Open Letter to Boulder City Council on Upcoming Muslim Declaration

Dear City Council,

Once again, we feel the need to approach you about this council’s bias with regard to how it responds to the needs of Jewish constituents.

The “Declaration Condemning Muslim Hate and Recognizing the Contributions, Rights, and Safety of Muslim Communities in Boulder” that was sent out via the Hotline today, is a document that needs enormous revision before being read aloud to the Boulder Community. It is offensive in a multitude of ways.

For the sake of clarity, we’ll address them via points:

• 2^nd paragraph: This paragraph seemingly utterly ignores the fact that the majority of the Muslim community of Boulder, CO (and elsewhere in the US) has not, as far we can tell, stood in solidarity with the JEWISH community, and most especially not since October 7, 2023. Who are the “our communities” being referenced here? Does the Jewish community not count at all, or the fact that we have felt enormously isolated?

• 5^th paragraph: What on earth does it matter that Muslims and Jews share “semitic” languages? This paragraph is part of an ongoing trope to try to pretend that the hate rhetoric of some Muslims and others towards Israel cannot be deemed “antisemitic” because both Jews & Muslims are “semitic.” While it is incontestable that Jews and Muslims share much in common – including a deep investment in the Land of Israel, laws around food, languages with roots in common – the absolute only reason for this paragraph is an attempt to excuse people spewing anti-Israel messaging from being called out as antisemites. As we have pointed out previously, we are far past the time of not recognizing that the antizionist and anti-Israel hate speech being heard in 2025 is anything other than antisemitism.

• 6^th paragraph: Since you just did a resolution against antisemitism, why the need to bring up Jews here (and yes, please call us JEWS, not Jewish people; we don’t say Christian people, and we certainly don’t say Muslim people). Again, this paragraph is a blatant attempt to excuse some Muslims and others for being called out as antisemitic for their hate speech against Israel. Or, in a potentially worse reading, it is an excuse for some people to condone acts committed by people aligned with the terrorist group Hamas (let’s not be cagey here and call them a “militant group” – they’re not: they are terrorists, and recognized as such by the US government). The calling out of Hamas and its ilk is not anti-Muslim; it is anti-terrorist.

• 7^th paragraph: Again, in a Declaration meant to be against Islamophobia, why bring up anti-Jewish incidents? And, if you are going to insist on doing so, the fact is that the “climate of fear in schools, workplaces, and public spaces” is most particularly high for JEWISH students – especially on college campuses, as nearly every newspaper in the country attests to since 10/7, and as was represented in Washington DC.
• 9^th paragraph: We’re not sure exactly what is being referred to here, and what Boulder City Council is assuming is missing from the school curriculum vis a vis teaching about Islam, or which Muslim scholars have been omitted. We do know, however, that there was very recently pushback on a scholar making a presentation to BVSD that was blatantly anti-Israel. If there are changes to the school curriculum with regard to teaching about the Middle East, or including more of the “Muslim voice in educational curricula,” we assume this will be done with a committee responsible for judging that there is no bias, and that no Jewish students will be made uncomfortable (as most recently happened). In terms of CU, it would be very hard to argue that the bias isn’t in the other direction: that many Jewish students have been exposed to a curriculum that is blatantly anti-Israel, most especially in the Ethnic Studies Department.

• Section 1: again, why is this particular Declaration determined to bring up Jews again? Let it stand on its own merit.

• Section 2: “Muslim, Jewish, and beyond…” – what does this even mean? This is a majority-Christian city, like the rest of America, but what is the context of “and beyond”? If this is a Declaration Condemning Muslim Hate, let it stand on its own merit.

• Section 3: Is the intention here to quote the Bible (Jewish and Christian): “love your neighbor as yourself” (the Golden Rule). We assume this is also a directive in Islam, since all three religions have much in common, but we are not at all sure why it is being included in a declaration like this.

• Section 5: Call to Action. Again, we sincerely hope there is going to be a multi-faith effort involved in this regard, and that the same due process with regard to media bias and miseducation, etc. will be given to Jews and Israel.

• Section 7: While this Declaration seems to have issues with the word ‘antisemitic’ in terms of its application of “hate directed towards Jews,” we do not. As noted multiple times, this Declaration need not even mention Jews, but if it does, let’s use the appropriate language to describe that hate, and it is antisemitism (which stands apart from Islamophobia – thus the two words).

• Section 8: Prompt Distribution to Jewish Organizations? Did you “promptly” deliver the Resolution Against Antisemitism to Muslim organizations?

We would advise you to go back and reread the Declaration Condemning Antisemitism that was issued on January 16, 2025, and was half the length of this one that, just for clarity, should have been called the Declaration Condemning Islamophobia. Such a declaration should be fairly aligned with the City’s effort at condemning antisemitism. Instead, you are presenting a document that has loopholes for allowing the continued dangerous rhetoric against Israel (which all too often is straightforward antisemitism), by caging it in a trope that because Jews and Muslims share a semitic language, antizionist rhetoric cannot be deemed antisemitic. In addition, unlike the Declaration Condemning Antisemitism that does not mention Islamophobia (because that is not what it is about), this Declaration feels the need to reference Jews/ Jewish seven times. If there is a real need to issue a declaration against Islamophobia, then just do that. And finally, it is worth noting that the Declaration Condemning Antisemitism did not have a single “Call to Action,” even though week after week, Jews attending council meetings (including council members) have been subjected to hate speech directed against Jews, and Jewish students at the University have had to deal with blatant acts of antisemitism.

Mayor and Council members – your Jewish constituents deserve much better than this. And, in fact, it is a disservice to your Muslim constituents as well. This is not a measure showing equality or a commitment to interfaith solidarity – it is instead once again a way of making Jews feel “othered” in this City, and it is not acceptable.

Sincerely,

Rachel Amaru
Elise Mordos

See also second letter here.