Cleveland Heights Mayor Khalil Seren is facing mounting public outrage after explosive allegations of antisemitism surfaced against his wife, Natalie McDaniel.
Last week, the law firm Sobel, Wade & Mapley, LLC filed a formal complaint with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission alleging that McDaniel used antisemitic slurs in private text messages referring to city officials, including members of the Jewish community. The complaint, which includes messages reportedly sent to Mayor Seren and a former aide, accuses McDaniel of referring to Jewish Planning Commission Chair Jessica Cohen as a “broodmare” — a term allegedly used to disparage Orthodox Jewish families for having large numbers of children.
Other reported messages include derogatory remarks about Jewish residents and city officials, including calling a councilmember “that Jewish [dog].” McDaniel also reportedly implied that Cohen was serving on the commission solely to benefit the Orthodox community.
Scores of Cleveland Heights residents gathered this week outside City Hall hours before the council meeting to demand accountability. Protesters, including children, held signs calling for Mayor Seren’s resignation, expressing frustration over his silence and inaction in the face of bigotry coming from within his own household.
During the city council meeting, residents filled the chamber and voiced outrage during public comment. While councilmembers unanimously passed a resolution condemning antisemitism as an emergency measure, they also took pointed aim at the mayor’s silence.
“As a city leader, your judgment has failed you,” Councilwoman Gail Larson said. Vice President of Council Davida Russell added, “We need to close the door on all this hatred.”
Council President Tony Cuda said: “I’m disappointed. I’m repulsed. And most of all, I’m sorry to the Jewish community that has to endure this hate speech.”
Mayor Seren, who has not publicly addressed the complaint, said during the meeting, “I’ve prepared a statement and I’ll be releasing that tomorrow. Tonight, I’m here to listen.”
On Wednesday night, Seren released a long video – but made no mention of resigning. The video can be watched below.
The city’s second-ever mayoral election is set for November. While two candidates have already filed to run, it remains unclear whether Seren will seek re-election.
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3 Responses
Stop crying wolf , we don’t fire people period and certainly not for a spouses texts…save it for real issues
“…of referring to Jewish Planning Commission Chair Jessica Cohen as a “broodmare” — a term allegedly used to disparage Orthodox Jewish families for having large numbers of children.”
The term doesn’t discourage anyone from having many children, unlike the article’s implication. Rather, the term denigrates a woman for doing so. A woman who has chosen to have a large number of children would be the implication of the term “brood”, and then the “mare” part would imply female animal.
So it’s a derogatory reference calling a woman an animal at least in part because she has a lot of children.
This gentile woman seems to have insulted this Jewish woman. I don’t see anything antisemitic about calling her a “broodmare” or even a “female dog”, and her husband pointed that out in the video. That’s a generic insult, not at all antisemitism.
For the gentile woman to state that she believes that this Jewish woman is there to benefit Jews, this happens to be a reasonable question, just as anyone might wonder why (liHavdil) a Muslim woman might join.
The mayor’s claim that he and his wife are not anti-Jewish seems reasonable, from what is presented here. He also stated that the text chain is doctored.
He also stated that they are approving a a project which some consider to be favoring Jews, even though he thinks it is also good fro the city.
This whole story stinks. Crying wolf about antisemitism is very dangerous for Jews, and is therefore very counter-productive for Jews.
This is concerning. Please don’t alienate gentiles and then G-d forbid cause them to hate, when they are not haters.