Ivan Boesky, the financier who gave birth to the “greed is good” mantra before going to prison in one of the biggest Wall Street insider trading scandals of the 1980s, has died in La Jolla at the age of 87.

The death was confirmed to the New York Times by Boesky’s daughter, Marianne Boesky.

Boesky, who partly inspired the Gordon Gekko character in the 1987 movie “Wall Street,” was considered a genius at risk arbitrage — the business of speculating in takeover stocks — and his wealth was estimated in the hundreds of millions.

“I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself,” he said in a commencement speech to the University of California Berkeley business school in 1986.

Just a few months later, the man known on Wall Street as “Ivan the Terrible” was indicted on the charges that would send him to disgrace, near-bankruptcy and prison.

Boesky became a legend by committing vast sums to potential merger deals, trying to take advantage of the small but predictable gains that follow takeover rumors.

Often, the news that Boesky was investing in a company was enough to prompt other speculators to enter the market, creating a self-fulfilling rise in the stock’s price.

All along, Boesky insisted he bought stocks only after formal takeover bids were announced. But the Securities and Exchange Commission proved he obtained tips from investment bankers about deals in the works and used them illegally before they were released to the public.

He won leniency by cooperating in the government’s investigation of insider trading rings and reportedly taped conversations with his business contacts.

“He has been reviled as a stool pigeon. He has become a leper in the financial community,” Leon Silverman, Boesky’s lawyer, said at his client’s sentencing hearing.

Boesky testified against Michael Milken, the junk bond king whose stunning rise and fall also epitomized the era. Boesky received a relatively light sentence of 3-1/2 years in prison, a $100 million fine and a lifetime ban from trading securities.

Ivan Frederick Boesky was born on March 6, 1937, and grew up in Detroit, where his parents owned restaurants. He said later that at age 13 he bought a truck and drove it without a license to the city’s parks, where he sold ice cream.

With a degree from the Detroit College of Law, he worked as a law clerk to a U.S. District Court judge before joining the accounting firm Touche Ross.

Boesky moved to Wall Street in 1966, joining L.F. Rothschild as a securities analyst. In 1975, with $700,000 bankrolled by his wife’s family, he established his own firm specializing in risk arbitrage.

By 1981, the Ivan F. Boesky Corp had assets of more than $500 million. Boesky reputedly made more than $150 million in profits from runs on CBS, Gulf Oil and Conoco.

‘I Don’t Know How to Rest’

Described as a “money-orientated monomaniac,” Boesky himself said his work was “a sickness I have in the face of which I am helpless.”

“The machine doesn’t like to stop,” he said of his 20-hour work days. “I don’t know how not to work. I don’t know how to rest.”

Whether at parties or under the dentist’s drill, the tall and impeccably tailored Boesky talked only business.

In his vast, white-marble suite of offices on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, he punched buttons on a 300-line telephone console and studied stock market figures on an array of video screens.

In 1985, he established himself as the dean of the arbitrage business by writing a book entitled “Merger Mania.” But a year later, when he pleaded guilty to insider trading, his reputation crumbled and “Merger Mania” was dropped by the publisher.

He served around two years at the “country club” prison at Lompoc, California, with tennis courts, a golf course, gym and billiard room. But rather than making millions, he earned $3 a day for work such as carpentry.

After he left prison in 1990, Boesky kept a very low profile. He was reported to have enrolled in rabbinical studies and became involved in projects helping the homeless.

Boskey lived in a luxury home overlooking the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla that he received in a divorce settlement from his ex-wife Seema, the daughter of a real estate magnate.

He is survived by his second wife, Ana, their daughter, Blu, three sons from his first marriage along with daughter Marianne, who confirmed the death, and four grandchildren.

Reuters and City News Service contributed to this article.

Student protesters at UC San Diego are calling for a walkout from classes at 12:05 p.m. Wednesday, followed by a protest on Sungod Lawn, according to a social media post by Students for Justice in Palestine.

Some in the campus community condemned the chancellor and administration after officers tore down an encampment made by pro-Palestinian protesters and arrested 65 people on suspicion of unlawful assembly on Monday.

Of those arrested, 40 were UCSD students, who were placed on interim suspension.

