Agenda packet — El Cerrito City Council, March 5, 2024 (part 3 of 3)

AGREEMENT FOR CITY ATTORNEY SERVICES
This Agreement is made and entered into on this 15th day of March 2024, by and between the City of El Cerrito, hereinafter referred to as “City,” and Redwood Public Law, LLP, hereinafter referred to as “City Attorney.”
I. DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT
Through this Agreement, City has retained City Attorney to provide services to the City in connection with legal assistance.

II. SCOPE OF SERVICES BY CITY ATTORNEY
Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement, City Attorney shall provide the City with those services specified and City Attorney agrees to perform all necessary legal services as Contract City Attorney, and shall:

1. Attend all regularly scheduled and special City Council meetings and City Council study sessions.

2. Provide legal services on-site during office hours at City Hall at least four (4) hours per week or as otherwise mutually agreed. These hours of onsite service will be at regularly scheduled times made known to all members of the City Council and to all department heads so as to facilitate informal, direct access to legal counsel as necessary.

3. Attend other meetings at City Hall as required by the City Council or the City Manager.

4. Advise the City Council; appointed Commissions, Committees, and Boards; City staff; and other City officials on all legal matters pertaining to City business.

5. Prepare, review, and approve as to form, contracts, agreements, resolutions, ordinances, and all other standard City documents, as requested by the City Council or City Manager.

6. Prepare such written and oral legal opinions as shall, from time to time, be requested by the City Council or City Manager.

7. Perform such other routine legal services as are required, from time to time, by the City Council or the City Manager.

8. Provide in-house training to City staff on issues pertaining to civil liability, personnel and labor, and other issues as, from time to time, are identified by and requested by the City Council or the City Manager.

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9. Review and approve as to form and content all proposed adverse personnel actions as, from time to time, are requested by City staff and directed by the City Manager.

10. Perform all work related to advising staff on, and prosecuting, all violations of City’s municipal code.

11. Represent the City and the City’s officials, officers, and employees in litigation and administrative proceedings as directed by the City Council or the City Manager.

12. Make recommendations concerning the selection of outside legal counsel on appropriate matters and supervise such outside legal counsel handling transactional or litigation matters on behalf of the City.

The City specifically reserves the right to retain, at its sole option, other legal counsel for litigation and other specialized legal matters including, but not limited to, the activities of the Redevelopment Agency, cable television, solid and hazardous waste, and workers’ compensation. This reservation of rights does not preclude the City or the Redevelopment Agency from assigning these matters to City Attorney as part of the scope of duties under this Section 2.

It is further understood and agreed by City Attorney and the City that there will be an initial, and as yet undetermined, period of time at the outset of this relationship during which City Attorney will be in transition. City Attorney shall establish and maintain necessary liaison and oversight of all pending matters and projects currently being handled by the existing contract City Attorney either by supervising such work to timely completion or by reassigning such work as deemed appropriate by City Attorney or as directed by the City Manager.

City Attorney will make reasonable efforts to respond to all requests for services from the City Council, City Manager, and City staff within 24 hours. If City Attorney cannot provide a complete response at that time, City Attorney will ascertain the scope of the request and the desired form and timeframe for a complete response, as appropriate. City Attorney will assign the work to ensure timely and efficient completion, informing the City of the attorney performing the work. City Attorney and the City Manager will make reasonable efforts to have a weekly discussion of pending assignments and their respective priorities and budgets.

III. COMPENSATION
A. Compensation for all work performed by City Attorney pursuant to this Agreement, including the work listed in Section II, shall be calculated based upon City Attorney’s standard rate for the attorney and type of work, as established and reasonably changed from time to time by City Attorney, not to exceed the maximum rates listed in Exhibit A, which is attached hereto and hereby incorporated by reference.

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B. City Attorney shall bill City monthly for the work performed during the preceding month. Such bills shall itemize all charges in such detail as may reasonably be required by City in the usual course of City business. City shall pay City Attorney no later than thirty (30) days upon receipt of the monthly invoice. In the event a dispute arises relating to the services performed, costs incurred, or any other item relating to compensation of City Attorney, such dispute will not delay compensation for those services and costs not in dispute. Any such dispute will be resolved by the parties through negotiations.

