San Francisco’s Antisemitism Problem: It’s Complicated

It is barely summer 2025 and the just-completed San Francisco’s Pride Weekend became the setting for not one but two embarrassing and concerning incidents exposing Mayor Daniel Lurie’s difficultly in leadership. As one of several Jewish elected city officials (his father is a rabbi), Lurie has apparently let slide direct challenges to his being the leader of this city; his inability to command even simple respect within San Francsico is prime evidence of years of building a spiraling ideological chaos.

Just one week prior to this past June’s Gay Pride Month’s weekend festivities, Lurie headlined a contingency of elected officials, business and spiritual leaders gathered on city hall steps. Recent attacks on Jews within San Francisco city limits were addressed and decried. A plea was made to moderate the rhetoric and stand up for our Jewish population.

And then, Pride weekend arrived.

The first incident occurred at the Trans March staging area Friday, June 27, 2025, where Lurie was booed, shouted down, and chased out of Dolores Park by transgender activists which asserted Lurie simply wasn’t welcome there. Imagine, the mayor wasn’t welcome. Side note: it is plausible his civil rights had been violated in the act of booting him out of that park. This was undoubtedly a public relations disaster for Lurie, who took office in January 2025 as a moderate Democrat promising to unify San Francisco. Video captured him being escorted out of the park by security, looking visibly shaken as he crossed the street, with one passerby flipping him off and the crowd continuing its barrage of insults hurled his way.

The second incident involved a significantly more provocative, widely-viewed and literally hate-filled act. Just one day later, a street-width banner, “Dykes Hate Zionists,” was carried by marchers as part of the Dyke March, stirring controversy for its clearly antisemitic messaging. Within the banner’s message was a Hamas-associated inverted triangle symbol, illustrating the polarizing nature of their intersectional activism. Roughly 80% of America’s Jews support Israel and are Zionists, joined further by adherents of other religions who support Israel as well.

Lurie failed to respond (publicly) to either incident, his social media account on Instagram, typically very active and full of positivity, shunned any mention completely. Conspicuous silence from other prominent Jewish local officials like California State Senator Scott Wiener, San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, two prominent leaders with deep ties to both the LGBTQ+ and Jewish communities, further amplifies Lurie’s perceived weakness. Silence from any of their city hall colleagues paints a damning picture of leaders who appear weak and ill-equipped to confront bigotry and volatile political culture.

From my perspective, these events and a failure to react highlight Mayor Lurie’s inability to assert authority; his disconnect from San Francisco’s diverse communities and his failure to uphold the rule of law and public order further exacerbate the sustained antisemitism prevalent across the city. In a town where public protests are a rite of passage, any mayor who flees under pressure appears spineless, incapable of leading through adversity.

Liora Rez, founder and executive director of the organization, “StopAntisemitism.org” agrees.

In a telephone call with Rez, after those Pride incidents, we both lamented Mayor Lurie’s lack of action and concur it’s a huge sign of weakness. Should Lurie have launched an investigation, called a meeting with the Trans and Dyke March’s organizers, barred their future participation in city events? Unequivocally, we concluded yes.  As each display of aggression, bigotry and intolerance has festered, building virulently over the years, the ability to control it diminishes. Action should have been taken a long time ago.

Useful Idiots

The term “Useful Idiot” describes someone who is unwittingly manipulated, as a pawn, to advance an agenda, often without that person grasping its full implications. The phrase is often attributed to Vladimir Lenin, the Soviet revolutionary leader. Used to describe Western intellectuals, journalists, or sympathizers who, during the early 20th century, supported or propagandized for the Soviet Union without critically examining its authoritarian practices. It applied to intellectuals or activists who praised Soviet policies while ignoring human rights abuses, such as the gulags or political purges.

Again, Liora Rez and I agreed, a prime example in Senator Wiener is such Useful Idiot. As he is an adherent to both the Jewish and LGBTQ+ communities, he is often torn between supporting either or both. As time passed, Wiener is facing tough decisions (and criticism) for drifting further into repeating antisemitic rhetoric as defense for LGTBQ+ issues. As I recently exclaimed, imagine an elected official (Wiener) putting gender and sexual fetish ideology before crime, education, drug addiction, parental rights and the city’s failed retail, restaurant and cafe industries?

Wiener enthusiastically prioritizes progressive social issues over most-pressing urban challenges, framing him as out of touch with constituents and driven mostly by the gay ideological agenda. But, in response to criticism levied against him and his scathing views on current national politics, Wiener made a shockingly reckless Nazi analogy by comparing newly-updated university policies at University of Pennsylvania (on ending transgender sports participation) to Nazi collaboration, highly exploitative given Wiener’s professed Jewish identity. Hypocrite indeed. Wiener’s outburst trivialized the Holocaust and manipulated discourse for his political gain. [ https://californiaglobe.com/fr/sen-scott-wieners-shockingly-reckless-nazi-analogy/]. As a useful idiot, Wiener frequently attacks critics of his LGBTQ+ community activism, ducking behind his Jewishness as his shield. But San Franciscans are finally waking up to this.

San Francsico’s 11-member Board of Supervisors (our city council) historically has had many Jewish members to this day. But like Scott Wiener, several exploit their Jewish DNA for political gain. Disgraced and ousted former District Attorney Chesa Boudin lamented his inability to annually celebrate Passover as his parents were incarcerated for murder. Former supervisor Dean Preston masterminded the Gaza Ceasefire Resolution which devolved into a verbal Jew-bashing, pro-Hamas circus inside city hall chambers in early 2024. Preston extolled his Jewish background, his father and grandparents escaping Nazi Germany. Yet as a Useful Idiot, he squarely sided with keffiyeh-donning Hamas supporters protesting inside chambers, then being lauded once the Resolution was passed.

What should be done?

San Francisco is a complex city with a history of enduring both tragic and celebratory events, shaped by a largely transient and increasingly Progressive population since the 1960s. This backdrop presents myriad challenges, including polarizing agendas from special interest groups like unions, which often promote antisemitic and DEI-focused narratives, and “socialist” candidates vying for power. To address these issues, leadership, including Mayor Lurie, must rise above ideological divides, engage with affected communities, take decisive action to enforce public order, and foster dialogue to restore trust. Only through proactive measures and a commitment to unity can the city hope to heal its deep-seated divisions, uphold its diverse heritage, and restore balance by toning down divisive rhetoric.