The San Diego Faculty Association asked that the suspensions be lifted and any potential pursuit of criminal charges be halted.

About 200 of UCSD’s 3,800 faculty members signed a statement saying they “were shocked and outraged by UCSD’s decision to send riot police to arrest protesters on May 6. The militarized response has only chilled free speech, escalated tensions, reduced safety on campus, and destroyed the trust needed for negotiations and shared governance.”

More than 450 graduate students signed a statement saying that “the decision to characterize the protest as non-peaceful and to deploy law enforcement to forcefully clear the encampment is an egregious violation of the principles of justice, equity, and freedom of expression that our institution claims to uphold.”

Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said the encampment violated campus policy and the law and grew to pose an unacceptable risk to the safety of the campus community.

City News Service contributed to this article.

A pro-Palestinian encampment in the middle of USC‘s main campus was cleared Sunday morning by university police and LAPD officers, ending a high-profile demonstration that began in April.

No arrests or major confrontations were reported, but the campus remains closed.

“Earlier today, the University of Southern California Department of Public Safety (DPS) successfully removed the illegal encampment rebuilt on the university’s campus,” Joel Curran, USC’s senior vice president of communications said in a statement.

“It was necessary to request the Los Angeles Police Department to respond to provide security as this was carried out peacefully. No arrests have been reported,” he said.

Clean-up of the encampment, which had been rebuilt after previously being cleared on April 24, began around 4 a.m.

At 4:25 a.m., officers gave protesters 15 minutes to leave or face arrest.

At 4:35 a.m. the officers began to remove the banners hung by protesters, moving them to the side of the park.

A videographer at the scene said officers pushed 50 to 75 students out of the encampment and off the campus. The officers then cleared out the tents and other gear that was left behind.

The police action came just days after USC President Carol Folt wrote an open letter to the “Trojan Family” stressing the steps the university was taking to ensure that students finish finals “in a quiet, safe academic environment — and that our graduating students can enjoy peaceful and joyous commencement ceremonies.”

Folt also took a firm stand toward protesters who might continue to be disruptive.

“Let me be absolutely clear,” she wrote in the letter released Friday. “Free speech and assembly do not include the right to obstruct equal access to campus, damage property, or foment harassment, violence, and threats. Nor is anyone entitled to obstruct the normal functions of our university, including commencement.”

The university became a focal point of pro-Palestinian protests following its April 15 decision to cancel valedictorian Asna Tabassum‘s commencement speech in response to complaints about her online posts critics called antisemitic. USC officials insisted the move was solely a security issue, not a political decision.

Still, tensions continued to mount — leading to the mass protest April 24th and attempted occupation of Alumni Park that resulted in the 93 arrests and the clearing of the earlier encampment.

The university eventually opted to cancel its May 10 main stage commencement altogether, but vowed to move forward with the usual array of smaller satellite graduation ceremonies for the school’s individual colleges.

Those ceremonies are set to begin this Wednesday.

City News Service contributed to this article.

A San Diego federal judge was reprimanded by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday for ordering the teenage daughter of a defendant handcuffed during her father’s sentencing hearing.

The official censure from the 9th Circuit’s Judicial Council concerns U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez‘ instructions to have a deputy marshal place a 13-year-old girl in handcuffs in February of last year, something the council wrote “constitute(s) abusive or harassing behavior.”

As part of the reprimand, Benitez will not be assigned new criminal cases for three years and attorneys may request to recuse him from sentencing hearings for supervised release violations — the same type of violation that led to the sentencing hearing at the heart of the reprimand.

The judge has gained national notoriety for his rulings in support of gun rights, with Gov. Gavin Newsom describing him as “a wholly owned subsidiary of the gun lobby and the National Rifle Association.”

Benitez explained that his intent in the handcuffing was to keep the girl from heading down a path of using drugs.

Her father, who had a drug-related history, told Benitez during the sentencing hearing that his daughter had used marijuana and he feared she would be “following the same footsteps as I am right now.”

Benitez then had the girl placed in handcuffs and asked her, “You see where your dad is?” and later asked, “How did you like the way those cuffs felt on you?”

