Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
14th Ward Democratic Committee controversy envelops upcoming elections, March 30, 2026
Does Pittsburgh’s 14th Ward Democratic Committee have a Jewish problem?
While committee members likely will insist it does not, tensions have surfaced over a recent slate of candidates — many of whom are Jewish — who filed to run for committee seats, sparking questions about inclusion and fairness…
Jeremy Kazzaz, Beacon Coalition’s executive director, said the organization supports candidates that most closely align with the group’s mission.
“We spend a lot of time, and our research team time spends a lot of time, evaluating folks for how they fit into our rubric that is clearly set out in all our materials for how we judge candidates — how they combat antisemitism, stand up for our constitutional democracy and protect America as a pluralistic nation.”
Jewish Insider
From WhatsApp chats to City Hall, a new Jewish activism is born, March 24, 2026
In Pittsburgh, the Beacon Coalition was created when community activist Jeremy Kazzaz saw that local politicians were too afraid to criticize a colleague who posted pro-Hamas messages. The group is now urging Jewish Democrats in the Pittsburgh area to run for seats on the Allegheny County Democratic Committee to be able to help shape the party’s endorsements.
Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
Rep. Summer Lee endorsed by new pro-Palestinian PAC; Pennsylvania rep is no longer endorsed by J Street, February 19, 2026
During the 2024 election, Beacon Coalition evaluated each of the candidates running for office. Its assessment of Lee said that: “Summer Lee, the incumbent in this race, has a long track record of divisive language and votes despite the numerous conversations she has had with concerned Jewish residents and leaders in her district.”
Tribune-Review
Israeli flag vandalized in Pittsburgh, prompting antisemitism concerns, January 19, 2026
“The head of Beacon Coalition, a Jewish civil rights advocacy organization based in Pittsburgh, told TribLive that the recent incident in the city’s North Side “is an act of hate.”
“When the word ‘Zionist’ is allowed to be turned into a slur … it does not remain rhetoric. It predictably escalates into intimidation and violence,” Jeremy Kazzaz, the group’s executive director, told TribLive Monday. “Community leaders must be unequivocal that this anti-Zionist hate will not be tolerated.”
Tribune-Review
‘I’m cautiously optimistic’: Palestinians, Jews in Western Pa. share mixed emotions about peace deal, October 9, 2025
“I think one of the things that we saw was a certain lack of elected officials to … understand and interpret antisemitism,” Kazzaz said. “I think the more work that is done, the more outcomes that we’ll have explaining to folks what’s presented as hatred to the Jewish people or the allies of the Jewish people.”
Ultimately, he desires lasting peace and stability.
“The best solution is peaceful coexistence,” Kazzaz said.
Pittsburgh’s Public Source
Election guide 2025: Who’s on the ballot in Pittsburgh & Allegheny County? See this easy-to-use guide, October 8, 2025
Aaron Adams; Endorsements: ACDC, unions including AFL-CIO, Pittsburgh Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 91, The Beacon Coalition, electeds including Pa. Sen. Nick Pisciottano, retiring Dist. 9 councilor Bob Macey
Tribune-Review
Allegheny County politician’s social media post on war in Gaza stokes divisions, June 8, 2025
Beacon Coalition, an antisemitism-battling nonprofit that backed Democratic mayoral candidate Corey O’Connor this spring. The group supported a referendum asking voters to endorse prohibiting discrimination by Pittsburgh against those conducting business with the city.
The ballot question referred to numerous types of discrimination, including on the basis of religion and “association or affiliation with any nation or foreign state.”
Kazzaz, 39, of Squirrel Hill, said Jewish voters contributed to O’Connor’s victory.
A Brandeis University study published in 2017 pegged the number of Jews in an area encompassing five counties, including Allegheny and Westmoreland, at roughly 50,000 people, or 2% of the population. But they had an outsize impact in the Pittsburgh election, Kazzaz said.
…
While Kazzaz could not cite data about how the Jewish community voted, he felt the message sent by voters was clear.
“We saw in the most recent primary,” Kazzaz said, “that extremist views and policies and actions are not popular.”
CBS News
Man accused of distributing racist and antisemitic flyers in Pittsburgh faces $48,000 in fines, June 2, 2025
Rebecca Elhassid is seriously concerned about the hatred that she said has become normalized in today’s society towards Jewish people and members of other minority groups.
