Jewish Chronicle
Jewish Pittsburghers react to 2024 general election, November 11, 2024
Looking at the big picture, Jeremy Kazzaz, the executive director of Beacon Coalition — a Pittsburgh-based non-partisan organization that operates to protect the rights and wellbeing of Jews — said that Democrats had a messaging problem.
“Whether people want to believe it or not, I think that there is a strong feeling about the direction of the country has been going and that those feelings were not addressed by the Democratic party,” he said, adding, “I don’t think they were entirely addressed by the Trump campaign, either.”
Trump, Kazzaz said, effectively leveraged the identity politics embraced by the far left that many people feel are out of sync with their worldview.
The Forward
‘If Kamala had chosen Josh Shapiro’: Some Democrats wonder if Pennsylvania’s Jewish governor would have made a difference on the ticket, November 6, 2024
Jeremy Kazzaz, a Democratic lawyer who started a group to counter antisemitism in Pittsburgh, said he wouldn’t pin Harris’ loss on the choice of a running mate — or any single factor. Instead, he called Tuesday’s results “a reflection of the illiberalism that’s been welcomed” into the Democratic party.
Jewish Insider
Torres heads to Pittsburgh’s Jewish community to make closing argument for Harris, November 4, 2024
Jeremy Kazzaz, the executive director of the Beacon Coalition, a nonpartisan Jewish advocacy group, was in the audience.
“We at Beacon Coalition are looking for all of the allies that we can [find] who are willing to speak up to antisemitism within their own party,” Kazzaz told JI. “So we were happy that Ritchie Torres made the visit to Pittsburgh, because he is one of those voices, and perhaps one of the strongest voices, that has cut through a lot of the noise within the House caucus, who has been willing to to do the very difficult thing of standing up to antisemitism that’s coming from, you know, inside the House.”
Kazzaz said that the Jewish community in Pittsburgh has “a lot of really deep-seated concerns about a lack of allyship among politicians broadly, and some of that is informed by the overt hostility and regular antisemitism demonstrated by Summer Lee, and then the choice of our county executive and our mayor to ultimately decide to side with her” in issuing a statement on the Oct. 7 anniversary blaming Israel for the attack..
“That made a lot of people feel even more lonely and more concerned,” Kazzaz said. “And I think that concern has the potential to spill over into folks not knowing who to vote for for president.”
New York Post
Pittsburgh ‘Hamas operative’ allegedly bought explosives, vandalized Jewish buildings — and donated to Squad Democrats, November 3, 2024
“In Pittsburgh, we’ve seen an infiltration of the Democratic Party by anti-Israel extremists who frequently target the Jewish community,” Jeremy Kazzaz, executive director of the Beacon Coalition nonprofit fighting antisemitism in the political sphere, told The Post.
NBC News
Six years after synagogue shooting, a Jewish neighborhood grapples with antisemitism and elections, October 27, 2024
Jeremy Kazzaz, the executive director of the Beacon Coalition, a nonprofit engaged in voter education and outreach focused on the concerns of the Jewish American community…says the Jewish community has felt a “political awakening” after the terror attacks on Oct. 7, and if that does not manifest in the presidential race, there could be signs of it in down-ballot races.
“There has been, I think, a fairly seismic shift of people in this community from all religious and political levels who realize that they have to participate more in elections, educate themselves more, and evaluate candidates based on their individual attributes,” he said, “as opposed to engaging in straight party-line voting as they may have been doing for many years.”
The Free Press
Swing State Debates Episode Four: The Jewish Vote in Pennsylvania, October 22, 2024
“October 7th was an inflection point in any number of ways….Locally we have seen a lot of our local elected officials exhibit examples of antisemitism and hostility towards the Jewish people. They have been spreading conspiracy theories about us in ways that make the Jewish community here less safe…It is important for us to support the folks who are running for elected office or holding elected office who are our champions.”
Fox News
Jewish-American group urges US citizens in Israel to vote as absentee ballots can impact swing states, October 22, 2024
Jeremy Kazzaz, executive director of the Beacon Coalition, a nonprofit focused on getting out the Jewish vote locally on the ground in Pittsburgh, said U.S. citizens, whether traveling out of state or abroad during an election season, should send their absentee ballots as soon as possible to be included in initial counts.
“The mail system gets bogged down around election time because it’s not just all the ballots that are going through the mail, but it is the 5 billion pieces of political mail that everybody is getting on a day-to-day basis,” Kazzaz told Fox News Digital. “And then you add to that the chaos and disruptions of multiple hurricanes going through the Eastern Seaboard at this time. And so the best practice is to do all of this as early as humanly possible.”
