Jewish newspaper in Portland booted from Democratic Socialist press conference on Israel, editor says

The editor of Portland’s only Jewish news outlet said he was blocked from attending a virtual press conference held by the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America discussing Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

Rockne Roll, editor of The Jewish Review, slammed the DSA for booting him out of the meeting last week, calling it a “disservice” to his readers as four members of the Portland city council attended it to learn about “Israel’s illegal occupation, apartheid, or genocidal violence against Palestinians.”

“I know there are a wide range of opinions about the Jewish state; out of respect for all of them, I made plans to attend and report what I saw fairly and accurately – just as I have endeavor to do on every story,” Roll wrote.

“Someone decided I shouldn’t have that chance. I was removed from the event before it even started,” he added.

Roll is the sole staff member of the Review, an online bi-weekly paper owned by the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland.

The editor claimed that when he entered the conference to listen in on the discussion, he was logged out and not allowed back in.

“While four members of Portland’s City Council assembled to discuss something of import to Portland’s Jewish community, the representative of the lone outlet that focuses on Portland’s Jewish community was unceremoniously ushered out – without explanation, without notice, without a word,” Roll wrote.

“All it took was a couple of mouse clicks to erect a barrier between elected officials and the press that is meant to hold them accountable.”

The DSA said that it was screening the attendees signing in to the event and removing any possible bad actors, claiming that Roll was not targeted over his role as a journalist for Portland’s only Jewish paper.

“The exclusion of Mr. Roll was not intentional,” the DSA said in a statement. “Events relating to Palestine are often disrupted by trolls; the volunteers running the tech, who were making quick decisions to try to mitigate potential disruptions and distractions, mistakenly identified Rockne Roll as a fake name.”

The group said that Roll was sent a recording of the call, which was later uploaded to YouTube, after learning about the mistake.

The DSA added that the city councilors who attended the event — Sameer Kanal, Angelita Morillo, Tiffany Koyama Lane and Mitch Green — had no role in how the call was operated.

Roll, however, maintains that he did not use his name to register for the event, and his only identifier was his paper and his email address, which does not use his full name.

A representative from Green’s office said the city councilors were not aware of the “technical difficulties” that took place during the event, the OregonLive reported.