IV. RESPONSIBILITY OF CITY ATTORNEY
City has relied upon the professional training and ability of City Attorney as a material inducement to enter into this Agreement. City Attorney agrees that it shall use its professional efforts and that its services shall be performed in accordance with that degree of care and skill ordinarily exercised by members of the same profession currently practicing under similar circumstances.

V. INDEMNIFICATION
To the extent provided by City Attorney’s insurance, City Attorney shall indemnify, defend, and hold City, its officers, employees, agents, and volunteers harmless from and against any and all liability, loss, damage, causes of action arising out of any personal injury, bodily injury, loss of life, or damage to property, or any violation of any federal, state, or municipal law or ordinance, expense, costs (including without limitation the costs and fees of litigation) of every nature arising out of or connected with the performance of work by City Attorney, its officers, employees, agents, volunteers, and subcontractors, under this Agreement, except for any such claim that is the result of the sole negligence or willful misconduct of City, its officers, employees, agents, or volunteers. It is understood that the duty of City Attorney to indemnify and hold harmless includes the duty to defend as set forth in California Civil Code §2778.

VI. INSURANCE
For the duration of this Agreement, City Attorney shall maintain, in full force and effect, insurance against claims for injury to persons or damage to property, which may arise from or in connection with the performance of the work to be performed by City Attorney, its officers, employees, agents, volunteers, and subcontractors under this Agreement.

A. Minimum Scope of Insurance: Coverage shall be at least as broad as:

1. Insurance Services Office Commercial General Liability coverage (occurrence form CG 0001).

2. Insurance Services Office form number CA 0001 (Ed. 1/87) covering Automobile Liability, code 1 (any auto).

3. Workers’ Compensation insurance as required by the State of California and Employer’s Liability Insurance.

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4. Professional Liability Insurance.

B. Minimum Limits of Insurance: City Attorney shall maintain limits no less than:

1. General Liability: $1,000,000 per occurrence for bodily injury, personal injury, and property damage. If Commercial General Liability Insurance or other form with a general aggregate limit is used, either the general aggregate limit shall apply separately to this project or the general aggregate limit shall be twice the required occurrence limit.

2. Automobile Liability: $1,000,000 per accident for bodily injury and property damage.

3. Employer’s Liability: $1,000,000 per accident for bodily injury or disease.

4. Professional Liability: $1,000,000 per claim and in the aggregate.

C. Deductibles and Self-Insured Retentions: Any deductible or self-insured retentions must be declared to and approved by City.

D. Other Insurance Provisions: The general liability and automobile liability policies are to contain, or be endorsed to contain, the following provisions:

1. The City of El Cerrito, its elected or appointed officials, and employees are covered as additional insureds with respect to liability arising out of automobiles owned, leased, hired, or borrowed by or on behalf of City Attorney; and with respect to liability arising out of work or operations performed by or on behalf of City Attorney.

2. For any claims related to this project, City Attorney’s insurance coverage shall be primary insurance as respects the City, its officers, officials, and employees. Any insurance or self-insurance maintained by the City, its officers, officials, and employees shall be excess of City Attorney’s insurance and shall not contribute to it.

3. The insurance provided by this policy shall not be reduced in coverage or limits, cancelled, or not renewed except after thirty (30) days written notice has been provided to City by mail, return receipt requested. City Attorney shall notify City thirty (30) days in advance of any anticipated change in the insurance.

E. Acceptability of Insurers: Insurance is to be placed with insurers with a current Best’s rating of A:VII or better at time the Agreement is executed.

F. Verification of Coverage: City Attorney shall furnish City with original certificates and amendatory endorsements effecting coverage required by this clause.

The endorsements should be on forms provided by City or on other than City’s forms or a separate owner’s policy, provided those forms or policies are approved by City and Agenda Packet Page 334 of 494

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amended to conform to City’s requirements. All certificates and endorsements are to be received and approved by City before work commences. Failure to provide these forms within the time period specified by City may result in termination of this Agreement pursuant to Section X(C), below.

G. Subcontractors as Insureds: If City has approved the use of subcontractors, City Attorney shall include all subcontractors as insureds under its policies or shall furnish separate certificates and endorsements for each subcontractor.

