Mayor Resigns From Golf Club After Members Say They Shouldn’t Welcome President Obama Over Israel Stance

The mayor of a Maryland suburb resigned from his golf club after some members said they might not welcome President Obama if he wanted to join because of his stance towards Israel.

Obama played at the historically Jewish Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, MD, four times during his presidency, the Washington Post reports. But now some members argue that the outgoing president should not be allowed back, due to his decision not to veto the U.N. Security Council resolution that criticized Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

In a document acquired by the Post, one longstanding club member wrote: “He has created a situation in the world where Israel’s very existence is weakened and possibly threatened… He is not welcome at Woodmont. His admittance would create a storm that could destroy our club.”

The heated debate has led Democratic activist Jeffrey Slavin, mayor of the town of Somerset, to resign after 61 years of membership. “As today is the celebration of the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., who taught us all to dream, it is most appropriate that I take this action,” wrote Slavin in an email on Monday, Montgomery Community Media reports.

“Where intolerance is accepted, where history is forgotten, where Freedom of Speech is denied, and where the nation’s first black president is disrespected,” his email concluded.