Later he told the girl, “That was the message I was hoping to get to you. So your dad’s made some serious mistakes in his life, and look at where it’s landed him. And as a result of that, he has to spend time away from you. And if you’re not careful, young lady, you’ll wind up in cuffs, and you’ll find yourself right there where I put you a minute ago.”

Witness accounts differ on how long the girl was handcuffed, but several people reported she was crying throughout the hearing and after leaving the courtroom.

The council wrote that Benitez responded to complaints about the incident by stating “that his actions were motivated by a desire to change the alleged behavior of (the defendant’s) daughter and to potentially change the behavior of (the defendant) as well.” He said that no one objected to his order at the time and also said he’d be willing to apologize to the girl “if I could also briefly explain why I did what I did.”

The council wrote that his conduct was “impermissible” in two ways.

“First, the shackling of a spectator at a hearing who is not engaged in threatening or disorderly behavior exceeds the authority of a district judge. Second, creating a spectacle out of a minor child in the courtroom chills the desire of friends, family members, and members of the public to support loved ones at sentencing.”

The council also wrote that though Benitez “maintained that he acted only with the best intentions,” his actions harmed the girl and “impaired the public’s trust in the institution.”

City News Service contributed to this article.

The University of Southern California said on Thursday it has called off its main-stage graduation ceremony this year, one week after canceling the valedictorian speech by a Muslim student who said she was silenced by anti-Palestinian hatred.

New safety measures in place this year, such as additional screening procedures, will increase the processing time for guests “substantially,” according to an update on USC’s website.

“As a result, we will not be able to host the main stage ceremony that traditionally brings 65,000 students, families, and friends to our campus all at the same time,” the update said.

The announcement came as a pro-Palestine encampment appeared across town in Los Angeles on the UCLA campus. By mid-morning, several dozen protesters were sitting and milling around inside the encampment outside Royce Hall, with dozens of tents being erected
and more protesters gathering.

The Israel-Gaza war has sparked tensions on U.S. college campuses and inspired a wave of students and outsiders to erect protest encampments at universities across the country in recent days. Hundreds of protesters have been arrested, including more than 90 at USC on Wednesday.

Rights groups have viewed the arrests with concern as a free speech issue, while university officials have said the protests have been unauthorized.

USC’s decision to abandon the main commencement ceremony came days after the university announced it had “decided it is best to release our outside speakers and honorees” from attending the commencement ceremony, following the outcry over the decision to cancel the valedictorian’s speech.

USC Provost Andrew Guzman said in a statement last week that the decision to cancel the speech of the Muslim valedictorian, biomedical engineering major Asna Tabassum, was aimed at protecting campus security and “had nothing to do with free speech.”

Guzman’s statement did not refer to Tabassum by name, or specify what about her speech, background or political views had raised concerns, nor did it detail any particular threats.

Trojans for Israel, a USC-based group, and We Are Tov (Hebrew for “good”), a group advocating support for Israel and Jews in collegiate life, called for Tabassum’s removal, saying she has previously espoused antisemitic views.

According to Tabassum, who described herself as a “first-generation South Asian-American Muslim,” USC officials refused to share details of the university’s security assessment.

Reuters and City News Service contributed to this article.

There were no tickets sold with all six numbers in the latest drawing of the multi-state Powerball lottery, pushing the estimated jackpot for Monday’s drawing to $975 million, the 11th-largest U.S. lottery jackpot.

One ticket each with five numbers, but missing the Powerball number, were sold in Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Louisiana. They are each worth $1 million, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which conducts the game.

The numbers drawn Saturday were 12, 13, 33, 50, 52 and the Powerball number was 23. The estimated jackpot was $951 million, also the 11th-largest U.S. lottery jackpot.

The prize has been growing steadily since the last Powerball winner hit the jackpot on New Year’s Day 2024.

If there is a single winner on Monday, the ticket holder can choose to accept it in a single lump sum, with the prize carrying a cash value of about $471.7 million, lottery officials said.

To secure the prize, the winner or winners must beat a one in 292.2 million chance and match the correct six numbers on a $2 ticket. Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The purse at stake on Saturday was still below the $1.13 billion jackpot won this week in a drawing by another lottery, Mega Millions, and well below the largest single lottery prize total in U.S. history.

That came in November 2022 when a lone ticket holder in California won a $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot.

