Palestinian solidarity activists have pressed local governments to support a ceasefire. Israel’s supporters want city leaders to condemn Hamas.
by Eli Wolfe Nov. 22, 2023, 2:20 p.m. (Oaklandside.org)
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Local activists—including Palestinians, Jews, and others—have marched, boarded a military supply ship, and occupied the federal building to put pressure on U.S. leaders to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Now they want the Oakland City Council to take a stand against the war, which started after Hamas soldiers attacked Israeli civilians and military installations on Oct. 7. Hamas said it carried out the attack because of Israel’s treatment of Palestinian prisoners, Israeli policy around Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, and the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, which is part of the Palestinian territory the international community says Israel has illegally occupied for decades.
On Monday, the council will consider a resolution drafted by District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife that urges members of Congress to demand an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the restoration of critical supplies and infrastructure in Gaza, and the respect for international law.
The resolution condemns the “recent rise of Antisemitic, Islamophobic, racist, homophobic, and xenophobic attacks” in Oakland and the country. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights group, recently reported an “unprecedented” spike in requests for help from people experiencing Islamophobia and anti-Arab incidents. Numerous media reports have documented a significant uptick in antisemitic incidents in several U.S. cities since the conflict started.
Oakland’s resolution differs from legislation passed last month by the Richmond City Council that affirmed the city’s solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and condemned “collective punishment” and “ethnic cleansing.” A resolution approved by the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee on Nov. 1 accused Israel of committing acts of genocide.
Fife told The Oaklandside she received input from Jewish and Palestinian community members and crafted a resolution that mostly focuses on calling for an end to the violence.
“Our goal is to find something that everybody can agree on,” Fife said. “Everybody is saying they want peace.”
She noted that members of congress have far more power than a local city council to force a ceasefire.
“This is what we can do as elected officials, but I honestly don’t think a local resolution will be terribly impactful in the larger scope of what needs to happen,” Fife said. “It’s a piece, it’s what we have capacity to do, but I really think it’s going to be the grassroots organizing that’s happening.”
Earlier this month, dozens of protesters showed up at an Oakland City Council meeting to demand a ceasefire resolution. Meanwhile, demonstrators attempted to board a ship at the Port of Oakland that was reportedly going to carry military equipment to Israel. Last week, hundreds of Jewish protesters and supporters engaged in civil disobedience at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in downtown Oakland for several hours until many were arrested. Days later, hundreds of protesters shut down traffic on the Bay Bridge while President Biden and other world leaders were in San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
Hamas killed approximately 1,200 people and took at least 240 hostages during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Israel responded by bombing the Gaza Strip, home to over 2 million Palestinians, and launching a ground invasion that has killed over 13,000 people, according to recent estimates from Palestinian health authorities. UNICEF recently reported that more than 5,350 of those fatalities are children.
Other local government bodies have considered issuing statements about the humanitarian crisis
The Oakland Unified School District was expected to introduce a ceasefire resolution earlier this month, but the board adjourned after some attendees disrupted the meeting to object to the limited public comment period. The Oakland Education Association issued a statement and voted on a resolution on Oct. 27 that supported Palestinian liberation and criticized Israel, calling the government’s policies genocidal. The OEA later deleted its statement on Instagram and approved a resolution on Nov. 6 that encouraged its members to speak up and support teachers in providing education about Palestinian liberation in classrooms.
Several Oakland councilmembers have already weighed in on the war. On Nov. 13, Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas issued a statement urging President Joe Biden to demand a ceasefire. She noted that families in Oakland are grieving the loss of loved ones in both Palestine and Israel and condemned the killing of civilians.
“As Americans, we must learn from past genocides and not allow our government to be complicit in the displacement and killing of the Palestinian people,” Bas said in her statement.
Bas also called it “unconscionable” that the U.S. government would consider giving an additional $14.3 billion in military aid to Israel when cities like Oakland are struggling with crises of homelessness, gun violence, and inadequate healthcare services. Israel has received about $3 billion annually from the U.S. over the past 50 years and is the largest recipient of American military aid, according to Axios.
Councilmember Janani Ramachandran told The Oaklandside she has been clear about her support for a ceasefire since signing a petition on Oct. 16, and that she’s been meeting with Jewish and Muslim constituents.
Councilmember Kevin Jenkins shared a temporary message on Instagram in early November that said, “It’s beyond time for a ceasefire in Palestine. Innocent people are senselessly being killed. I am horrified by the videos of children being killed.”
Councilmember Dan Kalb has been critical of how some other local leaders and organizations have talked about the war. He spoke at a press conference at Montclair Elementary School on Nov. 10 along with residents and the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area to protest language in OEA’s statement.
Kalb told the J. Weekly that he understood why some people want a ceasefire in Gaza, but that it’s unacceptable to use language that delegitimizes Israel. Kalb, who said he wasn’t making any comment on Fife’s resolution, told The Oaklandside that any language that delegitimizes the existence of Israel or makes “false accusations” would be unacceptable. He added that this kind of language was used in resolutions crafted by the OEA, the city of Richmond, and the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee. Kalb told J. Weekly he will vote against any resolution that, like Richmond’s, would condemn Israel.
Activists are urging their supporters to attend Monday’s council meeting
The JCRC, which has sought over several decades to build support for Israel among Bay Area political leaders through educational trips and programming, is demanding that Oakland councilmembers amend Fife’s resolution to condemn Hamas and call for its removal from power. The group is urging residents to send a form letter to the council, which states that Fife’s draft resolution says nothing about atrocities perpetrated by Hamas. The letter says, “[Hamas’] removal from power in Gaza is a necessary condition for a long-term ceasefire to result in peace.”
“We’ve been meeting with most members of the Oakland City Council,” said Tye Gregory, CEO of JCRC Bay Area. “We don’t think that the proponents of this resolution are bad people, we just don’t think the resolution represents the Jewish community.”
Gregory told The Oaklandside that the JCRC wants a ceasefire as soon as possible. But it would have to be accompanied by the release of Israeli hostages and the removal of Hamas from power.
Gregory added that the JCRC is generally against foreign policy resolutions by local councils, saying they tend to make local divisions worse. After the Richmond City Council approved its ceasefire resolution, JCRC launched a campaign to stop the spread of “inflammatory” resolutions in other cities.
Another Jewish-led organization, Jewish Voice for Peace, is urging its members to attend next week’s council meeting to support the ceasefire resolution.
Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, told The Oaklandside that she appreciates Fife and Bas initiating conversations with the community about a ceasefire resolution. She said the resolution is a critical way to also show support for local communities that are experiencing a surge in Islamophobic attacks.
Kiswani views the resolution as the first part of a longer campaign to build local support for Palestinians and address the root causes of the conflict.
“We hope that Oakland, in addition to other cities, will follow suit with Richmond and echo support for ending military aid to Israel and standing with Palestine against all human rights abuses,” Kiswani said.
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ELI WOLFE
Eli Wolfe reports on City Hall for The Oaklandside. He was previously a senior reporter for San José Spotlight, where he had a beat covering Santa Clara County’s government and transportation. He also worked as an investigative reporter for the Pasadena-based newsroom FairWarning, where he covered labor, consumer protection and transportation issues. He started his journalism career as a freelancer based out of Berkeley. Eli’s stories have appeared in The Atlantic, NBCNews.com, Salon, the San Francisco Chronicle, and elsewhere. Eli graduated from UC Santa Cruz and grew up in San Francisco.
