.
While LA Mayor Karen Bass quickly called for City Hall to be illuminated in blue and white to declare support for Israel, here are the questions that both City Hall factions have, so far, refused to respond to.
That’s how it works on this page; respond directly to questions or the questions get published for public consumption.
The questions in this email to Hernandez were also posed to Mejia, Raman and Soto-Martinez:
Similarly, these questions were sent to Mayor Bass.
And that’s how you hold politicians accountable, which is what they always promise, but rarely provide with transparency. Ask the uncomfortable-but-necessary questions, and publish the questions if they issue a non-answer through a spokesperson, if they respond at all.
The public, on all sides, can decide whether they are genuine leaders who are worthy of staying in office. Whatever their views, if they can’t answer, they should move on.
As some recently noted, the further we get from 9/11, the closer we get to 9/10. With a thoroughly open southern border, summer is clearly over, especially in Jewish population centers like Southern California.
Follow me on The Twitters @TheGussReport and sign-up for my free Substack newsletter.
(Daniel Guss, MBA, is a multi-award-winning journalist. In June ‘23, he won the LA Press Club’s “Online Journalist of the Year” and “Best Activism Journalism” awards. He has been City Editor for the Mayor Sam network, and a featured contributor for CityWatchLA, KFI AM-640, iHeartMedia, 790-KABC, Cumulus Media, KCRW 89.9 FM, KRLA 870 AM, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, Movieline Magazine, Emmy Magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal, Pasadena Star-News, Los Angeles Downtown News and the Los Angeles Times in its sports, opinion, entertainment and Sunday Magazine sections among other publishers.)