All coverage for subcontractors shall be subject to all of the requirements stated herein.

H. Professional Liability Insurance: If City Attorney’s professional liability coverage is written on a claims made form:

1. The “Retro Date” must be shown, and must be before the date of the contract or the beginning of the contract work.

2. Errors and omissions insurance must be maintained, and evidence of insurance must be provided for at least five (5) years after the completion of the Agreement.

3. A copy of the claims reporting requirements must be submitted to City for review.

VII. INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR
It is expressly understood and agreed by both parties that City Attorney, while engaged in carrying out and complying with any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement, is an independent contractor and not an employee of City. City Attorney expressly warrants not to represent at any time or in any manner, that City Attorney is an employee of City.

IIX. ASSIGNMENT OF STAFF
City Attorney shall assign only competent personnel to perform services pursuant to this Agreement. City reserves the right to request temporary or permanent removal from City premises of any of City Attorney’s employees, agents, or subcontractors at any time without cause, and City Attorney shall comply with City’s request.

IX. ASSIGNMENT AND SUBCONTRACTING
It is recognized by the parties that a substantial inducement to City for entering into this Agreement was, and is, the professional reputation and competence of City Attorney.

City Attorney may assign neither this Agreement nor any interest therein without the prior written approval of the City Manager.

City Attorney shall not subcontract any portion of the performance contemplated and provided for herein without the prior written approval of the City Manager.

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XI. TERMINATION
City Attorney shall at all times serve under the terms of this Agreement at the pleasure of the City Council, and the City Council and City Attorney each hereby reserves the right to terminate this Agreement at will, with or without cause, by providing fifteen (15) days written notice to the other. Upon receipt or provision of any notice of termination, City Attorney shall cease all services under this Agreement according to the notice, except as may be specifically approved by the City. At that time, all further obligations of the City to pay City Attorney for services rendered under this Agreement shall thereupon cease; provided, however, that the City shall be obliged to pay for all services, costs, and expenditures lawfully incurred by City Attorney prior to the effective date of such termination, or subsequent to the date of termination at the direction of City.

XII. SUSPENSION OF WORK
City may suspend, in writing, all or a portion of the work under this Agreement if unforeseen circumstances beyond City’s control make normal progress of the work impossible.

XIII. REPORTS, PLANS, AND DOCUMENTS
City Attorney shall keep such books and records as shall be necessary to perform the services required by this Agreement and to enable the City to evaluate the performance of the required services. The City shall have full and free access to such books and records that deal specifically with the services performed by City Attorney for City at all reasonable times, including the right to inspect, copy, audit, and make summaries and transcripts from such records.

All reports, records, documents, and other materials prepared by City Attorney, its employees and agents in the performance of this Agreement shall be the property of the City and shall be delivered to the City upon request by the City or upon termination of this Agreement. City Attorney shall have no claim for further or additional compensation as a result of the exercise by the City of its full rights of ownership of the documents and material hereunder. City Attorney may retain copies of such documents for its own use.

No report, record, document, or other material prepared by City Attorney in the performance of services under this Agreement shall be released publicly without prior written approval of the City, except as may be required by law.

XIV. COPYRIGHT AND PATENT
City Attorney shall execute appropriate documents to assign to City the copyright and patent to works created pursuant to this Agreement.

XV. CHANGES AND/OR EXTRA WORK
Only the City Council or the City Manager may authorize changed work, or modification of the time of completion, for the services to be provided as contained in Section IV of this Agreement. City Attorney expressly recognizes that other City personnel are without authorization to order changed work or to obligate the City to the payment of Agenda Packet Page 336 of 494

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additional compensation in excess of the costs contained in Section III. In the event City Attorney and City agree that changed work is required, a change order shall be prepared and shall be executed by City Attorney and the City Manager.

XVI. COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LAWS
City Attorney shall comply with all applicable Federal, State, and Local laws, statutes, ordinances, rules, and regulations affecting the performance of this Agreement, including without limitation laws requiring licensing and non-discrimination in employment because of race, creed, color, sex, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, national origin, or other prohibited bases. Regarding performance of professional services, compliance shall mean compliance with current prevailing professional standard and practices.