“I didn’t think that in my lifetime we were going to see this kind of resurgence of hate,” Elhassid said.
Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
Finding our political voice — and braving the consequences, May 29, 2025
We must both hold our elected officials accountable and support leaders who are allies. This strategy works. In the most recent primary election, all six candidates supported by the new Beacon PAC won their races (with one race still undecided). Among them is Corey O’Connor, a Democrat and bridge-builder who opposes political extremism and supports the safety of all communities, including ours.
Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
Pittsburgh reacts to Corey O’Connor’s primary victory, May 27, 2025
Kazzaz said O’Connor had a strong showing in the 14th Ward because of his history with the area — he was the neighborhood’s City Council representative for nearly a decade.
“Knocking on doors, I heard tons of stories from people about how he was able to help them in that role on City Council, or coaching Little League. He’s done a lot to build those connections,” he said.
Attempts by people to downplay the antisemitism in the city during the run-up to the election, Kazzaz said, “shows what length people are willing to go to try and convince their neighbors that what they are seeing, and their experiences, are not valid or real.”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Corey O’Connor faces major budgetary hurdles if he becomes Pittsburgh mayor, May 25, 2025
The 14th Ward, which includes Squirrel Hill and surrounding areas, may have strongly backed Mr. O’Connor, but there are many other neighborhoods that he would serve, noted Jeremy Kazzaz, executive director of the Beacon Coalition — an organization that advocates against antisemitism and protects the Jewish population in Pittsburgh. The group supported Mr. O’Connor in his primary campaign.
“If you look at the other places in the city, the incoming O’Connor administration has plenty of work to do in a lot of wards where Corey doesn’t have the same sort of relationships and ties and history that he does in the 14th Ward, and other parts of the East End,” Mr. Kazzaz said.
Payday Report
AP Declares Defeat for Pittsburgh Mayor in Blow for Progressives, May 21, 2025
“We have asked time and time again for (Gainey) to be our ally and to stand up for us — and unfortunately, we have been met with great disappointment,” Jeremy Kazzaz, executive director of the local Beacon Coalition…
Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
Corey O’Connor wins Democratic mayoral primary, May 21, 2025
Following the election, Beacon Coalition, a non-partisan organization that operates to protect the rights and well-being of Jews in the United States, posted on Facebook that it was “celebrating big primary wins across Pittsburgh. Thank you to everyone who contributed, volunteered and voted!”
Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Voters head to the polls to elect mayoral primary candidates in Pennsylvania’s biggest cities, May 19, 2025
Gainey also apologized for “mistakes” in a statement he signed onto on the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas that was criticized as “victim blaming” by the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh.
“We have asked time and time again for (Gainey) to be our ally and to stand up for us — and unfortunately, we have been met with great disappointment,” Jeremy Kazzaz, executive director of the local Beacon Coalition, a pro-Israel Jewish advocacy group, told Jewish Insider earlier this year.
WESA
After a bare-knuckled Pittsburgh mayoral primary, will local Democrats be able to come together?, May 16, 2025
Jeremy Kazzaz, meanwhile, will tell you that something similar is true for many Jewish Democrats who support O’Connor.
Whatever happens on May 20, he said, “We are all still neighbors, and we will all still work together. But we in the Jewish community will remember who fought for our best interests.”
Kazzaz heads the Beacon Coalition, a local group that supports Israel and advocates on behalf of Jewish residents. He says those concerns are too often dismissed by Gainey backers — as with a letter now circulating in the 14th Ward, which suggests that accusations of antisemitism are merely “a tool to try to pry Mayor Ed Gainey out of office.”
The war in Gaza has exacerbated tensions among Democrats nationwide. But Kazzaz says the issue strikes close to home as well. Among the mayor’s shortcomings, he said, Gainey could and should have taken a stronger stance against an effort to put an anti-Israel ballot question before voters. And responded more forcefully to antisemitic vandalism as well, Kazzaz added.
Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
Antisemitism, AIPAC allegations stir controversy, May 16, 2025
Jeremy Kazzaz, executive director of the Beacon Coalition, a non-partisan organization that operates to protect the rights and well-being of Jews in the United States, wrote on Facebook that the letter “rewrites the truth. It suggests that what we’re experiencing isn’t antisemitism” and that “calling out targeted hate is somehow an unfair political attack.”
