The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 Tuesday afternoon to pass an amended version of a resolution calling for a sustained ceasefire in Gaza.
Supervisors Matt Dorsey, Catherine Stefani and Rafael Mandelman voted against it. The approval of the resolution vaulted the packed chamber into a roaring celebration that caused board chair Aaron Peskin to recess the meeting.
Peskin began the meeting by presenting amendments that strictly pared down the resolution to its most universal statements. He cut out contextualizing “whereas” language that was the point of contention between supervisors. It described details of violence, losses and military actions, which bogged the process in policy disputes. The remaining “we resolve” text was more universal.
“Let’s turn this into a one-page resolution,” Peskin said, explaining that he rewrote the resolution in the middle of the night, while sleepless with a head cold.
‘A just and lasting peace’
The resolution reads:
• We call for a sustained cease fire, the provision of lifesaving humanitarian aid in Gaza and the release of all hostages.
• We urge the Biden administration and the United States Congress to do the same, to call for a cease fire, humanitarian aid, and the release of all hostages.
• We resolve that we condemn anti-Semitic, anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic, xenophobic rhetoric and attacks.
• We resolve that this board condemns Hamas’s attack on civilians that resulted in so much horror and 1,200 deaths on Oct. 7.
• We resolve that we condemn the Netanyahu government’s attacks, resulting in the deaths, deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
• We resolve that the board believes that a just and lasting peace between the Palestinian and Israeli people requires new leadership on both sides, with a willingness and commitment to negotiate in good faith.
• We resolve that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors urges the international community to work with the Palestinian and Israeli peoples to find a just and lasting peace, to conduct a full investigation of the conduct of all parties in this conflict and hold all parties and individuals who have overseen or engaged in war crimes and international human rights violations, including, but not limited to, gender-based violence and killing of children accountable.
“I think that says it all,” Peskin said
The original resolution was originally proposed on Dec. 5 by Supervisors Dean Preston and Hillary Ronen but was met with opposition by Dorsey on Monday, when he proposed amendments at a board committee meeting that would align with the objectives of President Joe Biden’s international policies.
Dorsey’s proposal faced passionate opposition during over three hours of public comment at the committee hearing.
Tears then cheers
“There is no doubt in my mind that without the weapons, money and backing of the United States, the far-right government in Israel will not be able to continue its ethnic cleansing campaign against the Palestinian people,” Ronen said through tears just before Tuesday’s vote. Her statement was followed by a round of cheers.
“This is one of those days, where it feels like we are still San Francisco,” she said.
“As the only person on this board that was born in that part of the world, my life began with gunshots ringing outside every single night,” said Supervisor Ahsha Safai, who was born in Iran. “I had my own immediate family members killed by religious fanatics, and I did not see my father for the last 15 years of his life, because the Islamic Republic would not let him leave the country.”
“I was born in a place where I heard gunfire outside my window. I did not see my father for the last 15 years of his life, because the government would not let him leave. This resolution will allow some people to feel heard and seen for the first time.”
San Francisco joins over a dozen U.S city councils who have passed resolutions urging Israel to stop its offense on Gaza, including Richmond, Oakland and Seattle.
“I was born in a place where I heard gunfire outside my window. I did not see my father for the last 15 years of his life, because the government would not let him leave. This resolution will allow some people to feel heard and seen for the first time.” Supervisor Ahsha Safai
According to a Dec. 19 poll from the New York Times and Siena College, 48 percent of Americans feel Israel is not taking enough precautions to avoid civilian casualties, and 44 percent think Israel should stop its military campaign even if Hamas has not been fully eliminated.
“The hope is that this resolution will put the Biden administration on notice,” said Wassim Hage of the Arab Resource Organizing Center, which worked with Preston on the measure. “San Francisco leads Democratic politics in a lot of ways in the United States.”
Hage said Biden’s policy toward Gaza is genocidal and “also counterproductive and goes against the vast broad consensus of the Democratic Party.”