SDJBA Board of Directors’ Response to La Raza’s Outgoing Presidential Message
Dear SDJBA Community,
Earlier this week, the SDJBA Board of Directors became aware of concerning statements in the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association’s newsletter. In his final presidential message, outgoing President Hector Tamayo described Israel as “a regime headed by an alleged war criminal prosecuting a genocide.”
Our board felt it was important to respond to this language and explain why its publication on a fellow bar association’s platform is troubling to our community. SDJBA and La Raza share a history of working together, and our organizations have overlapping membership. We value that relationship and believe addressing these concerns directly is part of maintaining it.
Below is the letter our board sent to La Raza’s Board of Directors, outlining our concerns and inviting a dialogue between our organizations.
To the Board of Directors of the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association (“La Raza”):
The San Diego Jewish Bar Association (“SDJBA”) is compelled to publicly respond to outgoing President Hector Tamayo’s final message in the La Raza newsletter, in which he stated members’ votes would decide “whether your government continues to support a regime headed by an alleged war criminal prosecuting a genocide.” We strongly dispute the assertion that Israel is committing genocide and object to Mr. Tamayo’s presentation of this inflammatory and deeply contested allegation as established fact. This is particularly troubling in a legal community, where the importance of distinguishing between allegations, findings, and matters of legitimate dispute should be well understood.
“Genocide” has a precise legal meaning and as lawyers, we know words like this carry weight and should not be casually invoked. For the Jewish community, that word carries particular historical significance. The term was coined in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin, a Jewish lawyer who fled the Nazi occupation, found refuge in the United States, and lost most of his family in the Holocaust. He was a driving force behind the international treaty defining the crime adopted in 1948 in the Holocaust’s aftermath. Our members include descendants of those who were murdered during the Holocaust and of those who survived. We reject the misuse of “genocide” and note its impact: it minimizes the Holocaust and portrays Israel’s defense against groups seeking its destruction as morally equivalent to the systematic extermination of 6 million Jews. Such rhetoric demonizes Jewish communities and has been invoked to justify threats, harassment, and acts of violence against Jewish communities in the United States and abroad. It also undermines the mutual understanding and trust necessary for our organizations to work together as partners.
In support of his incendiary statements, Mr. Tamayo cites UN reports as if they are unequivocal evidence. Israel has faced well documented and systemic discrimination by UN bodies. Between 2015 and 2025, the UN General Assembly adopted over 100 country-specific critical resolutions targeting Israel, surpassing the total number directed at all other nations combined. Even UN Secretaries General have admitted a systemic bias against Israel.
Although Mr. Tamayo’s statement had a disclaimer that his statement is a personal view and does not necessarily represent the views of La Raza, publishing his views as an official presidential message gave them the weight of the association’s platform. This alienated those who are proudly members of both organizations. Both La Raza and SDJBA have a strong history of standing for access to justice, for diversity in our profession, and for one another. We value that relationship. Moving forward, we invite the opportunity for a thoughtful dialogue between our boards, where SDJBA can elaborate on our concerns and explain the harmful impact of this language on the Jewish community, and we look forward to working collaboratively with the incoming president.
Respectfully,
The San Diego Jewish Bar Association Board of Directors