“This isn’t just offensive, it’s dangerous. It sends a message that even here in Pittsburgh — where we know too well the deadly consequences of ignoring antisemitism — there are still people willing to pretend it’s not real,” he wrote.
Pittsburgh City Paper
Specials and Guides: County Council District 9, April 30, 2025
Aaron Adams; Endorsements; ACDC, Allegheny/Fayette Central Labor Council, Pittsburgh Regional Building Trades Council, Pittsburgh Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 91, The Beacon Coalition, Pa. Sen. Nick Pisciottano, Macey
WESA
Voter guide to Pittsburgh Public Schools Board 1st District election: Purnell v. Thomas, April 21, 2025
Tawana Cook Purnell; Supporters/endorsements: Black Women for Better Education; Allegheny County Democratic Committee; 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club; Beacon Coalition
WESA
Voter guide to Pittsburgh ballot question #3: ‘lawful scope of the city’s authority’, April 21, 2025
Jeremy Kazzaz, a local advocate for the Jewish community, explained it to council during a public hearing in February: “The act of sending certain questions to the ballot can cause irreparable harm to the electorate.”
Living in Squirrel Hill, Rebecca Elhassid is seriously concerned about the hatred that she said has become normalized in today’s society towards Jewish people and members of other minority groups.
Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
Ed Gainey and Corey O’Connor face off in dueling town halls, April 3, 2025
The proposed referendum was challenged by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, the Beacon Coalition and StandWithUs, and separately by City Controller Rachael Heisler. The mayor, however, did not formally challenge the referendum.
Jewish Insider
Pittsburgh’s mayor struggles politically amid lack of support from city’s Jewish community, March 13, 2025
“We have asked time and time again for him to to be our ally and to stand up for us — and unfortunately, we have been met with great disappointment,” said Jeremy Kazzaz, executive director of a local Jewish advocacy group called the Beacon Coalition, whose political arm has donated to O’Connor’s campaign.
Most recently, Kazzaz told JI, Jewish leaders in Pittsburgh had lobbied for the mayor to oppose a controversial effort by far-left activists to bring an Israel boycott and divestment referendum to voters — less than a year after a first failed attempt to put the issue on the ballot.
While the second proposed [BDS] ballot measure was also withdrawn last week after a court challenge, Kazzaz said that it was not because Gainey had been willing to step in. “The mayor decided not to stand with the Jewish community and instead just stand back and let these things take their initial course, which put a gigantic burden on the Jewish community,” he said in a recent interview…
To Kazzaz and other Jewish activists in Pittsburgh, however, Gainey’s inaction was part of a deeper issue. “It is that sort of lack of allyship in that case, or in the various instances where elected officials — including this mayor — have failed to really call out acts of antisemitism in the moment by name, that has been amping up a general dynamic making the Jewish community in Pittsburgh, I think, generally uncomfortable,” Kazzaz explained.
Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
In Praise of Heroes, March 12, 2025
Pittsburgh is fortunate to have so many capable people who are committed to the well-being of our city and the safety of its Jewish constituents…
This was the second time Not On Our Dime has submitted thousands of invalid signatures in an attempt to force the city to boycott Israel and the second time it has come up short.
It was also the second time community volunteers did the tedious and herculean work of reviewing those signatures, generously lending their time and energy to help quash an effort that was at best misguided and at worse motivated by hate. We applaud their dedication.
We also applaud those who organized the signature review, especially Beacon Coalition leaders …[including] Jeremy Kazzaz…
Tribune-Review
Groups battle anew over Pittsburgh referendum effort targeting ties to Israel, March 7, 2025
Jeremy Kazzaz, with the nonprofit Beacon Coalition, which works to protect Jewish people in the U.S., said in a news release that the group’s work led to challenges of more than 12,000 signatures submitted by Not on Our Dime.
“Their repeated failure underscores the lack of genuine public support for these divisive tactics,” Kazzazz said.
Washington Examiner
Groups battle anew over Pittsburgh referendum effort targeting ties to Israel, February 27, 2025
The Beacon Coalition, a nonprofit group formed a year ago to protect the rights and wellbeing of Jews in the United States, once again identified sufficient objections that would bring the count of valid signatures below the legal threshold.
