‘Not a place for hate’: Miami-Dade leaders unite against antisemitism
Over a dozen leaders across Miami-Dade County gathered during Hanukkah on Thursday to address rising incidents of antisemitism and to send a strong message to the South Florida community to fight back against hate.
“Miami-Dade County is not a place for hate,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who is the county’s first Jewish mayor. “We are going to fight not just antisemitism, but all hatred, all acts of discrimination.”
The gathering, held at the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, started four years ago with a few mayors participating. It has grown to include over a dozen leaders representing different municipalities — from areas with high concentrations of Jewish people, like the city of Miami Beach, and places with almost no Jewish populations, like the city of Opa-locka.
At the start of the event, Jewish leaders put into perspective what rising antisemitism looks like in the wake of the October 7 attacks and recent mass shooting in Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
“We are here today because Jewish people are being singled out. On campuses, in workplaces, online and in public spaces, simply for being Jewish,” said Steven Scheck, chair of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and Jewish Community Relations Council.
In 2024, there were 9,354 recorded incidents of antisemitism, a nearly 900 percent increase over the past 10 years, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Daniel Frank, the Florida director for the ADL, said this sharp increase represents a “transformation of the American Jewish experience,” considering how normalized antisemitism is for many Jews on a daily basis.
Despite the rise in anti-Jewish hate across the world, many of the mayors touted Miami as one of the safest places for Jews to live aside from Israel, in part because of the allyship from non-Jewish leaders.
“We’re standing shoulder-to-shoulder to send a powerful message to our Jewish neighbors: you are not alone. You are valued. You belong,” said Village of Palmetto Bay Mayor Karyn Cunningham. “While I may not be Jewish, I am Jewish Miami proud.”
Many of the mayors underscored the need to take action before hate turns to violence, especially in the wake of two recent mass shootings — one at Brown University in Rhode Island and one in Sydney, Australia, that killed 15 people including two rabbis and a Holocaust survivor at a Hanukkah event.
“Just as we’re gathering here today, the funerals for those murdered in Sydney are starting,” said Levine Cava. The mayor said she was also thinking of the Muslim man who rushed to the scene without hesitation to wrestle a weapon away from the shooter “saving countless lives” and injuring himself in the struggle, she said.
The heroic act was “just another example of how we can each be a light for the world, and we can each stand up,” the mayor said.
North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme said the recent shootings are an example that “extremism has no border,” and that it’s a topic that “demands our attention.”
Mayors crack down on hate
In addition to condemning hate and discrimination, many city leaders discussed examples of actions they took to ensure the safety of Jewish residents.
In Miami Beach, Mayor Steven Meiner pointed to his efforts to increase police presence in Jewish neighborhoods and institutions after October 7th. He also mentioned his legislation targeting pro-Palestinian protesters in Miami Beach and a new measure the city enacted just yesterday regarding hate crimes.
“Yesterday, at our commission meeting, I passed legislation that if you violate a Miami Beach ordinance and there’s a hate crime attached to it, you will get mandatory jail time,” he said.
Many mayors mentioned their support for Jewish people and for Israel, which included actions like adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, donating ambulances to Israel, adopting sister cities and even, in the case of Sunny Isles Beach, passing a resolution to adopt a new name for the “West Bank,” calling it “Judea and Samaria,” or the biblical name for the region.
Opa-locka Mayor John Taylor spoke about the shared bonds between two minority groups — Jews and Black people — and the importance of partnership between them.
“These bonds were forged through shared experience and shared action, from the slavery in biblical times for Jews and in American history for black people,” Taylor said. He added that antisemitism is “intolerable,” and that he is proud to join the fight against it.
Two mayors from the same family also made an appearance. Bay Harbor Islands Mayor Isaac Salver and Village of Bal Harbour Mayor Seth Salver joked about their shared last name before offering words of support for the Jewish community.
Mayor Seth Salver — an Orthodox Jewish millennial mayor — said the Village of Bal Harbour hosted a menorah lighting on the beach earlier this week, just days after the Bondi Beach attack.
“We wanted to send a message to our community that we will not cower in fear. We will worship God, and we will be a united Jewish people,” he said.
Hanukkah story of light
Though Jews across the world began Hanukkah on a dark note, Rabbi Fred Klein said it’s imperative to remember that Hanukkah is a story of perseverance in the face of darkness.
“It says in our Jewish tradition that the Greeks tried to destroy and make us forget who we are, what our values were,” he said.
Hanukkah commemorates the victory of the Jewish people over the Syrian army in a fight to gain religious freedom.
Klein said that historical victory was not just a military victory, but “the victory of the Jewish soul.”
As for the lamp that lasted eight days when it only had enough oil for one, Klein said this represents “the fire, the light of the spirit … the Jews survived throughout all odds in history.”
The rabbis sentiments about light were echoed throughout the county this week as various municipalities hosted menorah lighting ceremonies to mark the Jewish holiday.
On Sunday in Miami Beach, many attended the Hanukkah Festival on Lincoln Road at the encouragement of Rabbi Zev Katz, who told the Miami Herald that his synagogue was not “canceling a single Hanukkah gathering” nor “dimming a single flame” in the wake of tragedy.
It is up to Jews and people of all faiths, Rabbi Klein said while lighting the menorah in front of county leaders, to be a symbol of light in the world.
“This is an act of us saying we will not succumb to hatred, we will not succumb to darkness, we will not succumb to these things, and we, together as community, will be on that mission to increase life.”
This story was produced with financial support from Trish and Dan Bell and donors in South Florida’s Jewish and Muslim communities, including Khalid and Diana Mirza and the Mohsin and Fauzia Jaffer Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.
This story was originally published December 18, 2025 at 4:54 PM.
