Miami Beach commissioner David Suarez: I’m unapologetically hostile toward antisemitism | Opinion

I am compelled to respond to the opinion article by Miami Beach resident Alan Levine published by the Miami Herald on May 1, 2024.

It is riddled with misinformation, false accusations and attempted attacks upon my character and our mayor, Steven Meiner.

Speaking for myself, I unapologetically have absolute hostility towards antisemitic stances and actions, whether they be blatant or cloaked.

At the time of writing this, university campuses all over America are overtaken by far-left terrorist sympathizers, proudly supporting Hamas and attempting to frame the mass murder and rape of Israeli women and children as “social justice”.

While Columbia University in New York and others are allowing kids to attack Jewish students, prevent them from attending classes, and vandalize buildings, this will not stand in Miami Beach.

By unanimous votes, the current Miami Beach mayor and city commissioners have recently taken stances to keep our city and its residents safe. In March, the commission supported a resolution by Mayor Meiner for the city to set “parameters for reasonable time, place and manner restrictions” for protests, pointing to several pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the city in recent months.

We have also taken additional steps to announce to the world that we stand on the side of the State of Israel and that Jews will always be protected in Miami Beach. I applaud and appreciate all my colleagues for this show of solidarity.

Levine and his new modern liberalism are the extreme today in our society, pushing days-gone-by common-sense liberalism into the “moderate” and labeling those of us who were “moderate” as “avowed right-wing” conservatives.

Today’s liberals, of which Levine is clearly a vocal champion, perpetuate the very methods and tactics they falsely accuse people like me of applying — gaslighting, violence, threats and stifling of free speech. Shame on them.

In truth, they assemble bits of facts and then manipulate and reforge them into a false narrative to promote what I deem to be an evil agenda.

Why is Alan Levine attempting to frame the disruption of services at Temple Emanuel?

From Levine’s opinion article:

“Of course no one had come to the speech to pray, and the only person ‘accosted’ that day was a Jewish woman in the audience who had yelled, ‘Ceasefire now!’ and was wrestled to the floor by audience members” is the picture Levine wishes to portray.

Here is the accurate reporting by the local CBS4 station:

“During his talk, four separate times, protesters stood up and started yelling and screaming and disrupting the talk.”

Although disruptive and on private property, guest speaker attorney Alan Dershowitz didn’t have security escort them out immediately. He actually welcomed any discourse but said only during the question-and-answer period.

Disruptions of religious services of any sort will not be tolerated in Miami Beach.

We will not allow physical attacks against Jews that we see at UCLA, Columbia and dozens of other University campuses. We will do everything in our power to protect our citizens before they are beaten and abused.

I’ve loudly advocated for tough public safety measures to end the spring break/Memorial Day weekend debacles in our city and demanded that our police department go above and beyond to protect Jewish people from threats and violence under the shield of free speech.

As an elected official for the people of Miami Beach, I will always publicly fight against antisemitism and stand on the side of public safety. If this labels me a sword-bearer for today’s common-sense conservatism, then I am guilty as charged.

Today’s extreme liberals lack common sense and won’t bully me into submission.

There are plenty of cities in America that have defunded the police and allowed anarchy and chaos to placate Hamas sympathizers.

Miami Beach is not one of them.

David Suarez is a Miami Beach commissioner.