The Beacon Coalition team, which is comprised of 200 dedicated local volunteers, quickly mobilized to carefully document the ballots, an effort that led to a signature challenge filed in court Tuesday by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and StandWithUs, an international nonprofit group supporting Israel and fighting antisemitism….
Tensions in the Jewish community here have been on edge as the Left tries to flex power in city government. But Kazzaz and his volunteers are more muscular in their effort to debunk their accumulation of power.
Tribune-Review
Groups battle anew over Pittsburgh referendum effort targeting ties to Israel, February 25, 2025
“We built a massive petition review process to assist our partners in protecting all Pittsburgh residents, Jewish and non-Jewish, against this latest effort to spread extremist ideologies and to undermine the City of Pittsburgh’s ability to operate,” Jeremy Kazzaz, executive director of Beacon Coalition, said in a statement.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Challenges filed to ballot referendum efforts to get Pittsburgh to divest from Israel, February 25, 2025
The Beacon Coalition, a local nonprofit “dedicated to protecting the rights and well-being of Jews in the United States” assisted in a review of the signatures and contributed to the federation’s challenge by detailing signatures they deemed to be invalid and why in exhibits submitted to the courts….The coalition led similar efforts in the federation’s challenge against a divestment referendum last summer.
WESA, Pittsburgh’s NPR News Station
Pittsburgh Jewish leaders, city controller challenge ballot question in rematch over Israel boycott, February 25, 2025
The work of sifting through the petitions was handled by the Beacon Coalition, a local Jewish advocacy group. In a statement, executive director Jeremy Kazzaz said some 200 volunteers combed through the signatures — an effort he hailed as “a testament to the strength of grassroots activism and the power of strategic coordination.”
WESA, Pittsburgh’s NPR News Station
Israel divestment referendum could appear on Pittsburgh ballots in May, February 24, 2025
The Beacon Coalition, a local Jewish advocacy group, is reviewing the petition signatures for possible challenge…Jeremy Kazzaz, who heads Beacon Coalition, confirmed volunteers with his organization are reviewing the signatures using “proprietary software” to review the petitions. Despite the changes to the wording of the ballot question, he says, it would cause major problems for the city if approved.
“We have made clear that the drafting of this bill would be disastrous for the finances of Pittsburgh,” he said. “There are very very serious real-world implications that are involved in trying to dictate through a deceptive ballot measure the procurement and day-to-day operations of an entire city, and I am deeply concerned about that.”
Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
Not On Our Dime submits petition to place anti-Israel referendum on May ballot, February 19, 2025
Jeremy Kazzaz, executive director of the Beacon Coalition, said his organization is leading a review of the signatures collected by Not On Our Dime….”We have trained a large number of volunteers. People in the community feel strongly about this.”
Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
Mayor Gainey signs one anti-BDS referendum question, February 7, 2025
Jeremy Kazzaz, executive director of Beacon Coalition, an advocacy and education nonprofit that works to combat antisemitism, also spoke in favor of council’s two referendums at the public hearing… “They work in slightly different ways to protect the fiscal stability of the city of Pittsburgh and to make sure that the Home Rule Charter amendment process is not getting abused,” he said.
Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
Pittsburgh must not be a pawn for ideological extremists; This May, voters will have a chance to send a message, February 7, 2025
By supporting 1425 and 1426, we can make it clear that Pittsburgh is not a pawn for outside activists, that our city’s policies should be shaped by what is best for our residents, and that we will not tolerate attempts to weaponize our government against any minoritized community. The question isn’t just about governance — it’s about whether we allow Pittsburgh to be defined by fairness and common sense, or by ideological extremism that punishes the very people our leaders are supposed to protect. Jeremy Kazzaz is executive director of the Beacon Coalition.
Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
Pitt equity, inclusion committee votes in special meeting, November 19, 2024
The meeting was attended by committee members as well as concerned community members including Chabad on Campus co-Director Sara Weinstein, Chabad at Pitt Rabbi Shmuli Rothstein, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Community Relations Council Director Laura Cherner, StandWithUs Mid-Atlantic Regional Director Julie Paris and Beacon Coalition Executive Director Jeremy Kazzaz.
Pittsburgh 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.”