Antisemitism has reached alarming levels in the United States, and California, which prides itself on tolerance, is no exception. It has reached nearly every major community. A story from Davis, California, illustrates the problem.
The first time I visited Davis was in May 2025. I was invited to address Jewish students at UC Davis, and expected a quiet, innocuous visit to a university town.
Instead, I walked into something entirely different.
The Jewish students I met spoke in hushed tones about how they were afraid to be openly Jewish on campus. Faculty members confided that they were reluctant to speak out. And members of the local Jewish community made it clear that they feel abandoned by the very institutions that are supposed to protect them.
Antisemitism has reached alarming levels in the United States, and California, which prides itself on tolerance, is no exception. AP Earlier this year, a UC Davis professor who had publicly threatened “Zionist journalists” and their families retained her position despite widespread outrage.
But hatred has spread beyond campus — dressed up in the language of so-called social justice.
The City of Davis Human Relations Commission produced what it calls the “MAPA Report” earlier this year. The report focuses on the local experiences of Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians, and their “allies” (hence the acronym).
On the surface, it sounds reasonable enough. After all, every community deserves to feel safe, respected, and heard.
But if you read the report, a chilling pattern begins to emerge. This is not a document about protecting a vulnerable community. It is a document that singles out another, far more vulnerable one.
The report consistently and systematically casts the Jewish community — particularly those associated with Israel or Zionism — not as a minority in need of protection, but as a primary source of harm.
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The report incorporates, without challenge or qualification, a series of extreme and inflammatory claims about Jews and “Zionists,” presenting these unsubstantiated claims as legitimate testimony rather than biased assertions.
The report includes a complaint about “Zionist intimidation and the cowardice of others to stand up to Zionist fascism.”
Another comment in the report claims that Davis is being influenced by “a small group of ultra-nationalist and supremacist Jews who were creating havoc for the city.”
Imagine, for a moment, if a city-sponsored report included comparable language about any other minority group. It would be rightly dismissed as bigoted. Here, it is presented as insight.
The most troubling element of all is the report’s repeated reliance on the concept of the “weaponization of antisemitism.” This is not presented as a contested claim or as one perspective among many. It is embedded as a central idea.
Think about what that means. If antisemitism is a “weapon,” then those who report it are not victims — they are the villains. And if raising awareness about antisemitism is itself suspect, then antisemitism becomes, by definition, impossible to prove.
It is a classic rhetorical trap — and once this idea is formally adopted by an official body, it becomes something far more dangerous: A policy framework.
And that is exactly where this is heading. Because this report is not just descriptive — it is prescriptive. It lays the groundwork for training programs and civic policies based on a newly constructed concept of “Anti-Palestinian Racism,” a framework that risks equating support for Israel — or even expressions of Jewish identity tied to Israel — with bigotry.
To make matters worse, the process that produced this report only deepens the concern.
There was no serious use of police data. No engagement with university or school district records. No meaningful response to Jewish communal organizations — including Hillel, Chabad, and regional Jewish leadership — all of whom formally objected to the report.
We’ve seen this playbook before — in Canada, in parts of Europe, and increasingly across North America. Redefine the terms. Blur the lines. And then institutionalize the new, hateful narrative.
But here’s the part that should alarm everyone, not just Jews: this isn’t happening on the fringes. It’s happening in Davis — a city that prides itself on being educated, thoughtful, and morally serious.
If this can happen in Davis, where can’t it happen?
You do not combat one form of prejudice by encouraging another.
You do not build inclusion by scapegoating a minority.
And you certainly do not promote justice by distorting reality.
The danger is not theoretical. According to recent reporting in the Sacramento Bee, the Davis City Council is now weighing whether to adopt recommendations stemming from the MAPA report, amid sharp objections from local Jewish organizations and significant division within the community.
What began as a commission study has quickly become a live political battle — one that will determine whether the city formally endorses the framework it contains.
The question is whether those in positions of leadership will have the courage to say, “Enough is enough.”
Rabbi Pini Dunner is the senior rabbi at Beverly Hills Synagogue.
