Current events
(Sept. 18, 2026/ JNS)
Jeannette Sánchez-Palacios, mayor of Ventura, Calif., stated at an interview at Temple Beth Torah, a Reform synagogue in the city, on Friday that she is dealing with others to have the city to embrace the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working meaning of Jew-hatred.
“This would be especially essential work that we can do for our Ventura citizens, and to make sure that the message is clear. We will not be specified by hate, “she stated at the synagogue, which was just recently vandalized with antisemitic graffiti.
Sánchez-Palacios informed JNS that her very first idea upon finding out about the graffiti was that it was “so regrettable” and “here we are once again.”
“We do not require that kind of habits. We do not accept that type of habits,” she informed JNS outside the synagogue. “I understood that speaking up right away was what we needed to do.”
The mayor informed JNS that she’s discovering more about the IHRA meaning.
“I understand cities like San Diego have actually embraced a resolution,” she stated. “I asked city personnel currently to check out it, since as a city, we currently have actually shown that hate and despiteful acts are not going to be endured, therefore if we might even take it an action even more to specify antisemitism and what that resembles, then I wish to have the ability to take that.”
City personnel would require to provide their research study on the matter to the Ventura City Council, and the council would vote whether the city must embrace the meaning, the mayor informed JNS.
Sánchez-Palacios was among the speakers at a Friday interview that the Anti-Defamation League arranged at the synagogue.
Before journalism conference started, Rabbi Lisa Hochberg-Miller, a rabbi at the temple, revealed guests websites on synagogue premises that were vandalized.
That consisted of the Temple Beth Torah indication and the synagogue’s outside walls. The graffiti consisted of a Nazi swastika and the words “death to the Jews” and “battle k *** s,” according to Hochberg-Miller.
The neighboring Higher Vision Church and Juanamaria Park were likewise vandalized with antisemitic graffiti, the Ventura Police Department stated
Sánchez-Palacios informed JNS that over the previous couple of years, there have actually been “a number of events” of hate criminal activities, consisting of yard indications for political prospects painted with a Nazi swastika.
“There’s been other types of hatred revealed towards other groups. It is something that we are familiar with,” she stated. “Speaking out versus it is what’s going to assist our neighborhood join throughout these minutes.”
JNS asked the mayor about the California attorney general of the United States’s report in July which discovered that almost three-quarters of religion-based hate criminal activities targeted Jews in the state in 2025. Sánchez-Palacios stated that “politics, where we’re at today, has sort of unlocked and permitted a few of this habits.”
“I believe rhetoric at a few of our greatest levels of federal government in the federal government and the state federal government– that I believe individuals are seeing their actions aren’t being held liable and they believe that it’s okay,” she informed JNS.
“For me, as a regional chosen authorities, it’s so crucial and important that I speak versus this hate and versus this kind of habits, since while perhaps we’re not getting the example from the greater ups, they’re visiting it here at the city government,” she stated.
A great deal of chaos ‘
David Dickey, the city’s authorities chief, informed JNS that “we’ve done substantial area canvassing at this moment”and “talked to lots of individuals.”
“It is an active examination. It’s plainly a concern for us,” he stated.”We dislike when things like this occur in our neighborhood. ”
Dickey stated that the authorities department believes that the exact same individual or group lags the vandalism based upon the “distance and the resemblance in the vandalism that took place.”
Typically, when policeman examine whether a criminal activity is a hate criminal offense, they see if the criminal activity was” encouraged towards race, religious beliefs, gender, things of that sort, “Dickey stated.
“In this case, based upon the nature of the vandalism, it plainly was directed at the Jewish neighborhood, and after that obviously, it’s next door, it’s on the Christian church also,”he informed JNS.”I understand that there’s an excellent relationship there, and it was likewise at the park surrounding to these homes.”
“They’re plainly attempting to daunt, send out a message straight to the Jewish individuals and individuals that praise here,” Dickey stated.
2 Ventura investigators are trained to deal with hate criminal offenses, and the entire department is “at their disposal,” he informed JNS.
The variety of hate criminal offenses in the city “has actually not been truly high, and it’s been quite regularly listed below 10 each year,” Dickey informed JNS. “We deal with about 81,000 require service a year. That’s an actually low number, however that does not imply that it’s unimportant when they take place.”
He stated that a “considerable variety of the little volume that we have actually, have actually been directed towards the Jewish neighborhood in the kind of vandalism.”
“It’s connected into a wider nationwide issue, and rather honestly, worldwide issue at this moment,” Dickey informed JNS. “There’s a great deal of chaos, and I believe that, sadly, in some cases that manifests itself at the regional level.”
‘Not once again’
Matt LaVere, a manager for Ventura County, informed JNS that his very first idea after becoming aware of the vandalism was” not once again. ”
“We’ve had comparable acts of vandalism here at the temple. We’ve collected when we’ve seen acts of antisemitism, like the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh,”he stated. “This is our event area, however to have it occur once again in our neighborhood right here, it was simply unpleasant.”
LaVere informed JNS that he was not shocked to hear that almost three-quarters of religion-based hate criminal offenses in the state targeted Jews in 2015.
“I see what’s taking place worldwide, and what actually irritates me is that it’s taking place in both political celebrations today,” he stated. “I do not seem like the nationwide celebrations are speaking up strong enough versus the fringes of their own celebration, where we’re seeing antisemitism being simply flagrantly spread out around on the far-left, on the far-right.”
“I attempt to do that here in your area, however I believe all of us have a responsibility to not just speak out however to speak out louder, since it’s not improving,” LaVere informed JNS.
JNS asked if the county Board of Supervisors would think about embracing the IHRA meaning. LaVere stated that the county has actually “released a pronouncement stating bigotry as a public health crisis.”
“We’re constantly taking a look at manner ins which we, as a political body, can speak up versus not just antisemitism however simply dislike in basic,” he stated.
A consistent level’
Paul Nunez, the county chief deputy district lawyer, informed JNS that his workplace could not talk about the active examination of the graffiti case.
“We’re here today to support the neighborhood,” he stated.
When examining hate criminal offenses usually, Nunez stated that “the frequency or the declaration of ill will or violence towards another group that recognizes either consistently, ethnically, their sexual preference, all of these things if it’s shown in their remarks, will assist us to show the components of a hate criminal activity.”
The county hasn’t seen “a significant boost as much as other neighborhoods have actually had, however we do have a consistent level, and we’re attempting to remove that level,” Nunez informed JNS.
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