(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

We write as a group of Jewish Somerville residents who are alarmed by the way that support for Palestinian lives has been falsely conflated in public discourse with antisemitism. We also write specifically as Jewish residents who have been excited, inspired, and impressed by At-Large Councilor Willie Burnley Jr’s campaign for Mayor of Somerville.

We have known Willie for many years in different capacities; some of us as fellow candidates for public office, some as coworkers, some as fellow organizers in IfNotNow, Jewish Voice for Peace, and other movements for justice, and many as friends. We have all been supported by Willie as constituents, and grown as people through knowing him.

Each of us carries our Jewish histories with us, through lessons that we were raised with, stories of our ancestors escaping pogroms, family members who did not make it through the Shoah, and antisemitism that we have experienced firsthand. We take seriously the real and legitimate threat of antisemitism. We know Willie takes it seriously, too, from our conversations with him and how he has acted on his steadfast commitment to safety for all people. Willie has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with us at protests that tie Jewish safety to the safety of all people, including Palestinians. In his time as a journalist, Willie covered the 2017 vandalism of the Holocaust Memorial and why it is essential for all people to stand against antisemitism. He also helped chase actual neo-Nazis out of Boston in 2019 after they did a series of Sieg Heils, as captured by a Boston Herald photographer.

Despite Willie’s lifetime of fighting for social, economic, and racial justice, there are those who seek to smear him for speaking out against the Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians and the institutions that defend it. We know that conflation of antisemitism and anti-Zionism is a dangerous distraction. Unfortunately, many institutions still weaponize antisemitism to include any criticism of the state of Israel. Recently, the National Educators Association (NEA), the largest teachers union in the country, voted to not use, endorse, or publicize materials from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for this very reason. Much of the ADL’s day-to-day functions seems to be to provide cover for human rights abuses against Palestinians and excuse the actions of right-wing antisemites like President Trump so long as they are sufficiently pro-Israel. We applaud this decision by the NEA; an organization that excuses far-right fascists like Elon Musk for performing Sieg Heils is not representative of our values and does not take issues of bigotry seriously.

Our taxes fund the Israeli war machine currently starving, shooting, and bombing Palestinian men, women, children, and babies. We believe that governments at every level must address their complicity in this tragedy. We were proud to support the Somerville City Council’s resolution for a ceasefire in January 2024, just as we are proud to support the ongoing efforts by Somerville for Palestine to direct local leaders to cut ties with companies invested in human rights violations. Economic divestment was a key element in the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa, and we support the same tactic to dismantle modern apartheid in Israel.

We believe all Somerville residents should be free from hate, and that our community is strongest when we build together, through having honest conversations about how best to live our values. Those honest conversations are impossible to have if supporting the freedom and safety of Palestinians is treated as a form of racism instead of an act of tikk un olam, “repairing the world.”

We believe in liberty, safety, and dignity for all people. We believe that, as Mayor, Willie Burnley Jr. will fight for these essential Somerville values. That is what we have witnessed him doing for many years, and that – along with his extensive platform for housing justice, support for local artists, and transparency – is why we support him now.

Signed,

Rebecca Miller

Ben Silverman

Ariel DiOrio

Amanda Zimmerman

Ryan Black

Sam Alterman

Dani Vernick

Miles Meth

Emily Isaac
Nicholas Wilton

Eve Seitchik

Gillian Daniels

Vika Zafrin

Maya Harel

Crystal M. Huff

Gabriel Colton

Naomi Roswell

Martha Schnee

Nora Bond

Matthew Taylor