Almost no local media are reporting on the JCRC’s ongoing lobbying on behalf of Israel, which JCRC leadership is doing at every level: town, municipal, county, state, and now national.
reposted from Marin County Confidential, April 20, 2025
I. Video: JCRC’s Janice Cader Thompson and some of the JCRC crew attend the Makdisi lecture – which JCRC members had previously tried to cancel. Thompson responds to questions post-lecture.
Despite attempts by some members of the SF Bay Area JCRC to challenge a mere lecture on Palestine by UC Berkeley Professor Ussama Makdisi at Sonoma State University, the lecture proceeded as originally planned on April 15.
Amid a broader backdrop of severe attacks on universities for allowing protest of Israel’s genocide, it was the capable stewardship of SSU Professor Stephen Bittner, who organizes the University’s annual Holocaust and Genocide Lecture Series, who saw it through. And, as reported by Tarini Mehta in the Press-Democrat the following day, Makdisi’s presentation, “Atonement at the Expense of Others: Palestinians and the Question of Genocide” won a standing ovation from the attendees.
Many of those who attended had only learned about Bittner’s excellent lecture series because of an earlier Press-Democrat article about criticism of the planned lecture voiced by local JCRC members. (It’s the “Streisand Effect” in action!)
The Press-Democrat article included the detail that the University had received thousands of letters trying to cancel Professor Makdisi’s lecture. (On April 11, I ran a public records act request for the emails, and will report on them when they are received.)
It is unusual for local media to report on any of the JCRC’s attempts to thwart free speech. So it was refreshing that the Press-Democrat reporter, Tarini Mehta, included two JCRC/BANJO member comments in the preliminary article covering the controversy. That is more contextual coverage than local media has provided about the many ongoing attacks on free speech by the JCRC and its offshoot, BANJO in all of April.
To be in a room with so many who were gravely concerned about Israel’s worsening attacks on Gaza and West Bank, and at a time when universities, professors, and students are being attacked (and some even kidnapped and deported) for free speech criticizing Israel, was sobering. And no less so when Sonoma State University is itself facing an uncertain financial future. Still, Bittner’s brave introduction of Makdisi could not have been more praiseful, and Makdisi’s lecture, given at this particularly fraught time, struck the perfect combination of eloquence, urgency, and stoicism.
Makdisi is a nephew of Edward Said, and it is uncanny how a few of his speech patterns echo that of his uncle in recorded interviews. But Makdisi, as Bittner pointed out, is a highly respected scholar in his own right, and his 2011 book, The Artillery of Heaven: American Missionaries and the Failed Conversion of the Middle East, has won widespread praise.
Bittner also recommended a podcast that Makdisi provides for free with his equally illustrious brothers, called “Makdisi Street”. I listened to one of the recent episodes with Professor Lara Sheehi and it was compelling.
Makdisi’s lecture, for all its eloquence and timeliness, was specifically designed for college-level students who need an introduction to the topic. But for attendees who had read deeply into the Israel/Palestine issue, there was still new information, and to hear Makdisi bring all the information up to date in the context of what is happening now is something you will want to hear. This link takes you to the full presentation, including Bittner’s introduction.
The attendance at the lecture by many of of the same local Jewish Community Relations Council members who had so viciously thwarted Bay Area ceasefire resolutions did not go unnoticed by many attendees – to the extent that one young man even mentioned it during the question and answer period after the lecture:
The elected official the young man referenced was Janice Cader Thompson. Her successful crushing of Petaluma’s ceasefire resolution was covered by veteran investigative reporter Peter Byrne in this excellent Counterpunch article. I later wrote a follow-up article when I discovered that Thompson had taken a largely undisclosed junket to Israel in 2023 and had subsequently taken an overnight with the FBI and US attorneys at Camp Newman; both trips were paid for by the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC). While the trips had been reported on her form 700’s, Thompson did not share the information during the council discussions regarding the ceasefire resolution.
I was able to speak with Thompson at the end of the Makdisi lecture this week, which was a treat since the last time I tried to interview Thompson, she had repeatedly hung up on me. (At the time, my questions were about her largely undisclosed trip to Israel and her overnight with the FBI at Camp Newman. )
During our public conversation, I kept the GoPro running even as the battery was running out (you will see the charging cord in the camera frame). I did so because it is critically important that there is a record of where JCRC/BANJO members – and other de facto members of the pro-Israel lobby – now stand on the issue of Israel’s genocide, particularly given that:
- JCRC Executive Director Tyler Gregory signaled in early March that he was willing to work with the current Trump administration to target local university students even more harshly than has already occurred; and
- almost no local media is reporting on the JCRC’s ongoing lobbying on behalf of Israel, which JCRC leadership is doing at every level: town, municipal, county, state, and now national. When I write “almost no local media”, I mean even supposedly “independent” local media, such as the generously funded Mission Local in San Francisco, the Phoenix Project in San Francisco, and the Cityside papers including Oaklandside and Berkeleyside, etc.
