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Agenda Item
Pursuant to California Government Code § 54953: Councilmember Janani Ramachandran Will Participate By Teleconference at:
119-66 80th Rd Kew Gardens, NY 11415 United States
Pursuant to the Brown Act (Government Code section 54953), the agenda must be posted at the teleconference location, the teleconference location must be accessible to the public and members of the public must have the ability to observe the meeting and to comment on agenda items
This is not your role and not constructive to get involved in weighing in other countries’ international affairs—leave it to the U.S. government please and focus on Oakland. Let Israel do what it needs to do to get rid of Hamas so we do not end up back in the same position in a few years.
I’m here today as one of the many millions of people in this country to ask for a and am in support of a ceasefire now.
Because the night before last Oakland City council meeting - 1500 people were murdered in 24 hours in Gaza by air strikes - meaning we don’t have time.
That’s 62.5 people murdered every hour.
That’s the demographic we’re working with.
No one is asking you to say “free Palestine”.
(Members of the community will say it for you.)
But we are asking you for a “ceasefire now”
Richmond did it
a simple answer for you guys would be just copying Richmond’s resolution.
It doesn’t have to take a crazy amount of time.
That’s a phone call and an email or and some signatures.
I have been a resident of Oakland for over 24 years and urge the City Council to vote NO on the resolution. This resolution fails to condemn Hamas and the atrocities it committed on October 7th. Furthermore, Hamas has explicitly stated that they seek to repeat the attacks made on innocent civilians over and over again. As President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken and Congress have all made clear: There can be no lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians if Hamas remains in power. As stated in their charter and shown by their October 7 attack – the deadliest on global Jews since the Holocaust – Hamas has no interest in coexistence.
While I do not believe the city of Oakland should be weighing in on this issue at all given all of the problems we face locally (i.e. homelessness, significant crime issues, and much more), if the City Council truly wishes to "love life", they MUST acknowledge that Jewish and other lives are threatened if Hamas remains in power. An immediate ceasefire, would fail to remove Hamas and cause significantly more bloodshed in the for both Jews and the residents of Gaza in the future. This is simply unacceptable.
I urge the Council to add an additional "Whereas" to the legislation:
WHEREAS, the Dedera government has been sending more than THREE BILLION dollars annual to Israel, this being ONE FIFTH OF THE TOTAL FOREIGN AID BUDGET AND AMOUNTS TO ABOUT A
This is not your role and not constructive to get involved in weighing in other countries’ international affairs—leave it to the U.S. government please and focus on Oakland. Let Israel do what it needs to do to get rid of Hamas so we do not end up back in the same position in a few years.
I’m here today as one of the many millions of people in this country to ask for a and am in support of a ceasefire now.
Because the night before last Oakland City council meeting - 1500 people were murdered in 24 hours in Gaza by air strikes - meaning we don’t have time.
That’s 62.5 people murdered every hour.
That’s the demographic we’re working with.
No one is asking you to say “free Palestine”.
(Members of the community will say it for you.)
But we are asking you for a “ceasefire now”
Richmond did it
a simple answer for you guys would be just copying Richmond’s resolution.
It doesn’t have to take a crazy amount of time.
That’s a phone call and an email or and some signatures.
It shouldn’t be up for debate to save lives.
THIS IS NOT THE ISRAEL RESOLUTION^^
I have been a resident of Oakland for over 24 years and urge the City Council to vote NO on the resolution. This resolution fails to condemn Hamas and the atrocities it committed on October 7th. Furthermore, Hamas has explicitly stated that they seek to repeat the attacks made on innocent civilians over and over again. As President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken and Congress have all made clear: There can be no lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians if Hamas remains in power. As stated in their charter and shown by their October 7 attack – the deadliest on global Jews since the Holocaust – Hamas has no interest in coexistence.
While I do not believe the city of Oakland should be weighing in on this issue at all given all of the problems we face locally (i.e. homelessness, significant crime issues, and much more), if the City Council truly wishes to "love life", they MUST acknowledge that Jewish and other lives are threatened if Hamas remains in power. An immediate ceasefire, would fail to remove Hamas and cause significantly more bloodshed in the for both Jews and the residents of Gaza in the future. This is simply unacceptable.
Please vote NO on the resolution
I urge the Council to add an additional "Whereas" to the legislation:
WHEREAS, the Dedera government has been sending more than THREE BILLION dollars annual to Israel, this being ONE FIFTH OF THE TOTAL FOREIGN AID BUDGET AND AMOUNTS TO ABOUT A
I am an Oakland resident in D3 and I support the resolutions calling for a ceasefire