By Scott Steward

I want to thank the City Council's Mayor Will Arnold and Councilmember Gloria Partida for placing a "Proposed Resolution Calling for Peace in Israel and Gaza" on the December 12 City Council Agenda. 

The current violence, persecution and loss of Palestinian lives is abhorrent. As much as Hamas is rightly condemned and routed for its most recent attack, it is not acceptable that Israel will not ceasefire and instead finds reason to continue to disproportionately kill thousands of civilians, mostly women and children, to randomly kill a small number of combatants. 

The continued use of a government's military to kill a functionally incapable combatant, and in so doing kill a vastly disproportionate number of millions of displaced civilians, with munitions and by furthering the conditions of starvation and disease, is a war crime. 

Israel needs to ceasefire. Thousands in Davis are part of this worldwide plea. 

The Council's ascent to consider a ceasefire resolution was supported by some 15 public speakers and 10 callers, with a hundred people in the gallery in support, at the December 5th City Council meeting.  1 voice of public dissent.  "Ceasefire and Peace in Israel and Gaza" That would be an improved title for the draft resolution.  Why the word ceasefire was so obviously left out of the entire draft resolution, can only be guessed. The public needs to tell our City Council to add back the word ceasefire.  CityCouncilMembers@cityofdavis.org. 

Davis groups for human rights, Palestinian human rights, Jewish Voices for Peace have been organizing around a ceasefire since October 17th, joining vigils and peaceful demonstrations to remind our members of Congress to sign HR 786 a "ceasefire resolution." The UN is trying to pass a "ceasefire resolution."  No one in the City Hall chambers on December 5th, speaking for a City resolution in support of humanity and sincere peace and repair for Palestine and Israel, was speaking to anything other than a ceasefire resolution. 

I expect that Council members are honest about intending to constructively amend the draft resolution and to vote on the amended version on the 12th. Respectfully, Council, somewhere in the "Peace" resolution needs to be the word ceasefire.

On Tuesday, dozens of us gathered to demand that our Representative, Mike Thompson, acknowledge global and local opinion in opposition to the continued attacks on Gaza. As his constituents, we reiterated our expectations that our views will be represented in calling for an end to the Israeli bombing of Palestinians. With signs, and dolls representing Palestinian deaths (most have been children), we raised our voices in support of peace and justice for the Palestinians living in Israel. Our action is part of the world-wide opposition to Israel’s horrifically disproportionate response to the Hamas attack on October 7.  Mike Thompson, as our representative in Government, we will continually call on you to recognize the global opposition to what Israel is doing to the Palestinians which cannot continue and must be opposed. We call on you to represent our views and act in our name by advocating for a Ceasefire Now.

We understand that Israel is a sovereign nation, and that the United States has little power to influence its decisions except through withholding arms and money. (We realize that Congress just took military aid to Ukraine and Israel out of the new bill to fund government spending, so part of that decision has been made for now.) But public opinion is critical.  In aligning itself with Israel’s disproportionate response to the events of October 7, the U.S. is risking its position in the court of global public opinion. And this alignment will further erode whatever good standing we may have to exert an influence elsewhere and in the future.

We know that the US historically has seen itself as a country representing the new idea that people of every  religion, race, and ethnicity could live together in a society based on concepts of individual freedom and justice, with a system designed to provide checks and balances for those in power. Our constitutional rights of speech, of expression, of the press, of worship, and of the right to criticize government represent a standard of freedom and justice upheld by law, admired as a model for democracy around the world. Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is grossly antithetical to these standards. Continuing to align ourselves with the Israeli Government considering their cruel and inhumane treatment of Palestinians is deeply hypocritical and signals to the world that we are unwilling to abide by the very ideals on which we say our own country is built.

Mr. Thompson, as our representative, and as a United States Government official, we call on you to uphold the values this country enshrined in its foundational documents, and repeat our demand that you advocate for Israel to immediately, unconditionally and permanently stop the bombing of innocent Palestinian civilians. 

Nora Oldwin & Dean Johansson