This petition is to express profound disappointment regarding the decision by Rabbi Mendel Simons of Young Jewish Professionals, Los Angeles, to hold High Holiday services at the Maybourne Hotel in Beverly Hills. 

We urge him to reconsider. 

Dear Rabbi Simons:

The choice to hold Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services at the Maybourne in Beverly Hills is not simply a matter of venue. The Maybourne is a flagship Qatari-owned asset in the heart of our community, a jewel in the portfolio of a regime whose record on the Jewish people, the State of Israel, and the broader Western world is one of unrelenting hostility.

Let us be clear: Qatar is no innocent bystander, and it is certainly not a neutral mediator. Its rulers have for years been the architects, financiers, and enablers of the very terror that claimed 1,200 Jewish lives on October 7, 2023, and continues to menace Israel. In 2013, it was the owners of the Maybourne — Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani (HBJ), then Prime Minister of Qatar, and Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (HBK), then Emir of Qatar — who welcomed the Hamas leadership to Doha, housing them in luxury hotels and granting them international legitimacy. They were responsible for arranging for Qatar to send $30 million a month into Hamas’s coffers, underwriting rockets, tunnels, and massacres. The current Emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who is HBK’s son, postures as a mediator, but at every turn sides with Hamas, criticizes Israel, and has never once condemned the atrocities of October 7th. Sheikha Moza, HBK’s wife who is considered the ultimate power behind Qatar’s Emir, openly mourned the death of Yahya Sinwar — a man whose hands were drenched in Jewish blood.

Qatar’s state-run propaganda arm, Al Jazeera, relentlessly spreads antisemitic lies and vilifies Israel across the globe. Qatar funds Islamist extremism, sustains the Muslim Brotherhood, shields Iran, and bankrolls campaigns of hate on Western college campuses. Their goal is transparent: to launder their reputation through glittering investments in the West, of which the Maybourne Hotel is a prime example.

We, along with many others in this community, have stood outside the Maybourne in protest — to shout the truth about what it represents. For a Jewish congregation to walk through its doors in prayer on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is not merely tone-deaf; it is a desecration of the very sanctity of those holy days. It lends Jewish credibility to the enemies of the Jewish people. It undermines our collective effort to expose Qatar’s role as chief patron of terror and hatred.

Would you pray in the Iranian embassy? Would you sanctify a Ku Klux Klan meeting hall with our most sacred liturgy? Make no mistake: the symbolism here is no different.

The Maybourne Hotel is desperate for Jewish business, desperate for Jewish respectability, desperate for Jewish cover. By choosing to bring our people into that space on the holiest days of the year, you are providing them exactly what they crave.

Rabbi Simons, you are a leader. With leadership comes responsibility. We urge you to reconsider, to withdraw from this ill-fated arrangement, and to stand with your community in rejecting Qatar’s bloodstained embrace. The High Holidays demand moral clarity, not expedience. The prayers of our people cannot and must not rise to Heaven from a place owned by those who bankroll those sworn to destroy us.

Respectfully,

Rabbi Pini Dunner, Senior Rabbi, Beverly Hills Synagogue