Miami Beach strengthens Israeli ties but defers O Cinema vote
Miami Beach further strengthened its support for Israel in a series of votes Wednesday but didn't take up a proposal to influence programming at a local theater targeted for showing a documentary about the Gaza conflict.
Why it matters: The City Commission's moves show how intent it is to demonstrate its loyalty to Israel after a scrapped proposal to evict O Cinema drew national attention.
Driving the news: Commissioners directed the city to maximize investments in Israeli bonds and work on attracting Israeli and Jewish-owned businesses to Miami Beach.
The commission deferred a resolution encouraging O Cinema to screen films that show a "fair and balanced" viewpoint of the war in Gaza.
Friction point: During a tense meeting Wednesday, more than a dozen residents spoke up against the package of Israeli-related proposals.
At one point, Mayor Steven Meiner directed police to escort an audience member out of the commission chambers.
Later, he interrupted a speaker during the allotted two-minute comment period and refused to give the resident additional time.
What they're saying: Miami Beach resident Alex Mayka said the city has "real problems" to deal with, like flooding and housing scarcity, and shouldn't spend time focusing on supporting an "apartheid nation."
"These resolutions don't help people who actually live here."
He criticized the city targeting O Cinema, the South Beach theater with a lease on city-owned property.
"This city government has absolutely no place in telling artists what kind of stories they can or can't tell."
The other side: Meiner, a strong ally of Israel, responded to almost every anti-Israel comment during time reserved for public speakers, labeling some remarks as "hate speech" and antisemitism.
"I give the respect to the people who speak, but I'm gonna counter hate speech when it comes this way," Meiner said.
Commissioner Joseph Magazine, who sponsored the resolution attracting Israeli businesses, said it was "sickening" that someone could oppose recruiting Jewish business owners.
Magazine called Miami Beach a safe haven for the city's "Israeli and Jewish brothers and sisters."
"Part of being a safe haven is speaking proudly about an initiative like this."
Catch up quick: Meiner previously proposed evicting O Cinema and withdrawing its grant funding after it screened "No Other Land," the Oscar-winning documentary about the Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank prior to the war.
Meiner called the film a "one-sided propaganda attack" on the Jewish people.
O Cinema and the ACLU of Florida argued Meiner's effort amounted to government overreach and violated the theater's First Amendment rights.
Meiner later withdrew his eviction proposal after opposition from the Commission and public.
A second Meiner proposal, which wasn't heard Wednesday, criticizes "No Other Land" as an "incomplete portrayal" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and encourages O Cinema to "prioritize films that present the suffering and moral position of the Jewish people and the state of Israel."
The intrigue: It's unclear why Meiner never brought the item for a vote.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
43 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Israel warns of more attacks on Lebanon if Hezbollah not disarmed
The Israeli military will continue to bomb Lebanon if Hezbollah is not disarmed, Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz has warned, saying 'there will be no calm in Beirut' and 'no order or stability in Lebanon' unless Israel's security is assured. 'Agreements must be honoured, and if you do not do what is required, we will continue to act, and with great force,' the Israeli minister said in a Friday statement. Israel's military launched a series of strikes targeting Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday night, sending huge numbers of residents fleeing their homes on the eve of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday after issuing a forced evacuation order an hour earlier. Israel claimed, without providing evidence, that its latest attack was launched against Hezbollah 'drone factories' in the Lebanese Israeli military said Hezbollah was 'operating to increase production of UAVs [drones] for the next war' with Israel in 'blatant violation' of the terms of November's ceasefire. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli fighter jets had carried out about a dozen strikes in the attack. A Hezbollah statement said a preliminary assessment showed nine buildings had been destroyed, while dozens of others were damaged. Hezbollah also denied there were drone production facilities in the targeted locations. The Israeli attack was the fourth, and heaviest, carried out targeting Beirut's southern suburbs – a Hezbollah stronghold – since the ceasefire ended hostilities on November 27. Israel's last attack on the Lebanese capital, in which it claimed to destroy 'infrastructure where precision missiles' were being stored by Hezbollah, came in late April. Across Lebanon, Israel has violated the ceasefire on a near-daily basis in the seven months since it was signed, according to the Lebanese government of President Joseph Aoun, Arab nations and human rights groups. Aoun has appealed to the United States and France, guarantors of the November ceasefire, to rein in Israel's attacks. Speaking late on Thursday, Aoun voiced 'firm condemnation of the Israeli aggression', labelling the attacks a 'flagrant violation of an international accord … on the eve of a sacred religious festival'. On Friday, Ali Ammar, a Hezbollah lawmaker, urged 'all Lebanese political forces … to translate their statements of condemnation into concrete action', including diplomatic pressure. In the months since the ceasefire, Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed at least 190 people and wounded nearly 500 more, the Lebanese government said in the ceasefire agreement, the Lebanese military has been tasked with disarming Hezbollah – a political party and paramilitary group once believed to be more heavily armed than the state. But following Thursday's attack, Lebanon's army warned that such attacks are weakening its role in the ceasefire. It added that Israel rejected its proposal to inspect the alleged drone production sites in southern Beirut in order to prevent an air strike. 'The Israeli enemy violations of the deal and its refusal to respond to the committee is weakening the role of the committee and the army,' the military said in a statement. It added that continued Israeli attacks could lead the army to freeze its cooperation with the monitoring committee 'when it comes to searching posts' and dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure near the Israeli border in southern Lebanon. The war between Israel and Hezbollah re-erupted in the wake of Israel's war on Gaza in October 2023, as the Lebanese group launched cross-border attacks on northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Subsequent Israeli attacks on Lebanon killed more than 4,000 people, including hundreds of civilians, before the ceasefire was signed. Hezbollah rocket fire in Israel killed a reported 87 Israeli military personnel and 46 civilians.
