Santa Cruz, CA - Key to the City Unlocks Jewish Anger

Santa Cruz, CA - Local Jewish leaders, upset with Mayor Cynthia Mathews for giving the Palestinian ambassador a key to the city last month, want the mayor to publicly apologize for the symbolic gesture. Mathews said she has no plans to do so.

Mathews introduced Palestinian Ambassador Afif Safieh to an audience at the Veterans Memorial Building, and said that the city key was part of "a ceremonial welcome." At the time she called it a rare honor.
Safieh, spoke in Santa Cruz about failed diplomacy in the Middle East and laced his speech with remarks such as "Hezbollah is an amateur in terrorism compared with Israel," a quote repeated in a Sentinel article after the event.

Rabbi Rick Litvak and other Jewish leaders met with Mathews at City Hall to express their disappointment and seek an apology.
Mathews said Tuesday it was a private meeting to explain that presenting Safieh a key to the city was a decision she made on her own as mayor, not requiring City Council approval.
The gesture, she said, was not meant to take sides or endorse Palestinian politics, but rather to show support for Safieh's desire for peace and a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians over Gaza Strip and the West Bank.