The latest in a series of powerful Southern California winter storms brought more rain and potential for destructive flooding and mountain snow Monday to the already saturated San Diego area.

The storm, which moved into the county on Sunday, delivered widespread heavy showers, though the local downpours — and resulting mudslides and runoff-submerged roadways — were not as serious as those in Orange and Los Angeles counties, according to the National Weather Service.

More rain is on the way Tuesday, though the intensity will decrease.

“More widespread precipitation this morning will become more showery and continue at times through Friday and possibly into Saturday,” the weather service said. “Areas of flooding are possible into this morning with the flood threat becoming more localized during today.”

The region could get another 1 to 1.5 inches near the coast to 2.5 to 3.5 inches inland over the next several days.

Due to the predicted severity of the storm, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in eight counties, including the San Diego region, over the weekend. The proclamation includes provisions authorizing a California National Guard response if needed, facilitating unemployment benefits for impacted residents and making it easier for out-of-state contractors and utilities to repair storm damage.

The other counties included were Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura.

Over a two-day period ending late Monday afternoon, the dark bands of clouds had dropped anywhere from a hundredth of an inch to more than 3 1/2 inches across the coastal, inland-valley and mountain communities of San Diego County, the weather service reported.

Among the 48-hour precipitation tallies as of 4:15 p.m. were 3.56 inches in San Onofre; 2.49 at Palomar Observatory; 2.02 in Oceanside; 1.99 in Fallbrook; 1.56 at Rainbow Camp; 1.53 in Bonsall; 1.42 in Carlsbad; 1.23 in Vista; 0.96 in Encinitas; 0.88 in Deer Springs; 0.79 in San Marcos and Valley Center; 0.66 in Escondido and at Lake Wohlford; and 0.3 in National City.

Other rainfall totals included 0.22 in Rancho Bernardo; 0.2 at Miramar Lake; 0.17 in Flinn Springs and Point Loma; 0.13 in Mission Valley; 0.12 in Granite Hills and Kearny Mesa; 0.1 in Poway and Santee; 0.08 at Ramona Airport and San Diego International Airport; and 0.02 in Chula Vista. No precipitation was recorded in the local deserts over the period, according to the NWS.

The showers led to scattered San Diego-area road closures Monday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol, including on state Route 78 at Cloverdale Road in the San Pasqual area, due to a sinkhole; SR-78 at Emerald Drive in Vista, and the El Camino Real entrance to eastbound SR-78 in Oceanside, both for flooding; and in the 5400 block of Olive Hill Road in Bonsall, where a tree fell across traffic lanes.

San Diego Gas & Electric has increased the number of field crews and equipment available “to restore power as quickly and safely as possible should power outages occur,” a statement from the utility company read.

Call 9-1-1 and SDG&E at (800) 411-7343 to report downed power lines.

An NWS flood watch will be in effect until 10 a.m. Wednesday for the city of San Diego as well as the communities of Borrego Springs, Carlsbad, Chula Vista, El Cajon, Encinitas, Escondido, Julian, La Mesa, National City, Oceanside, Pine Valley, Poway, San Marcos, Santee and Vista. Excessive runoff could result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams and other low-lying locations, meteorologists advised.

Forecasters also warned of the likelihood that strong winds — from 15 to 25 mph and gusts up to 35 mph in some places — could blow away unsecured outdoor objects, snap off tree limbs and cause power outages.

Additionally, a high-surf advisory was slated to be in effect until 10 p.m. Monday, with ocean breakers from 6 to 8 feet high and sets up to 10 feet, along with a small-craft advisory from San Mateo Point to the Mexican border.

South to southeast winds will increase in intensity over the day Monday, with gusts from 25 to 30 knots, the weather service advised. The high- surf conditions are expected to decrease overnight and Tuesday.