XVII. BUSINESS LICENSE
City Attorney shall obtain at City Attorney’s own expense a valid City business license. This license must remain valid and in effect during the duration of this Agreement.

XVIII. RETENTION OF RECORDS
City Attorney shall keep and maintain full and complete documentation and accounting records, employees’ time sheets, and correspondence pertaining to this Agreement, and City Attorney shall make such documents and records available for review and/or audit by the City and the City’s representatives at all reasonable times during the contract period and for at least five (5) years from the date of the completion and/or termination of this Agreement.

XIX. NOTICES
If either party shall desire or be required to give notice to the other, such notice shall be given in writing, via hand-delivery, facsimile, or prepaid U.S. certified or registered postage, addressed to recipient as follows:

City: City Attorney:

Karen Pinkos Sky Woodruff
City Manager Redwood Public Law, LLP
City of El Cerrito 66 Franklin, Suite 300
10890 San Pablo Avenue Oakland, CA 94607
El Cerrito, CA 94530-2392 Phone: (510) 721-3210
Phone: (510) 215-4301
Fax: (510) 215-4319
Any party to this Agreement may change the name or address of representatives for purpose of this Section by providing written notice to all other parties ten (10) business days before the change is effective.

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XX. CONFLICT OF INTEREST
City Attorney’s firm represents many public agencies in California. Since 1986, they have represented over five hundred public clients, including numerous cities, redevelopment agencies, special districts, counties and other public entities. The firm is continually growing and is accepting new engagements all the time. As such it is virtually inevitable that they will work on projects from other clients having different governmental or political objectives, beliefs or views from those of the City. The services rendered to the City under this Agreement are limited in scope and for the benefit of the City only.

In the course of providing a variety of professional services to the public sector, it is possible that City Attorney (firm) will represent public agency clients that are adverse to the City on other matters. In such an event either party may request a meeting to discuss the potential conflict and work out a mutually agreed upon solution. If no such solution is reached to the City’s satisfaction, the City may seek outside counsel services for the specific item of conflict.

XXI. INTEGRATION
This Agreement constitutes the entire understanding and agreement of the parties.

This Agreement integrates all of the terms and conditions mentioned herein or incidental hereto and supersedes all negotiations or previous agreements between the parties with respect to all or any part of the subject matter hereof.

XXII. AMENDMENTS
This Agreement may be modified or amended only by a written document executed by both City Attorney and the City Manager. Such document shall expressly state that it is intended by the parties to amend the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

XXIII. WAIVER
The waiver by either party of a breach by the other of any provision of this Agreement shall not constitute a continuing waiver or a waiver of any subsequent breach of either the same or a different provision of this Agreement.

XXIV. GOVERNING LAW AND VENUE
This Agreement shall be governed under the laws of the State of California. The County of Contra Costa shall be the venue for any litigation between City and City Attorney arising out of this Agreement.

XXV. SEVERABILITY
Should any part of this Agreement be declared by a final decision of a court or tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be unconstitutional, invalid, or beyond the authority of either party to enter into or carry out, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this Agreement, which shall continue in full force and effect, provided that the remainder of this Agreement, absent the excised portion, can be reasonably interpreted to give effect to the intentions of the parties.

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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereby have executed this Agreement on the day first above written:

CITY CITY ATTORNEY
Signature Signature
Printed Name Printed Name
Title Title
Date Date
ATTEST:

City Clerk
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EXHIBIT A

COMPENSATION
A. General Counsel Services: General counsel services will be billed at hourly rates ranging from $273 to $457, depending on the level of experience of the billing attorney. The hourly rate for Sky Woodruff will be $363. "General counsel" services shall include:
i. Attendance at regular and special meetings of the City Council, including study sessions and closed sessions.
ii. Attendance at Planning Commission meetings or other City Commission or Board meetings upon request of the City Council or City Manager. iii. Review and/or prepare routine staff reports, ordinances, resolutions, orders, agreements, forms, notices, declarations, certificates, deeds, leases, and other documents required by the City.
iv.. Consultation with the City Council and City staff as needed, including rendering of legal advice and opinions (oral and written) concerning legal matters that affect the City including new legislation and court decisions. v. Provide guidance and advice to the City Council and City Manager regarding what position the City (and associated bodies) and its advocate (e.g., lobbyist) should take on matters pending before legislative bodies. vi. Handle routine real estate transaction and acquisition issues, including lease review and negotiations.
vii. Research and interpret laws, court decisions and other legal authorities in order to prepare legal opinions and to advise the City Council and management staff on legal matters pertaining to City operations.
viii. Perform legal work pertaining to routine property acquisition, property disposal, public improvements, public rights of way and easements, and matters relating to public utilities.
ix. Coordinate with in-house staff on risk management issues, include selfinsurance authorities. x. Coordinate the work of outside counsel as needed and as directed by the City Council and/or City Manager.

