Ethics complaint filed over Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards’ trip to Israel
Apr 9, 2025, 9:25 AM | Updated: 11:55 am
Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards. (Photo courtesy of the City of Tacoma)
(Photo courtesy of the City of Tacoma)
An ethics complaint has been filed against Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, according to The News Tribune.
The complaint concerns a trip Woodards took to Israel last month, which was funded by the American Jewish Committee.
Tacoma resident Rob Harrison told The News Tribune he filed the complaint to clarify whether accepting the trip and its perks violated ethics rules or constituted an improper use of her position as mayor.
Woodards and the city have not commented on the ethics complaint.
Why did Mayor Victoria Woodards visit Israel? And why is there anger?
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Some local activists are angry that Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards recently visited Israel.
A delegation of American mayors made the trip, with Woodards being the only representative from Washington. The News Tribune reported that her trip, from March 16 through March 23, was paid for by the American Jewish Committee (AJC). However, the City of Tacoma also paid her salary during that time.
On its website, the AJC stated that it confronts antisemitism, no matter the source. Woodards told The News Tribune that she visited Israel to better understand the conflict with Hamas, and for spiritual reasons as a Christian.
During her visit, Woodards met with families and survivors of the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack. She also attended lectures on topics including Israeli politics, Jerusalem, Israel-U.S. relations, and Israeli society. According to Woodards’ itinerary obtained by The News Tribune, she also met with Palestinian activist Samer Sinijlawi, who led a discussion on Israeli-Palestinian relations.
A member of the Jewish Voice for Peace’s local chapter told The News Tribune that Woodards’ trip was “a disgusting and shameful act of support for the Israeli apartheid regime.” They also said it “flies in the face of not just the ceasefire resolution that Mayor Woodards signed onto, but every standard of human morality.”
“The AJC, American Jewish Committee, is a Zionist organization that explicitly exists to maintain support for the Zionist and genocidal project in Palestine,” she added. “This isn’t some normal educational nonprofit…this is against every Jewish value that I was brought up with.”
In 2024, Woodards and other members of the Tacoma City Council signed a resolution calling for “an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the protection of humanitarian aid workers, and the provision of humanitarian aid in Gaza.”