Associated Press
Some Jewish voters in presidential swing states reconsider their longtime devotion to Democrats, October 21, 2024
“I think that there are folks who are reluctant Trump voters who feel scared as Jews in this country,” said Jeremy Kazzaz…
Kazzaz, however, said Harris has a long record of fighting antisemitism that is relatively unknown to many voters.
He pointed out that the Biden administration tapped her husband, Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, to lead a task force to develop a strategy to fight antisemitism well before Hamas attacked Israel. Emhoff has been a key surrogate, campaigning in front of Jewish audiences in the Philadelphia suburbs and speaking at the groundbreaking of a new complex replacing Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Sen. Bob Casey denounces Lee, Gainey, Innamorato statement on anniversary of Oct. 7 Hamas attack, October 9, 2024
Jeremy Kazzaz, executive director of the Beacon Coalition, a nonprofit focused on Jewish wellbeing, told the Post-Gazette Wednesday that Mr. Casey, Mr. Frankel and other lawmakers who denounced the statement are “champions of our community and they understand complex situations.”
“It is really disheartening that the three [Lee, Gainey and Innamorato] decided to double down and continue to cause more harm to the Jewish community, to Pittsburgh, and to Allegheny County,” he said.
Tribune-Review
Allegheny County Executive backs Jewish students at Pitt in wake of recent antisemitic incidents, October 3, 2024
Innamorato’s presence in light of recent events “is the kind of ally-ship we need from our elected leaders,” said Jeremy Kazzaz, who was at the meeting and leads Beacon Coalition, a Pittsburgh-based Jewish political group. “We look forward to seeing more of that from the county executive.”
Newsweek
The Middle East War in Battleground States that Threatens Kamala Harris, September 27, 2024
The Beacon Coalition, a Pittsburgh-based Jewish advocacy group, accused Trump of setting up Jewish voters to be scapegoats in the election regardless of the outcome.
“We see that as incredibly dangerous,” Kazzaz told Newsweek. “A lot of voters going into the November election are really thinking about the safety and security of Jews in America.”
Jewish Chronicle
‘We won’: Jewish Pittsburghers help defeat BDS ballot referendum, August 18, 2024
Jeremy Kazzaz, executive director of the Beacon Coalition, said he wasn’t surprised by the outcome of the case.
Like StandWithUs, the Beacon Coalition helped organize volunteers to pore through the signatures filed as part of PSDA’s petition.
“I think last night the DSA folks who filed the petition came to the realization that we had gained when our volunteers put their elbow grease into reviewing the petition,” Kazzaz said. “They failed to meet the minimum requirements. They couldn’t even get 10% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election in Pittsburgh to sign this petition.”
And while Kazzaz was pleased with the decision, he also would have liked to hear the arguments around the referendum’s legality. If nothing else, he said, it would have been good for public discourse.
90.5 WESA
Pittsburgh spokesperson out after Gainey staff, politicos sign controversial Israel boycott petition, August 14, 2024
The Beacon Coalition also said it had identified signatures of dozens of members of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, who act as foot soldiers that seek to mobilize support for the party in each of the county’s voting precincts. A former staffer to Congresswoman Summer Lee had also signed, it said.
“We are disappointed but not surprised by the participation of politicians, city staff and party committee members in an action that harms both the City of Pittsburgh and the local Jewish community,” the coalition said in its statement.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Staffers for prominent local officials signed on to ballot referendum to end Pittsburgh’s ties to Israel, August 14, 2024
Beacon Coalition, a Pittsburgh group which describes itself as a nonpartisan operation that works to protect the rights and wellbeing of Jews, organized a group of volunteers to analyze each of the more than 15,000 signatures submitted. . .
Jeremy Kazzaz, executive director of the Beacon Coalition, said it was troubling that “there are members of the [mayor’s] administration and staffers on city council that are trying to cripple all of Pittsburgh to the point that the city would not be able to turn on the lights.”
90.5 WESA
Proposed Pittsburgh referendum on Israel likely to face challenges, legal pushback, August 12, 2024
The Beacon Coalition, a Pittsburgh-based advocacy group seeking to raise political awareness of antisemitism, last week hosted two training sessions to teach people how to review and potentially challenge the petitions.
Wall Street Journal
‘Squad’ Member Summer Lee Face Primary Challenge Over Criticism of Israel, April 21, 2024
Other residents in Squirrel Hill formed a nonprofit in October called the Beacon Coalition to evaluate the track records of candidates nationally related to antisemitism and their support for the Jewish community. The group has also endorsed Patel.