San Diego County emergency-services and public-works officials offered the public the following storm-safety tips:

• Avoid driving through deep water
• Avoid oversteering or stomping on the brakes if you start to hydroplane or skid
• Avoid texting or using a hand-held cell phone when driving
• Slow down to avoid getting into an accident
• Turn on your headlights to see better
• Try to drive toward the middle lanes as water tends to gather in outside lanes
• Defog your windows for better visibility
• Never drive through a flooded roadway
• Give the cars in front of you extra distance
• Watch out for public works crews and equipment

Due to potential harsh weather conditions, an emergency shelter at 2111 Pan American Plaza is open to the public and can be reached at 619-525- 8262. Services at the shelter will include places for displaced people to stay, meals, snacks, crisis counseling, help replacing medication and pet support from the San Diego Humane Society.

Alert San Diego has provided residents with all other information regarding flooding and can be found at the following links:

• Flood preparation information
• Emergency information
• Recovery information including cleanup, medicine and additional helpful resources

Residents can also text HELP to 98266 to get safety information.

The United Taxi Workers of San Diego is helping impacted residents get to the temporary shelter at no charge. To schedule a ride customers can call 619-280-4444 or use the “Ride United” passenger application. Residents seeking services should provide a pick-up location and select “Balboa Park Municipal Gym” or “Mountain View Community Recreation Center” as their drop- off location, county officials said.

A temporary homeless shelter has been set up at the Balboa Park Activity Center at 16th Street and Newton Bridge Shelter.

The Department of Public Works is picking up flood-damaged debris and items from homes in the unincorporated communities. Pickup in unincorporated areas can be reached at 858-495-5700. Additional storm recovery resources can be reached by dialing 211.

The county advised against putting debris near curbs during rainy weather, where it can wash away and cause a hazard.

This week’s storm comes after a spate of historically heavy downpours that left roadways, commercial districts and residential neighborhoods underwater across the region two weeks ago. The wettest day, Jan. 22, delivered the highest 24-hour rainfall amounts in San Diego since 1850, according to the NWS.

The inundation, which washed away many a parked car and heavily damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes, prompted the city and county of San Diego, along with Newsom, to declare states of emergency.

Since then, authorities have been taking steps, including monitoring tens of thousands of storm drains, to prevent more storm-driven destruction, Gloria said during a recent news briefing. He urged those who live or work in flood-prone areas to remain proactively vigilant as well.

“Now is not the time to remove your sandbags,” the mayor said. “We can’t predict Mother Nature. She’s unpredictable.”

The city and the San Diego Housing Commission have opened a new 50-room shelter at a former hotel site in the Midway district to provide a refuge from those impact the recent storms.

“Providing shelter and support for our neighbors whose lives were upended by the storm is a top priority,” City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera said. “These creative options were possible through collaboration between the city, county, the Housing Commission and state of California. The road ahead of us is long, but this quick and meaningful action shows that we can create creative housing solutions when we all work together.”

The county’s Assessor’s Office, Public Health, Behavioral Health, Public Works and Department of Environmental Health and Quality will be at the City Assistance Center to provide services to those impacted by the storms.

Heavy rainfall and hurricane-force winds pounded much of California on Sunday, knocking out power for 750,000 customers and threatening serious floods as forecasters expect the storm to stall over major cities for the next day or two.

The storm is the second Pineapple Express weather system, or atmospheric river storm, to hit the state in the past week and arrived just as Los Angeles welcomed celebrities for the music industry’s Grammy awards, where the red carpet was tented but other attendees were forced to slog through heavy rain in glitzy cocktail attire, some with only a handbag for an umbrella. 

The severe conditions prompted the National Weather Service‘s Bay Area office to issue a rare hurricane-force wind warning for Big Sur and nearby areas.

California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in eight counties, including San Diego, with a combined population of more than 20 million people, and flash flood warnings were issued for Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

In San Diego County, a flood watch begins at 4 p.m. Monday and will continue until 10 a.m. Wednesday. Rainfall of 2-4 inches is expected over a three-day period, along with gusty winds.

But the rainfall is expected to be considerably greater for Orange County and northward.

“This has the potential to be a historic storm, severe winds, thunderstorms, and even brief tornadoes,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told a news conference.

The San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles county were not only getting drenched but the storm was expected to stall over some areas into Tuesday, creating severe risk of flooding mudslides.

“The Monday evening commute is going to be a complete disaster to say the least. In fact, it’s going to be bad enough that I would recommend everybody stay home in L.A. if we possibly can,” Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California Los Angeles, said in a live-stream on Sunday. 