an hour ago
Panama's president appeals to a higher power as nearly 2 months of protests roil nation
PANAMA CITY -- Panama's José Raúl Mulino appealed to a higher power on Friday, calling in an archbishop and a rabbi to deliver a message to striking banana workers after nearly two months of social protest that have roiled the country. Mulino has said he won't reverse controversial changes to Panama's social security system, courts have deemed the strike illegal and top banana Chiquita Brands fired nearly 5,000 striking workers last month in Panama's western Bocas del Toro province. But nothing has stopped the protests. So at his weekly news briefing Friday, Mulino said he had met with Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa and one of Panama's leading Jewish figures, Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik, to enlist them as intermediaries. He gave Ulloa a personal letter to bring to Francisco Smith, leader of the striking banana workers' union. In the letter, Mulino said, he committed to send proposed legislation to the Congress that would be favorable for the country's banana sector, above all its workers. But he conditioned the proposal on former workers lifting their protest. There was precedent for the maneuver. In 2022, Ulloa brokered a dialogue that eased protests over the high cost of fuel and food. In 2018, Ulloa mediated a dispute between parts of the government. Smith, secretary general of the Banana Industry Workers Union, had said earlier Friday before Mulino's announcement that he was open to dialogue. Union leaders planned to travel to the capital Monday to meet with the president of the National Assembly and present a list of demands. He insisted, however, that changes be made to the social security reform. Smith, who has led the protest in western Bocas del Toro province, has said the social security reform passed in March threatens the special privileges laid out for banana workers in another law, covering things like subsidies and labor protections. The impact has been acute. Chiquita Brands said last month they had lost at least $75 million before announcing a temporary halt to their operations in Panama. Demonstrations have not been limited to the banana workers, to Bocas del Toro or even to the social security changes. At various times teachers, construction workers and students have protested as well. Authorities have said they'll withhold the pay of 15,000 treachers for their strike. On Thursday, border police clashed with protesters who had blocked a highway in eastern Darien province, leaving injured on both sides. In addition to the social security changes, demonstrators have protested a security agreement giving U.S. troops access to some Panamanian facilities and efforts to reopen a massive copper mine.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Rubio imposes sanctions on four ICC judges for ‘targeting' US and Israel
The United States is placing sanctions on four judges from the international criminal court (ICC) for what it has called its 'illegitimate actions' targeting the United States and Israel. The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, announced the sanctions in a statement on Thursday. They target Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini-Gansou of Benin and Beti Hohler of Slovenia. Donald Trump ordered cabinet officials to draw up sanctions against the ICC after the court issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former defense minister Yoav Gallant. They were accused of overseeing an Israeli offensive during the Gaza conflict that caused famine and included the commission of war crimes. Two of the sanctioned judges authorised the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, and two authorised an ICC investigation into abuses by US personnel in Afghanistan. 'As ICC judges, these four individuals have actively engaged in the ICC's illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America or our close ally, Israel,' Rubio said. 'The ICC is politicized and falsely claims unfettered discretion to investigate, charge, and prosecute nationals of the United States and our allies. This dangerous assertion and abuse of power infringes upon the sovereignty and national security of the United States and our allies, including Israel.' The decision to move forward with the sanctions will escalate Trump's feud with the court and other international organisations, which he has broadly dismissed as politicised. The US has already sanctioned the ICC's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, because of his role in pursuing the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. Those sanctions have led Khan to lose access to his email and his bank accounts have been frozen, the Associated Press reported earlier this month. Americans who work for The Hague-based court have been warned that they could be arrested if they set foot on American soil. In a statement, the ICC said it 'deplores' the new designations for sanctions. 'These measures are a clear attempt to undermine the independence of an international judicial institution which operates under the mandate from 125 states parties from all corners of the globe,' the ICC said. 'Targeting those working for accountability does nothing to help civilians trapped in conflict,' the statement continued. 'It only emboldens those who believe they can act with impunity. These sanctions are not only directed at designated individuals, they also target all those who support the court, including nationals and corporate entities of states parties. They are aimed against innocent victims in all situations before the court, as well as the rule of law, peace, security and the prevention of the gravest crimes that shock the conscience of humanity.' Danya Chaikel, the International Federation for Human Rights's representative to the ICC, said the types of sanctions imposed by the Trump administration were originally designed to 'disrupt terrorist networks like ISIS, weapons traffickers, and human rights abusers, not international justice institutions.' 'Using them against ICC officials represents a dangerous misuse of executive power and distorts their purpose … It sends the chilling message that enforcing accountability for mass atrocities can get you punished, while allegedly committing international crimes may get you protected. James Goldston, executive director of the Open Society's justice initiative and a former ICC prosecutor, said: 'As a court of last resort, the ICC is the one place victims of the most serious crimes can turn to when other avenues have failed them in their search for truth and justice. These new designations of ICC judges threaten their hopes and embolden the perpetrators. Sanctions against ICC officials are a betrayal of America's proud commitment to the rule of law and international justice.'