B. Services Excluded from the “General Counsel" Category: City Attorney will provide general municipal services that are non-routine or complex at hourly rates ranging from $280 to $554 depending on the type of matter and expertise of the attorney performing the work.

Examples of services excluded from "General Counsel" are as follows:
i. Non-routine or highly specialized real estate, affordable housing and land use matters including property acquisition, leasing and disposition. ii. Complex CEQA analyses, such as on EIR's, exemptions, and negative declarations.

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iii. Updates of City's general plan, specific plans, complex zoning ordinances; preparation of impact fee analyses.
iv. Annexations or other changes of organizations.
v. Payroll and income tax issues.
vi. Significant bid disputes, change orders or other disputes relating to construction preparation, award or management.
vii. Non-routine elections issues, such as preparation of or advice regarding complex ballot measures.
viii. Such other issues as discussed and agreed upon by the City Attorney and City Manager.

C. City Attorney will provide services outside the range of general municipal services at hourly rates ranging from $280 to $554, depending on the type of matter and expertise of the attorney performing the work. Examples of such services are as follows:
i. Litigation, eminent domain, arbitration, mediation, administrative hearings and related matters leading to such proceedings.
ii. Brownfields and other environmental and hazardous waste remediation and compliance.
iii. Cable TV franchises and regulations, FCC appeals and related matters. iv. Negotiation and preparation of franchise agreements and related legislation. v. Labor negotiations, Skelly hearings, disciplinary hearings, similar non-routine personnel matters, and matters leading to such proceedings. vi. Redevelopment and inclusionary housing matters.

D. City Attorney will provide services for which the City may recoup its expenses through cost recovery and similar mechanisms at hourly rates ranging from $280 to $554, depending on the type of matter and expertise of the attorney performing the work. Examples of services excluded are as follows:
i. Work related to bond issuance.
ii. Redevelopment.
iii. Code enforcement.
iv. Water rights.
v. Land use and development issues, including development agreements. vi. Formation or modifications to assessment districts, community facilities districts, and related foreclosures.
vii. Advice and other work related to adjustments to or preparation of development impact and similar fees, as well as taxes such as transient occupancy tax, transactions and use tax, business license tax, utility users tax and parcel tax. viii. Bankruptcy and foreclosures.
ix. Enterprise fund matters, such as modifications or increase to water, sewer, and transportation fees.
x. Those other matters to which the City may pass payment on to third party.

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E. City Attorney will charge for travel time or mileage only for matters listed in Section 2(D) of this Exhibit A. For those matters, travel time may be charged at the billing attorney's hourly rate and mileage may be charged at the then-current Internal Revenue Service rate. City Attorney shall bill the City monthly at its internal cost for the overhead costs incurred such as charges for normal duplicating, long distance telephone, express mail, postage, messenger services, computer research, and the like.

However, the parties agree to discuss annually a fixed percentage overhead charge in lieu of itemized billing.

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AGENDA BILL
Agenda Item No. 9.B.

Date: March 5, 2024
To: El Cerrito City Council
From: Claire Coleman, Budget/Financial Services Manager; Crystal Reams, Finance Director/City Treasurer, Finance Department
Subject: Fiscal Year 2023-24 Midyear Budget Update

ACTION PROPOSED
Receive an update on City revenues and expenditures for the first six months of the Fiscal Year through December 31, 2023 and adopt a Resolution authorizing appropriation increases to the FY 2023-24 budget totaling $3,034,754 from all funds, including an appropriation of $2,446,754 from the Unrestricted General Fund Balance, to cover a shortfall in budgeted revenues, higher-than-anticipated expenditures, and support Council-approved projects; and authorize the carry forward of $1 million from the General Fund and $651,531.55 from special revenue and enterprise funds for purchase orders authorized during FY 2022-23 but completed in FY 2023-24.

BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
The El Cerrito City Council adopts an annual budget and sets the City’s appropriations limits for each fund. On June 20, 2023, the City Council adopted the FY 2023-24 budget with a General Fund appropriation limit of $48,435,585 and a total appropriations limit of $77,385,884 for all funds. The Midyear Budget Update is intended to provide detailed information to the City Council on the progress of the City towards its budget for the first half of the fiscal year, and to propose any adjustments to ensure that the City remains on track to meet its fiscal goals.

The Finance Department is currently finalizing the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) for FY 2022-23 and estimates a year-end surplus of $6,928,706.

Throughout the first half of FY 2023-24, the City Council has approved budget adjustments and one-time uses of unassigned General Fund balance, detailed in the table below. While this midyear report focuses on the City's fiscal progress through December 31, 2023, staff are carefully tracking all approved budget adjustments, including those after December 31st, to ensure that the City retains healthy reserves as per the City's Comprehensive Financial Policies. Staff expects to bring the FY 2022-23 ACFR to the City Council for discussion at the next Council meeting.

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Agenda Item No. 9.B.

Council-Approved Uses of Unassigned General Fund Balance During the transition into the new Fiscal Year in June/July 2023, a large number of purchase orders were not rolled forward with budget authority. These are purchases of services and supplies that were included in the FY 2022-23 budget, but were not completed by June 30, 2023 due to staffing shortages and supply chain constraints.

The Finance Department is instituting a new process whereby all purchase orders must receive City Council approval to be rolled forward to the next fiscal year. Staff recommend carrying forward $1,651,532, comprised of $1 million from the FY 2022-23 General Fund surplus and $651,532 from other funds, to fund purchase orders that were budgeted but not completed during the previous fiscal year. Moving forward, staff plans to bring the roll-forward of purchase orders to Council in August or September each year for approval.

FY 2023-24 Adjustments
General Fund
The General Fund is the primary fund for the City and supports all manner of operations, including Police, Fire, Community Development, Public Works, Recreation, and City Administration. The General Fund is supported by a variety of sources, particularly property taxes, sales taxes, utility users taxes, and property transfer taxes.

Revenues
The City receives sales and use tax revenues on a two-month lag. The revenues received through December 31, 2023 reflect four months of sales and use tax revenues. Staff estimates and forecasts from the City’s sales and property tax consultants, HdL, indicate that sales and use taxes are trending on budget. The City receives the majority of its property taxes twice annually, in December and April, with a small true-up payment in June. HdL projects that the City will receive its budgeted property tax totals this year.

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Agenda Item No. 9.B.

Property transfer taxes are also received on a time lag. The revenues reflected in this mid-year report reflect four months of Real Property Transfer Tax (RPTT). Due to slow real estate markets nationwide due to high interest rates, property transfer taxes are projected to end the year significantly under budget. Staff are recommending a downward revision in the City’s budgeted property transfer tax revenue estimates by $1 million to reflect this downturn.

The Community Development, Public Works, and Recreation Departments are forecasting higher-than-budgeted fee revenues due to increased building and planning permit activity and high interest in recreation programs, including childcare and summer camps. The Police Department is anticipating a revenue increase of $25,000 for the remainder of the fiscal year due to increased parking citations. Total increased revenues to the City are estimated at $1,154,200 for the fiscal year, offset by the $1 million projected shortfall in RPTT revenues.

Expenditures
While the Community Development, Public Works, and Recreation Departments are projecting higher-than-budgeted revenues, they are also projecting higher expenditures due to the increased service requirements that accompany higher permit and recreation fee revenues. Many fees are limited to a cost-recovery basis, and most of the increased revenues have accompanying expenditure requirements including permit check consultants, childcare teachers, and recreation instructors. The three departments expect expenditures to end the year above budget by a total of $1.162 million.

Adjustments are required to account for changes to salaries that were not included in the annual budget process. On September 19th, the City Council approved an increase to Councilmember salaries, effective January 2, 2023. The total cost of the increase for the second half of the fiscal year is $6,270. On February 6, 2024, the City Council approved a resolution increasing salaries for the SEIU bargaining group by 4%. The impact of the increase to the General Fund of 4% is $76,484 for the remainder of the fiscal year.

