Lawmakers and local Jewish leaders who met over breakfast with Trayon White Sr. said the councilman was sincere in his apology for suggesting on Facebook that rich Jews control the weather.
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson called Tuesday’s meeting, which included bagels and lox from a local kosher market, “an opportunity for us to learn better about different aspects about bigotry, racism and anti-Semitism,” the Washington Post reported.
The meeting, which included about 20 Jewish leaders, was organized by Mendelson and Rabbi Batya Glazer, government liaison for the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington.
White, a Democrat representing the district’s 8th Ward, posted a video early on March 16 in which he accused “the Rothschilds” of controlling the climate to make money — an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that has gained traction on the web. He later removed the video and issued an apology.
JTA