“Not even clearly mentioning the Hamas mass murder on Oct. 7 is sending the wrong message, and an embarrassing message,” he said when introducing the amendments. He ultimately voted to pass the cease-fire resolution as is.
“I do believe that these amendments do not take away from the cease-fire; they broaden the support for this measure,” he said to represent the views of all Oakland residents.
District 7 Councilmember Treva Reid voted in favor of the resolution but was the lone supporter of Kalb in his amendments.
“There are many, many more facts that we would have to put into this resolution if we weren’t going to add anything more to it,” said Nikki Fortunato Bas, council president and District 2 Councilmember, who did not support Kalb’s amendments. “I believe this council needs to be on the record to our federal and state legislators to do everything possible to call for a cease-fire and a realistic path to peace and self-determination.”
Update, 6:30 p.m. Monday:
In her opening remarks at Monday evening’s Oakland City Council meeting, Councilmember Carroll Fife framed the resolution she introduced as an even-handed response intended to give a unified voice to Oakland’s diverse communities, one that began following a dialog she initiated with the city’s Muslim and Jewish leaders on Oct. 8.
“I wanted to acknowledge the real pain that people were experiencing,” Fife said. “I wanted to have a conversation with organizers… to chart a path forward. I deeply believe that the resolution that is in front of us today does that work. I think it is mild in response to what is happening in the Middle East right now. It is a moderate approach to the atrocities that are occurring.”
During public comment, some insisted the resolution be amended to include language condemning Hamas.
“There will be no Palestinian-Israeli peace with [Hamas] in power and that’s why this resolution must be amended to acknowledge the atrocities of Hamas and include its removal from power,” said Tye Gregory, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area, which has previously called for such an amendment. Gregory identified himself as a “proud gay Jewish Zionist” who believes in a two-state solution.
Oakland resident Naomi Katz said she worries failing to condemn Hamas would lead to a rise in antisemitism.
“A resolution that does not clearly state in no uncertain terms that Hamas is a terror organization that needs to be eradicated… not only invites antisemitism into our city, it fans the flames of anti-Semitism that already exists,” Katz said.
Many other public commenters, however, at least half a dozen of whom identified themselves as Jewish, said they fully support the resolution as it stands and pushed for its passage without amendment.
“I’m a descendant of people who have survived genocide, displacement, ethnic cleansing and persecution because of who they are,” said Oakland resident Elizabeth Diamond. “I refuse to be silent. Never again means never again for anyone, including Palestinians. I ask the City Council to speak up by passing this resolution without amendment. Never again is now.”
“I’m an anti-Zionist Jew and I’ve lived here 12 years… I am the granddaughter of two German Jewish Holocaust survivors and I call for a ceasefire now,” said a resident who identified themselves as Gianni. “My grandfather escaped the Nazis and then returned to Germany as an American soldier and helped liberate concentration camps. And he saw firsthand what violence you can do to other people, when you dehumanize them. The Jewish people are not safer by denying life and sovereignty to Palestinians… Pass the resolution without amendment please.”
“As a Jewish Oakland resident I’ve been horrified day after day at the scale of murder and destruction wrought by Israel’s U.S.-funded bombs,” said Lee Goodman. “We have an important role to play in creating the political pressure at the national level to stop U.S. tax dollars from funding mass murder… This amendment to condemn Hamas is a distraction and deflection.”
Nadal, a commenter who identified himself as Palestinian, said he worries about increasing Islamophobia and urged the Council to pass the resolution.
“Oakland’s Arab and Muslim communities have never been so vulnerable and we need you now to protect us,” he said. “We urge you to reject any amendments made by extremists and racists calling for increased violence and warfare… please stand strong and stand up for humanity.”
One commenter, Samira, who identified herself as a Palestinian American “with family still living in Palestine,” drew a direct line between Oakland’s history of being at the forefront of the fight for racial justice and the plight of Palestinians.
“Some of my family… asked about Oakland because they had heard about the Black Panther Party,” she said. “And they were really excited at the potential that a city who had such a historic, revolutionary force behind them … would be here today to stand in solidarity with Palestine. I know it might be hard to think about how Oakland could connect to Palestine. but it’s important to remember that all of these liberations are united… and for the ability to just be a person in a place without getting massacred by a violent police force.”
Original story:
The Oakland City Council will consider adopting a resolution Monday night calling on Congress to demand a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of all hostages, both Jewish and Palestinian.
“This is a time for diplomatic solutions, not military might, because the only pathway to lasting peace and justice will require addressing the root causes of the crisis,” wrote Councilmember Carroll Fife, who introduced the resolution, in an Instagram post.
Fife, and the “Oakland-wide Muslim and Jewish leaders” she credited with writing the resolution, cite the city’s official motto, “Love Life,” and want the council to support U.S. House Resolution 786, which calls for “an immediate de-escalation and cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine.”
