With two votes in favor and five against, the Council of Supervisors of Redwood City vetoed the resolution to demand a permanent bilateral ceasefire in Palestine and Israel, so more than a hundred people felt let down by their representatives and shouted at them, what a shame! and cowards! to those who voted no.
Councilman Chris Sturken seconded the resolution introduced by Vice Mayor Lissette Espinoza-Garnica, while Councilmembers Alicia C. Aguirre, Kaia Eakin, Diane Howard, Elmer MartÃnez Saballos and Redwood City Mayor Jeff Gee.
After the vote, the cries of many of those who called on the Council to join the resolution of the immediate ceasefire in Gaza by Israel, which has caused the death of almost 32 thousand Palestinians, a large part of them women and children, could be heard from outside to the meeting room with the cry Shame on you! (What a shame!) and cowards! (cowards!)
There were 112 members of the public who attended the March 11 regular City Council meeting in person who made comments, the vast majority calling on their representatives to approve the resolution. However, that did not happen.
?Redwood City is known as a welcoming city, and has a history of condemning hate and discrimination. We have past resolutions condemning anti-Asian hate during the height of the pandemic, we have it etched in our streets that Black Lives Matter, and we annually denounce subtler colonialism and genocide against Native Americans during Indigenous Peoples Day . My question to the city council is then: why can't we extend the same solidarity today to the Palestinians and all the Palestinians who reside in Redwood City here in favor of a ceasefire?, Vice Mayor Espinoza-Garnica said after the comments public.
"Can this Council honestly look a Palestinian in the eye and say they care about their lives?" he added.
The vice mayor stated that the resolution she presented to the City Council was because the federal government is failing to validate humanity's serious concern for the future of the Palestinians, a group that is being actively occupied and ethnically cleansed from their native homeland.
"There are many Arabs and Palestinians residing in our community who have not heard from our Administration or the mainstream Western media, and their pain and fear is valid," he explained.
In that sense, he recalled that due to the war that is taking place in the Gaza Strip, hate crimes in the Peninsula are escalating, and concern for Jewish, Muslim and Arab people is high.
Espinoza-Garnica stressed that "it is becoming increasingly unsafe to adopt a pro-Palestinian stance due to continued fearmongering," such is the case of education and independent media,
?We are spending money on the brutal expansion of an apartheid state. "The vast majority of Americans support a ceasefire and it is our duty to advocate for the well-being of our community," he said before the vote.
She was followed by Councilwoman Howard, who highlighted that ceasefire resolutions can contribute to polarization, instead of fostering unity in a city.
?No such resolutions were drafted after 9/11, or when the Russian military began raping and massacring Ukrainian civilians, or when genocide was being committed against African tribes, or after the deadly Hamas attack on October 7. Although individual council members may have very strong opinions on these issues, international affairs are not an appropriate topic for a council to address, he noted.
Doing so, he noted, would be divisive and would have no positive results.
?It is not what you have chosen us for. My job is to decide what is best for our entire city and work with a Council of seven to make it happen. In a community as diverse as ours, I believe, we can all agree that we are all united against hate and we will not condone hate in Redwood City?
?Although I will not support moving forward with the resolution. Please do not mistake my opposition as a sign that I do not care about the lives being lost in Gaza. This is a very personal matter regardless of your stance on a ceasefire.
Given this, he urged residents to contact their representatives in Washington, because, he noted, "they are the people whose decisions will directly impact our country's involvement in the war being fought in Gaza."
After his comment, Councilman Chris Sturken followed, saying he sympathized with the testimonies of all those residents who spoke at the meeting in favor of the resolution.
?Many of you have family and friends in Israel and Palestine, and have lost loved ones. And that, to me, tells me that this is a local issue, that this is a Redwood City issue, that we should care?, he stressed. ?And I think we have a responsibility to respond to the rise of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and anti-Palestine, and racism.?
Sturken went further and explained that if the resolution did not pass, it should be used as an opportunity to brainstorm and then think about how the Council could support the community against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Redwood City, as well as support refugee resettlement efforts in the city.
For her part, Councilor Kaia Eakin highlighted that, although the current conflict in Gaza and Israel is tragic, the nearly 500 employees of the City Council have a city to run, and "their specialty is not international relations."
?The situation that everyone was talking about tonight is one that requires diplomacy, requires a deep knowledge of international history,? Does Redwood City have jurisdiction over the National politics of the US and other sovereign nations?
Likewise, he explained that the country needs to do more in international diplomacy, as well as greater adaptation and negotiation of all international actors. ?I hope and have faith that this will happen. But I cannot, in good conscience, vote to divert our staff to work on this International issue. We don't have the capacity?
Alicia C. Aguirre, councilor for District 7, explained that a resolution would not resolve the conflict that exists in the enclave, and although she recognized the terrible situation that the Palestinian people are experiencing in Gaza, she stressed that what should really be sought is peace.
?What we face today is so devastating that if a resolution solved it, I think we would all sign on to make a difference. But what I think I'm hearing from everyone is that we really want peace and we come from two very different sides. And for those who say "be brave?", is it taking a brave stand for the Council? Is it brave to take sides for two groups that are so important in our community?
?For me, the answer is peace, and it is not a resolution, that divides our community. And this is who I represent. "Do I represent the Redwood City community?" he added.
His vote against the resolution, he stressed, "does not mean that he does not defend Palestine or Israel." I was there a year and a half ago on both sides and I tell you it was hard. Doesn't that mean I don't care about my community? I am not against any of the parties, I am in favor of peace?
For Elmer MartÃnez Saballos, the war in Gaza exceeds the jurisdiction of the Redwood City Council.
?After a tough conversation with my colleagues, I finally decided not to move forward with that resolution. "My underlying concern then was that this was a war that was beyond the immediate scope of this body's jurisdiction," he said.
And, he added, the city must focus on the hate crimes that are affecting the city's residents.
Finally, the mayor of Redwood City, Jeff Gee, considered that there are different levels of government and each one must do their own thing.
?I am a firm believer in the different roles and responsibilities of federal, state, county, and local government. We all have unique government responsibilities, and we at the local level are the most accessible of the four. You have demonstrated it by being here in the chamber tonight. At the same time, at the local level we do not have the people, we do not have the financial resources, and we do not have the intelligence of what is happening in that part of the world to be able to resolve this conflict?
Likewise, he expressed not seeing how a ceasefire resolution would unite the community, one of the issues that he said mattered most to him, especially with the division that exists due to the circumstance.
Gee acknowledged a rise in Islamophobia, as well as deep-seated anti-Semitism, as well as attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, xenophobia, threats against immigrants, attacks on places of worship, and racism.
"I denounce all these attacks in our community and wherever they occur," he said. ?Tonight, I choose for our Redwood City community. Although each of us is elected by district, we represent all of Redwood City, not just a part of it because it fits a narrative or because it serves our immediate needs. Redwood City has stood and continues to stand united against hate. There is no place in Redwood City for racism or hate. Please don't get me wrong, whatever I choose is not anti-Jewish or anti-Palestinian. Would you choose for all of Redwood City together?
After finishing, he called for electronic voting; clearly won a no for the resolution.
People in the venue stood up from their seats shouting "cowards" ?What a shame? and "cease fire now," while screams behind the doors echoed to residents inside.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Health in Palestine, as of Monday, March 18, the number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip due to current Israeli attacks rose to 31,726, while the number of injured It reached 73 thousand 792.
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