The NWS recorded peak wind gusts of 80 mph or higher in some places.

Nearly 750,000 homes and businesses lacked electricity on Sunday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us. 

“This is a DANGEROUS SYSTEM with major risks to life and property. Substantial flooding. Residents should heed any evacuation orders,” the Los Angeles office of the NWS said on social media. “Stay off the roads, especially the freeways, this afternoon through at least Monday morning.”

Near Los Angeles, the port city of Long Beach could get more rain this week than it does during an entire year, said Mayor Rex Richardson, who is expecting 5-7 inches starting Sunday through Tuesday. 

California’s southern and central coasts are bracing for an inch of rain an hour and totals of 3-6 inches, the NWS said. As much as 6-12 inches are expected in the foothills and lower-elevation mountains. 

The Los Angeles and Santa Barbara areas were both at high risk for excessive rainfall on Sunday and Monday, with forecasters anticipating “near continuous rainfall” for the next 48 hours. 

Evacuation orders were issued for some of those counties’ residents, as well as residents of the San Jose region and Ventura County.

Updated at 8:10 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024

Reuters and City News Service contributed to this article.

The San Diego City Council Monday narrowly re-elected City Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera as council president for the third consecutive year.

Elo-Rivera was originally elected to the president’s role on Dec. 6, 2021, replacing Councilwoman Jennifer Campbell. Unlike that day two years ago, where Elo-Rivera was elected in an 8-1 vote, the council president was reelected by just 5-4 on Monday.

“I am honored a majority of my colleagues have put their trust in me to lead this council for another year,” said Elo-Rivera after the vote.

“Over the past two years, we’ve made sure City Council has taken on the tough issues with transparency,” he said. “We’ve enhanced tenant protections for renters, established a fund to protect seniors and families from falling into homelessness and made historic investments in our City employees who provide the vital services to all of our communities.”

The council president is tasked with placing items on the council’s agenda, appointing members to committees and leading meetings.

The four councilmembers voting no to the reelection each publicly stated their qualms with Elo-Rivera, ranging from claims that he interrupts women on the council as well as members of the public, takes retaliatory action against those councilmembers who disagree with him and takes a combative stance against the city attorney’s office and organizations he views have undue influence on the council.

Council President Pro Tem Monica Montgomery Steppe, who voted to reelect Elo-Rivera, found some of these barbs as misinterpretations and unfair.

“We should welcome challenge, we should welcome dialogue, even if we disagree,” Montgomery Steppe said.

Monday was the final city council meeting for the president pro tem, as she heads down the road to the County Administration Center tomorrow as the newest member of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.

Campbell, who served as council president for a year before Elo-Rivera was elected, described him as unreliable, citing his votes against public safety items such as smart streetlights and the unsafe camping ordinance as reasons he was unfit for the role.

Campbell was voted into the position over Montgomery Steppe by a 5-4 margin in December 2020. She spent the next year dealing with not only the city’s difficulties in the COVID-19 pandemic, but also a failed effort to recall her.

Following the vote, on an item which would have allowed councilmembers to publicly state which committees and boards they would like to serve on — not the typical way such appointments are done — Campbell referred to the other four councilmembers as Elo-Rivera’s “minions.”

This prompted a response from Montgomery Steppe.

“I want to object to one thing, and that is being called a minion,” she said.

Councilman Stephen Whitburn, another dissenting vote, said the council would have been better served by a “truly inclusive” leader. Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert claimed Elo-Rivera would “aggressively” interrupt her, something she said she didn’t see happening to male councilmembers. She also said the council, which is entirely comprised of Democrats for the first time in the city’s history, has become “more and more divided over the past two years.”

Councilwoman Vivian Moreno offered full-throated support for Elo-Rivera, saying his willingness to lead the council through troubled times in the city more than qualified him for the role.

Elo-Rivera represents San Diego’s District 9, stretching from the College Area and Kensington in the north to Mountain View and Southcrest in the south.

The San Diego City Council, like all local government bodies in California, is officially nonpartisan.

Updated at 9:05 p.m., Monday, Dec. 4, 2023

City News Service contributed to this article.

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators — including over one hundred from San Diego — gathered in Washington on Tuesday for a “March for Israel” to show solidarity with Israel in its war with Hamas and condemn rising antisemitism.

