Miami Beach strengthens Israeli ties but defers O Cinema vote
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Miami Beach further strengthened its support for Israel in a series of votes Wednesday but didn't take up a proposal to influence programming at a local theater targeted for showing a documentary about the Gaza conflict.
Why it matters: The City Commission's moves show how intent it is to demonstrate its loyalty to Israel after a scrapped proposal to evict O Cinema drew national attention.
Driving the news: Commissioners directed the city to maximize investments in Israeli bonds and work on attracting Israeli and Jewish-owned businesses to Miami Beach.
- The commission deferred a resolution encouraging O Cinema to screen films that show a "fair and balanced" viewpoint of the war in Gaza.
Friction point: During a tense meeting Wednesday, more than a dozen residents spoke up against the package of Israeli-related proposals.
- At one point, Mayor Steven Meiner directed police to escort an audience member out of the commission chambers.
- Later, he interrupted a speaker during the allotted two-minute comment period and refused to give the resident additional time.
What they're saying: Miami Beach resident Alex Mayka said the city has "real problems" to deal with, like flooding and housing scarcity, and shouldn't spend time focusing on supporting an "apartheid nation."
- "These resolutions don't help people who actually live here."
- He criticized the city targeting O Cinema, the South Beach theater with a lease on city-owned property.
- "This city government has absolutely no place in telling artists what kind of stories they can or can't tell."
The other side: Meiner, a strong ally of Israel, responded to almost every anti-Israel comment during time reserved for public speakers, labeling some remarks as "hate speech" and antisemitism.
- "I give the respect to the people who speak, but I'm gonna counter hate speech when it comes this way," Meiner said.
Commissioner Joseph Magazine, who sponsored the resolution attracting Israeli businesses, said it was "sickening" that someone could oppose recruiting Jewish business owners.
- Magazine called Miami Beach a safe haven for the city's "Israeli and Jewish brothers and sisters."
- "Part of being a safe haven is speaking proudly about an initiative like this."
Catch up quick: Meiner previously proposed evicting O Cinema and withdrawing its grant funding after it screened "No Other Land," the Oscar-winning documentary about the Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank prior to the war.
- Meiner called the film a "one-sided propaganda attack" on the Jewish people.
- O Cinema and the ACLU of Florida argued Meiner's effort amounted to government overreach and violated the theater's First Amendment rights.
- Meiner later withdrew his eviction proposal after opposition from the Commission and public.
- A second Meiner proposal, which wasn't heard Wednesday, criticizes "No Other Land" as an "incomplete portrayal" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and encourages O Cinema to "prioritize films that present the suffering and moral position of the Jewish people and the state of Israel."
The intrigue: It's unclear why Meiner never brought the item for a vote.
Before the meeting, O Cinema said it posed "real concerns of government overreach into the independence of cultural organizations."
Zoom out: Miami-Dade County recently renewed its Israeli bonds, despite calls from activists to divest.