Washington Post
A ‘Squad’ member’s primary tests shifting politics of Israel-Gaza war, April 22, 2024
“Some people are not interested in combating antisemitism, and they’re not interested in hearing and talking with and representing the Jewish community in the same way they necessarily are other communities,” said Jeremy Kazzaz, a member of the [14th Ward Independent Democratic Club]’s board and the president of the Beacon Coalition, a recently launched organization that aims to provide “voter education on issues of concern to the Jewish American community.”
90.5 WESA
As Congress clamps down on campus protests, Democrats Bob Casey and Summer Lee are on opposing sides, May 3, 2024
And last week Jeremy Kazzaz, the founder of a new Pittsburgh-based advocacy group seeking to raise political awareness of antisemitism, wrote to city officials to object to protesters taking possession of the plaza without a permit.
“The apparent exemption granted to the encampment undermines the integrity of our legal system and sets a troubling precedent for future demonstrations,” he said in a statement that also decried the city’s slow response to antisemitic graffiti that appeared outside a North Side home last month.
“If the city of Pittsburgh does not enforce the law objectively and respond promptly to incidents of hate,” he wrote, “it risks sending a message that hate crimes against certain groups are permitted.”
NBC News
The Jewish vote could play a huge role in 2024. Pennsylvania is about to put up an early test, April 23, 2024
Jeremy Kazzaz, a Pittsburgher leading a new Jewish voter group, said the pushback Lee faces isn’t so much about Israel but about what he called an unwillingness to meet with constituents who don’t share her views.
“She finds the individuals who agree with her already who are anti-Zionist, who are extremist or fringe of the left of politics, and she will hold them up on a pedestal while spreading things” that, Kazzaz said, make local Jews “less safe.”
CBS
FBI investigating antisemitic graffiti found outside Pittsburgh home , April 22, 2024
“I think your Jewish neighbors here in Pittsburgh feel lonely,” said Jeremy Kazzaz, the President of the Beacon Coalition… “We’re looking to see action to make sure this sort of behavior is stopped and perpetrators are held accountable,” Kazzaz said.
Forward
Can you address antisemitism at the ballot box?, April 12, 2024
And in addition to its local focus, Beacon is also distinct among groups fighting antisemitism because it manages a political action committee. While lots of PACs spend money to support pro-Israel candidates, the Beacon Coalition is the first group I’ve seen that plans to support politicians primarily on the basis of whether or not they’re antisemitic.
Jewish Chronicle
Beacon Coalition sheds light on candidates’ positions regarding Jewish interests, April 5, 2024
After Oct. 7, some of our local politicians had very strong opinions, it turns out, about Israel and the Jewish people,” Beacon volunteer Rebecca Elhassid said. “Some of those were really harmful.”
Elhassid said that if voters had known a candidate’s position on antisemitism, their race may have turned out differently.
“Nobody’s ever asked the right questions,” she said. “Nobody ever thought to ask an Allegheny County Council person what they think about the Jewish people. So, when an Allegheny County Council person comes out and posts Hamas videos, that was very surprising.”
The Beacon Coalition, founded in October, will serve “as an independent voice to identify where politicians stand on issues related to the rights and wellbeing of the Jewish American community, regardless of political party and their other positions,” according to the organization’s website.
WPXI
Pittsburgh Jews hope to convince lawmakers with sweet treats to change primary election date, December 10, 2023
The group is reminding lawmakers to pass a bill that would change the date of the state’s primary election next year. If falls on April 23, the first day of Passover for Jews… “It’s extremely important, always, but particularly in this moment, to not disenfranchise voters, not exclude a particular group of voters,” Elhassid said.
Tribune-Review
Pittsburgh Jews concerned about next spring’s primary falling during Passover, November 17, 2023
[Beacon volunteer] Elhassid said failing to move the primary date to avoid a Passover conflict would set a bad precedent for any group that has a religious or cultural conflict with future election dates. And for Pittsburgh Jews, she said, there is a strong desire for action to be taken in the wake of a string of antisemitic incidents in the city.
“We don’t want to be disenfranchised in any election, and right now there is even more of a desire to make sure our voices are heard,” Elhassid said.
Jewish Chronicle
Write-in candidate challenges Allegheny Council member whose social media posts seemed to celebrate Hamas, October 31, 2023
“Jews in Allegheny County and worldwide understood immediately that responses like Hallam’s would make them unsafe wherever they lived, no matter their relationship to Israel, simply because they are Jewish,” [Beacon-support candidate David] Knoll said in a news release. “In the weeks since the war began, protestors who share Hallam’s support for Hamas have taken to the streets, threatening and committing violence against Jews and Jewish spaces. In my own neighborhood, incidents of antisemitic intimidation are increasing. And still Hallam has not backed away from her initial statements.”