Due to the way GoPro splits video onto the memory card, Thompson’s answers to my question are divided into two parts. I include my comments and additional context after each segment.
The most important part of the video is the second part, so I provide it first. This segment followed the concerns I raised with Thompson about the plight of Orthodox Christians in Gaza who are also imperiled by Israel’s assault:
Some context for the comments Thompson made in the above video:
The Unnamed Child:
Thompson dodged the issue of JCRC Executive Director Ty Gregory’s conduct by mentioning a Palestinian child in Ramallah whose photograph she had taken. She notes that they looked at each other, then she took a picture. If she ever spoke to the child, she does not acknowledge it. She does not bring up what, possibly, the young boy thought of seeing her in occupied Ramallah, on a tour group led by the JCRC and its carefully curated handlers.
Thompson could not confirm whether the child is still alive, only that he probably is. Such odds-making rather denies the reality of what Israel is currently enacting even in the West Bank, where Ramallah is located, and how many Palestinian children Israel routinely seizes for its prisons. Israel is reportedly the only country that maintains prisons for children.
What is the purpose of Thompson invoking her great concern gazing at the photograph of a child whose name she never asked, and whose fate she does not know? I was reminded of Elvis Costello’s bitter song about Margaret Thatcher’s public relations use of a child – even as Thatcher attacked every system in Britain that was created to protect children.
Thompson then claimed it’s more the “generational trauma” but this is a polite way of avoiding the reality that Israel has created more orphans and child amputees in less time than any other conflict in history.
“Most Israelis”
Thompson then tried to claim that “more people that are opposed to this in Israel than are supportive ” referring to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, although Thompson declined to use the word “genocide” or even “apartheid” to describe Israeli policies. But there is no evidence to back up her claim that any majority in Israel opposes the government’s genocide, or even acknowledges that it is a genocide.
I had to counter her claim and, sadly, remind her of how slowly opinion within the US Jewish population has moved. I did not add (but I should have added) that this calcified position is very much a product of decades of propaganda foisted upon the Jewish American population by the Israel lobby, of which she is a part. This calcified position amongst older American Jews remains even as the latest Pew Research data shows how much the rest of the country’s views of Israel have soured, and other data shows a large number of younger Jews abandoning support for Israel entirely.
Thompson then stated that her own views had changed, seeming to reference the trauma of October 7 being “real”. No doubt that trauma of October 7 was real, but the extreme nature of Israel’s retaliation on Palestinian civilians was evident within the first few days after October 7.
Thompson said she is horrified by Palestinians being “taken away” but declined to note that the actions of the Israel lobby had already played a major role in the targeting the hundreds of university students currently being detained and/or threatened with deportation for even mild criticism of Israel which the JCRC still maintains is “antisemitic”.
I pushed back gently again on Thompson, pointing out that this was why it was important to get a clear statement from the JCRC on the attacks on universities, since we now know that the imprisoned Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil had been targeted by the Israel lobby. Thompson said she would bring the matter to the JCRC.
And here is the first part of the conversation I had with Thompson:
Here are my brief notes on Thompson’s comments in the segment above:
Note that Thompson acknowledged that there were JCRC members present, but did not at first acknowledge that she herself is a JCRC/BANJO member. This appeared to be consistent with the lack of identification when JCRC members engaged with lecture attendees and with Makdisi. (There was something very jarring about seeing the JCRC members, who had done so much to dehumanize Palestinians, fawning over Makdisi.)
Thompson seemed to treat the information in Makdisi’s presentation as somehow novel to her and something she would need to take in, but many of the facts presented by Makdisi had been presented to Thompson in letter format and at City Council in late 2023 and early 2024.
Listen to how Thompson deflected her criticism onto “the British” and “the Western”, then trailed off. She made no specific reference to decades of US policy that sustained Israel’s apartheid (and now explicitly genocidal) policies, which we as Americans fund through our tax dollars. For me personally, it was flashback to many years of my pro-Israel Jewish friends laying everything at the feet of the British, and omitting any responsibility for the US, which clearly has had the upper hand for the entirety of Israel’s mere 78-year-history.
