Raleigh Mayor-elect headed to CA for Mayors Against Antisemitism Summit

Does Mayor-elect Janet Cowell's attendance set a new tone for Raleigh City Council?

Nov 30, 2024

Raleigh's Mayor-elect will be heading to Beverly Hills, California to attend the 2024 Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism being held from Dec. 11-13.

The event is hosted by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM). The organization boasts leading a "united front against Jew hatred" through a network of "over 850 interfaith organizations" as partners, as well as "more than five million activists and 250 social media influencers."

Cowell, a Democrat and former NC State Treasurer, will join over a dozen other mayors from major cities around the country at the event.

Per CAM's press release, the organization will release its
"Municipal Antisemitism Action Index," which is apparently a tool that ranks cities and towns based on that entity's "commitment and effectiveness in combating antisemitism, providing a clear framework and roadmap to measure progress, identify gaps, and promote best practices in local government action against hate and intolerance."

CAM was founded in 2019 by Adam Beren, a businessman and philanthropist from Kansas. Beren is a Trump donor and the Beren family have been major donors to Republicans over the years. His major business in Kansas is Berexco LLC, an oil and gas exploration firm.

Sacha Roytman-Dratwa leads CAM as its CEO. Roytman-Dratwa came to CAM after running the digital advocacy unit at the World Jewish Congress and is part of the digital media communication team for an Israeli public relation's group called Rimon Cohen Sheinkman. In the past, he had also been a member of the Israel Defense Forces’ New Media Operations team.

On its website, CAM has a portal where antisemitic incidents can be reported. CAM's website says it has tracked over 10,000 such incidents worldwide through the portal.

More To The Story

Cowell's attendance of CAM's Summit appears to signal a departure from the current Raleigh City Council under Mayor Mary Ann Baldwin, which saw pro-Palestinian speakers dominated public meetings in 2023 and 2024 calling for a one-sided "cease fire resolution" to be passed.

The one-sided resolution was drafted and pushed by three anti-Israel groups; North Carolina Environmental Justice Network (NCEJN), the Triangle chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, and the Party of Socialism and Liberation.

These efforts were spearheaded by Rania Masri, the co-director of NCEJN. She led multiple efforts to pressure cities and towns in the state to pass the same resolution with little success that included the Durham City Council voting 5-2 in February to pass it and Carrboro’s City Council passing a resolution 4-3 in November 2023.

Masri is an anti-Israel activist who publicly called the Oct. 7 massacre a “beautiful day," and has demanded the “eradication of Zionism.”

In a video on Facebook posted by Masri, the terror org Hamas is described as “our heroes," who are "legitimate" while comparing the terrorists to Marvel superheroes. The footage of Hamas terrorists paragliding into Israel on Oct. 7, as well as Hamas tunnel construction, and rocket building.

The resolution was brought up yet again at the Raleigh City Council's January meeting. Prior to the start of that meeting, Council Member Christina Jones was seen placing a Palestinian keffiyeh on her chair and then hugging Masri.

The resolution was brought to a surprise vote in March of this year, but it did not pass with a deadlocked vote of 4-4.

Voting in favor were members Mary Black, Jane Harrison, Christina Jones, and Megan Patton. Voting against the resolution were Baldwin along with members Corey Branch, Stormie Forte, and Jonathan Melton.

It's worth noting that as the Raleigh City Council was fending off anti-Israel sentiment, the General Assembly took action through House Bill 942, titled as the "Shalom Act," which was introduced by outgoing Speaker of the House Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain).

SHALOM is an acronym; the long title is Standing Up to Hate and Leading with Our Moral Principles.

The bill became SL 2024-27 in July 2024 and adopts the working definition of Antisemitism as adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in May 2016.

"Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities."

The SHALOM Act passed 45-2 in the Senate and 105-3 in the House.

The votes against passage were all cast by Democrats; Senators Val Applewhite (Cumberland) and Graig Meyer (Orange), and House Reps. Pricey Harrison (Guilford), Nasif Majeed (Mecklenburg) and Marcia Morey (Durham).

Some of those same House Democrats faced backlash after walking out on a Resolution supporting Israel after the Oct. 7 terror attack, which passed by a vote of 104-0.

Missing from the vote were 12 Democrat House members, who got up and walked out as the vote began:

John Autry (Mecklenburg County)
Amber Baker (Forsyth)
Gloristine Brown (Pitt)
Kanika Brown (Forsyth)
Maria Cervania (Wake)
Terence Everitt (Wake)
Pricey Harrison (Guilford)
Nasif Majeed (Mecklenburg)
Marcia Morey (Durham)
Renee Price (Orange)
Diamond Staton-Williams (Cabarrus)
Julie von Haefen (Wake)