Streets were closed around much of downtown amid heightened security, as people gathered in bright sunshine on the National Mall, many draped in Israeli and U.S. flags.

“Our message is clear: we want the hostages freed, we want to live in peace, and we stand with Israel wherever our feet happen to be,” said Rabbi Jeremy Gimbel of Congregation Beth Israel in San Diego. “I have seen Jews from all over the country standing in unity and solidarity.”

“We are here to show the world that we won’t be exterminated again,” said Marco Abbou, 57, a personal trainer from Hackensack, NJ, who is originally from Israel.

Protests and public demonstrations — both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel — have rippled around the world since gunmen from the Palestinian militant group Hamas rampaged through southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, according to Israel, and taking about 240 hostages back to Gaza.

Israel responded with a strict blockade on Hamas-controlled Gaza, and an aerial bombardment and ground offensive that Palestinian authorities say has killed more than 11,000 people, around 40% of them children.

As well as protests, the conflict has sparked a rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents in the United States including violent assaults and online harassment, according to advocacy groups.

Organizers of Tuesday’s demonstration said they estimated nearly 300,000 people were attending to show U.S. support for Israel, demand the release of hostages and condemn antisemitic violence and harassment.

People in the crowd held up signs showing the names and photographs of people kidnapped by Hamas, and chanted “bring them home”. Other placards included “We have no where else to go” and “civilians who praise the slaughter of Jews are not innocent.”

Natan Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident and chairman of the executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel from 2009-2018, called for the crowd to fight for Israel.

“We’ll fight against those who try to give legitimacy to Hamas. We will fight for Israel. We’ll fight for every Jew. We will fight against antisemitism,” Sharansky said.

“We defeated Soviet Union. We’ll defeat our enemies today.”

The largest demonstration in Washington so far related to the conflict on Nov. 4 drew thousands who called for the U.S. government, Israel’s main backer, to call for a ceasefire.

Hamas ‘Not Interested in Peace’

“A ceasefire is a pause that would allow Hamas to rearm,” said Ariel Ben-Chitrit, 33, a federal government worker from Herndon, Virginia, who was carrying a blue and white Israeli flag at Tuesday’s protest.

Ben-Chitrit expressed regret Palestinian civilians were suffering and Gaza hospitals being subjected to extreme conditions, but said the only way to end the conflict was to eliminate Hamas.

“Hamas has proven they are not interested in peace,” he said.

The Biden administration has rebuffed calls for a ceasefire but has urged Israel to grant pauses in the fighting for civilians to move to safer locations and for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

Underscoring support in the U.S. Congress for Israel, busloads of senators and members of the House of Representatives attended the pro-Israel rally. Senator Charles Schumer, the Senate’s Democratic majority leader, and the highest-ranking Jewish elected U.S. official, rescheduled his weekly press conference to attend.

“Hamas’s goal was to scare us. Those perpetrating the poison of antisemitism and bigotry around the world are trying to scare us,” Schumer said. “But we will not allow history to slide back to the days of the Holocaust when Jews were targeted and murdered and butchered.”

Authorities ordered an increased police presence for the demonstration, the House’s Sergeant at Arms said on Monday, but it added there was no specific threat and measures were being taken out of an abundance of caution.

Tuesday’s rally included Orthodox Jews wearing long black coats and black felt hats, gaggles of children, and self-described “progressive liberals” such as Erica Taxin, 56, a yoga studio owner from Philadelphia.

She said she disagreed with other progressives calling for a ceasefire.

The militants “didn’t just take hostages but killed children and peacemakers,” she said, referring to murdered Israeli activists who advocated peace with the Palestinians. “How does that have anything to do with social justice?”

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said in a video address that outbursts of antisemitism anywhere are an embarrassment to all civilized people and nations.

“Jews in America must be safe. Jews all over the world must be safe,” Herzog told the crowd.

The only counter demonstration witnessed by Reuters correspondents was outside the main crowd enclosure, where several dozen Orthodox Jews from anti-Zionist group Neturei Karta chanted “1, 2, 3, 4, Zionism no more,” and “down, down the state of Israel.”

Reuters contributed to this article.