AHF: California Apartment Association Jumps on Antisemitic Bandwagon

Anti-tenant corporate landlord group outsourced response after being exposed for peddling hateful tropes against nonprofit fighting for rent control

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) ran a new full-page ad in the Jewish News of Northern California Friday exposing the California Apartment Association’s (CAA) campaign of despicable antisemitic attacks on AHF president and cofounder Michael Weinstein. CAA has been using antisemitic tropes and placing deliberate emphasis on Mr. Weinstein’s Jewish last name as it attempts to smear him personally as a money-grubbing slumlord and attack the global lifesaving nonprofit that he has built over 36 years.

AHF exposed that CAA representatives dressed as cockroaches, akin to Donald Trump's calling people "vermin," distributed anti-AHF propaganda at the recent California Democratic Party conference.

AHF sponsors the Justice for Renters rent control ballot initiative which will come before voters in November 2024. As support for rent control grows, so do the vile antisemitic tropes.

A recent PPIC poll shows 62% of likely California voters favor “a policy that would expand local government’s authority to enact rent control on residential property.”

AHF’s second ad in Jewish News of Northern California reads as follows:

In the extreme times we live in today, trading in ugly images of Jewish people is dangerous.

Shylock was the Jewish moneylender in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Its modern-day definition is a person without pity in business dealings. This is exactly how California Apartment Association (CAA) is portraying AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) president and cofounder Michael Weinstein in their ads. They intentionally ignore the millions of lives he's helped to save across the globe.

The stereotype of rich Jews is a favorite of antisemites. The California Apartment Association continually has portrayed Michael as a billionaire, which they know is untrue. They, on the other hand, are controlled by billionaires.

Jewish conspiracies are age-old. According to the CAA, Michael is the mastermind behind a selfish plot to harm renters when he really is trying to empower them.

The truth is, they’re the culprits. They’re the ones operating without pity and using antisemitism to divert and deflect.

It’s shameful and dangerous. And it must stop.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, provides cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to more than 1.9 million individuals across 45 countries, including the U.S. and in Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, visit us online at AIDShealth.org, find us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, and subscribe to our AHFter Hours podcast.