Thompson said she supported a “two-state solution”. But how was a two-state solution possible if Israel continued its current rate of killing?
Listen to how Thompson referred to the genocide Israel is conducting as something that is merely “happening”. She uses an explicitly passive voice for the “war” which last year she insisted was somehow necessary.
As usual, I found myself stammering at certain points. It is difficult to express how deeply upsetting it is to wake up every morning to new images of Palestinian children bombed to bits or burned to death by the IDF with weapons we supply.
When I brought up the plight of Greek Orthodox Christians in Gaza, Thompson seemed genuinely surprised that Greek Orthodox were the majority Christian population in Gaza. It was disappointing that Thompson, who had so arrogantly asserted that ceasefire proponents did not know what they were talking about, did not even seem to know that Greek Orthodox are the majority Christian population in Gaza.
Because local media has for the most part ignored the very disturbing level of pressure that the JCRC has been allowed to apply to policy here in the Bay Area, I am slowly increasing my investigation into the JCRC. I am examining more closely which “venerable” liberal San Francisco families have been funding the JCRC and related pro-Israel lobby groups, and have begun interviewing and reaching out to some of the principals. Some of them are former classmates of mine from Marin Country Day School, and it’s interesting to see how their views on Israel have changed while their donations to the pro-Israel lobby groups have not. More on that soon.
II. Some quick notes on what’s ahead: First Amendment Under Attack in Emeryville; “Moss for Boss” Suffers Setback; Margoliash Set To Return To Marin County Superior Court on May 2; Recall in Fairfax
City of Emeryville vs. Brian Donahue: There is a lot more coming up, including what I think is an important test of the First Amendment to be heard tomorrow morning at 9:00 am in Alameda Superior Court. The case involves a citizen journalist whom the City of Emeryville is trying to muzzle in some unusual ways. The citizen journalist is Brian Donahue of the Emeryville Tattler. I look forward to watching the case tomorrow morning, and hope to bring you news of the case as it progresses.
“Moss For Boss” Setback: The Marin Independent-Journal recently ran an article on the Serenity Housing debacle in Larkspur which miraculously fails to mention the involvement of one Jordan Moss, founder of Catalyst Housing Group. (Moss once ran for Student Body at Tamalpais High School, with the campaign slogan “Moss for Boss”, and it’s just too good of a moniker to shed.)
As was pointed out by at least one speaker at the latest Larkspur City Council meeting, the business press, both local and national, had for several years raised questions about Jordan Moss’ unusually structured projects. This was a story that the County-partnered Marin Independent-Journal completely ignored even as it was going on right in front of their faces.
Beyond that, several community leaders in Marin City had to raise concerns about Moss’ practices to the Board of Supervisors. And yet the City of Larkspur tumbled headfirst into the Serenity project, with disastrous results for the City’s finances. If only they had listened to Marin City!
People vs. Margoliash: David Margoliash is set to re-appear in Marin County Superior Court on May 2. There’s a New York Post-style headline for that, but I’m going to pass on that. Still, I hope to attend the hearing.
Fairfax Recall: The effort to recall Mayor Hellman and Councilmember Blash in Fairfax continues to grow ever more contentious. A recent election in Oakland (which Barbara Lee handily won despite massive spending against her) provides some context, as players in the Oakland recall campaigns have been active in the Marin recall effort.
Oak Hill Housing Project: Some of us watched with real interest the showdown between the Board of Supervisors and the Marin County “Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers” for the proposed Oak Hill housing project. I hope to upload some of that video soon, some of which was quite funny, but much of which was an arguably necessary “kicking of the tires” to make sure the financing will not become a “Serenity Housing Part Deux” debacle. There are good arguments to be made from “both sides” and this is the kind of criticism that local governments need, regardless of how insincere some of the motivations may be.
Never Let A Crisis Go To Waste: It does appear that big plans are being made for the Canal District in the tumult and chaos of the first 100 days of the Trump administration. This is being posited as beneficial to Canal residents, but some observers in Marin City have a more skeptical view, as they similarly had of the scam “opportunity zones” that surfaced early during Trump’s first term. Intriguingly, in both efforts there is at least one “white savior” in common. And, like the Serenity Housing fiasco, the Marin I-J is simply transcribing what officials and investors tell them.
Thanks as always to patient readers for insights, advice, and inspiration.
©️2025 Eva Chrysanthe
Eva Chrysanthe is an independent researcher and activist who spends much of her time perusing the county archive and filing public records requests.
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