I've been a resident of District 1 in Oakland for 11 years. What is happening in Gaza is "textbook genocide" against Palestinians, according to Israeli historian and genocide scholar Raz Segal. This is but one reason that I am among the many Jews who call for an end to illegal collective punishment of Palestinian people. Unfortunately, there are some people who are scrambling to equate criticism of the Israeli government's illegal bombardment of thousands of civilians with antisemitism. Please do not be swayed by this extraordinary distortion of the truth. Israel's government does not represent Jews, and Israeli politics are not equivalent to Judaism. Please join the ever-growing majority of people in the U.S.--with legions of Jewish people among us--who strongly support a ceasefire in Gaza. Please vote yes on this resolution to affirm Oakland's support in this endeavor. Thank you to Councilmember Fife for bringing this resolution forward. I implore my district's representative, Councilmember Kalb, to vote in favor of this resolution, along with the remaining members of the Council. Thank you.

My name is Alysa Aujero and I strongly support an immediate ceasefire. I am a Bay Area resident and have friends and family in Oakland. It’s shameful that the U.S supports this. We must speak up for Palestine. It’s the least we can do.

Thank you to Councilmember Fife for bringing forward this resolution that I strongly support. I was born in Oakland and am a resident of District 1, I urge the City Council to respond fiercely in supporting a ceasefire. Our President and federal elected officials have failed to act on our behalf and listen to the more than 66 percent of Americans that demand an end to this genocide. Oakland has the opportunity to make an impact and uplift the voices of Palestinians who are demanding an end to the bombardment and the occupation. Everyday is precious, we cannot fall complicit and allow our tax dollars to fund and arm a genocide. In holding true to Oakland’s motto of “Love life” I hope that our city leaders act in ensuring that all lives are sacred and must be protected by passing this resolution immediately.

I am a resident of Oakland and grandchild of Holocaust victims. I strongly OPPOSE this resolution. First and foremost, it is a waste of time. Oakland is unraveling before our very eyes and yet our city council feels the need to weigh in on a matter a world away? This resolution is like a mosquito farting in the wind...it is utterly meaningless and absolutely inconsequential.

I am a Jew from Santa Rosa, CA. We absolutely need as many people as possible to call for an immediate cease fire in Gaza. A genocide is unfolding before our very eyes. Please, do the right thing.
Opposing genocide is not antisemitism. Opposing apartheid is not antisemitism. Opposing settler-colonialism is not antisemitism.

Why is the US enabling Israel to murder 15000+ civilians, 5000+ children? Why is the US public okay with this? Do we not value Palestinian and Lebanese and Syrian lives? We must stand up for what is just, with our conscience. Israel's aggression over the last two months and 60+ years is wrong. We must speak up so that others feel they can too. We have been silenced for too long.

I demand an immediate cease fire and no aid to Israel. American tax dollars should be spent on Americans not on a genocide of innocent Palestinian civilians 20,000 are dead 8000 our children, I demand an immediate cease fire on this genocide.

Absolutely support this resolution. It is a very simple demand: stop killing civilians! Not controversial. Gazans have the same inherent rights to life, dignity, and freedom from violence as any Oakland resident. If we wouldn’t accept this violence for our city then we must reject it for theirs. I will be deeply proud of Oakland for passing this resolution.

As a Jewish member of Oakland's community (District 2 resident), I strongly support this Ceasefire resolution. The far-right, war-mongering, settler-colonial Israeli government does not represent the politics of peace and justice that I was taught by my family, who survived pogroms and the Holocaust. Israel will only sacrifice the humanity of Jewish and Palestinian people by perpetuating apartheid and an exclusive Jewish state. Many Israelis and anti-Zionist Jews oppose the ongoing military occupation and recent military siege of Gaza: the JCRC does not represent all Jewish people! Adding an amendment to address Hamas and the events of Oct. 7 is a distraction that ignores the perpetual violence of Israeli occupation and Palestinian removal; living under siege will inevitably instigate resistance. City Council has passed resolutions supporting the Black Panther Party, which engaged in militant resistance to the racist state and police violence the Black community has, and continues, to experience. I am heartened that the Council is moving forward with a resolution to support the people of Palestine who are suffering at the hands of a genocidal regime backed by the US federal government. This resolution aligns with the values of the Council to oppose war, ethnic cleansing, colonialism, and racism, and I applaud you for choosing to stand on the side of justice for Palestinians, which will further the cause of justice for all of those experiencing racial oppression.

I am an Oakland resident and I urge Oakland City Council to join the worldwide call for a permanent ceasefire and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and to lead major American cities by being the first large city to make this declaration.

Oakland needs to speak out against the genocide in Gaza. We are all complicit. Over 14,000 innocent people have been murdered by Israel, and our tax money keeps fueling this horrific genocide. The people of Oakland stand united with Palestinians' struggle for human rights and self-determination. Let kids live! And then we must work to defund Israel - it's an apartheid state and a terrorist state.

As a city that is committed to justice-building, in our own Bay Area community and around the world, it is Oakland’s right and responsibility to support a long-term ceasefire in Israel and Palestine. Too many lives have been lost, on both sides, and the Israeli government is illustrating clearly that it does not support any notion of long-lasting peace between its people and the Palestinian people.

It is a scary time for a city to vocally support Palestinian liberation, amid public censorship and cries of anti-semitism. As a life-long Bay Area resident and a proud Jew, I fully support this resolution, and strongly urge you to consider doing the same.

I support the immediate ceasefire in Gaza. It is disgusting and shameful that our tax dollars are funding the war crimes and genocide in Gaza. This needs to end, free Palestinians.

A ceasefire against the killing of innocent civilians especially children is not negotiable. It is the only human thing to do. Ceasefire now!!!

I am a public school teacher in Oakland for the past 20 years. I am opposed to this resolution as it stands because it makes no mention of the atrocities committed by Hamas nor condemns Hamas for committing these atrocities and for being a terrorist organization. It makes little sense to call for a ceasefire while allowing Hamas, who has vowed to continue its crusade of terrorism against Israel and Jews everywhere for as long as it exists, to remain in Gaza. We need to call for Hamas to surrender and leave Gaza. Then all people’s, Palestinians and Israelis, Jews, Arabs, Muslims and Christians will be safe. Condemn Hamas and call for its elimination from Gaza.

I am a D4 resident, a human being and a mother. I join my neighbors in urging the city of Oakland to join the international community in calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The current genocide against our Palestinian loved ones is horrifying, heartbreaking and criminal, and in no way protects the safety of our Jewish loved ones, in Israel or anywhere.
It needs to stop, now and forever.

I am a resident of Oakland, zip code 94607; and I fully support this proposed resolution.

We must call for a permanent ceasefire and an end to the occupation. Not in our name. Militarism will never create safety for any of us.

I work in Oakland and live in nearby Alameda. Our national leaders have mostly ignored the hundreds of thousands of people in this country who say not in our name and not with our tax dollars to the genocide Israel is carrying out in Palestine with full U.S. support. We are imploring our local leaders to lift their voices to support ours. Let the government use taxes on much needed services here in Oakland not killing thousands of children in Gaza! please support the ceasefire now resolution! The only solution is a lasting political solution in Palestine where all people who live there have equal rights.

Thank you Councilmember Fife in bringing forward this resolution. As an Oakland resident, mother and civil rights lawyer who embraces Oakland’s motto: Love life, I believe we must love and value all lives as precious and worth protecting. Like many of you, I have watched with horror and heartbreak the escalating violence and ongoing bombardment in Gaza and disregard for Palestinian lives. I have felt outraged that our tax dollars are being used to support such cruel and inhumane war crimes, such as the bombing of hospitals and schools, cutting off of water and electricity, against a civilian population of mostly children. That’s why I strongly support this resolution to urge our elected leaders to stand with people of conscience in calling for a permanent ceasefire, provision of humanitarian aid, release of all hostages and protection of civilian life.