As with many cities across California, general liability and insurance costs continue to escalate. Since 2020, the City’s costs for general liability insurance have tripled. The cost to the City for general liability insurance for FY 2023-24 came in approximately $300,000 higher than budgeted. Future insurance costs to the City will be included in the budget process and adjusted to ensure better accuracy.

Costs associated with the cyber attack against the City in August 2023 were unexpected and were not included in the budget. The costs are primarily covered by the City’s insurance, but have resulted in a deductible of $50,000 in addition to approximately $40,000 in expenses that the City is unable to recoup. The City is currently in the process of preparing for a November 2024 ballot initiative to renew the City’s transactions and use tax measure, Measure R. Staff are requesting $125,000 to support polling and public information activities to educate the public about the impact of the transactions and use tax renewal measure.

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Agenda Item No. 9.B.

The Fire Department is expected to end the year $287,000 above budget on overtime.

The Fire Department is also currently undergoing emergency repairs on several of its engines and anticipating higher costs for the fiscal year of $50,000 for a total department-wide impact of $337,000.

On November 7, 2023, the Municipal Services Corporation (MSC) adopted a resolution accepting the City's proposal to satisfy repayment of a loan agreement by paying $350,000 of City funds to the del Norte Complete Streets Project. Staff recommends that the Council approve the use of $350,000 from the Unassigned General Fund Balance to transfer to the Capital Improvement Fund for the del Norte project and to satisfy the repayment terms of the City's loan from the MSC.

The expenditure increases and adjustments listed above total $2,446,754. The net increase in expenditures for FY 2023-24, including the revenue adjustments, is $2,292,554. Staff recommend appropriating this amount from the Unassigned General Fund Balance to ensure continuous City operations through the end of the fiscal year.

Recommended General Fund Budget Adjustments
General Fund Balance and Reserves
The City continues to have stable reserves. Prior to FY 2022-23, the City had an unassigned fund balance of $16.6 million. During the first half of FY 2023-24, the City Council established and funded the Economic and Disaster Recovery Fund (EDRF) with $9 million, or 3 months of payroll costs, as per the City’s updated Comprehensive Financial Policy. The City also continues to maintain a General Fund Reserve and keep it fully funded with 10% of annual operating expenditures, as directed by the City’s Financial Policies. Additionally, the City Council established a Section 115 Trust and funded it with $1 million to support long-term pension costs.

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Agenda Item No. 9.B.

The City ended FY 2022-23 with a large operating surplus of $6.9 million due to high vacancy rates and purchase orders that were not completed before June 30. As noted above, final surplus will be detailed in the City’s ACFR, which is in progress and will be presented to the City Council at the next Council meeting. The recommended roll forward of purchase orders of $1 million would leave an ending FY 2022-23 surplus of $5.9 million.

The remaining unassigned General Fund balance moves through a “waterfall” process per the City’s Comprehensive Financial Policy to ensure that reserves are fully funded before one-time uses are approved. Of the $7.3 million remaining after the “waterfall” process, Council has authorized $3.45 million of one-time expenditures. Utilizing unassigned fund balance to support FY 2023-24 budget needs would result in a remaining unassigned fund balance of $1.9 million. Importantly, per the Comprehensive Financial Policies, the total General Fund reserve that includes the 10% minimum fund balance of $4,389,018 plus the EDRF of $9,000,000 totals $13,389,018 - El Cerrito General Fund Reserves
*Includes commitments by Council made after December 31, 2023.

Recommended adjustments in blue
Special Revenue and Enterprise Funds
The City of El Cerrito is also supported by a variety of Special Revenue and Enterprise Funds. Special Revenue funds contain and track funds restricted for a specific program or use. Enterprise funds are self-supporting activities funded by fees on a user-charge basis. The City has one Enterprise Fund, the Integrated Waste Management Fund.

Staff recommends several adjustments to the revenues and expenditures for special revenue funds, specifically the Measure J Return to Source, Measure J Storm Drain, COPS Grant, and Capital Improvement Program (CIP) funds. All other special revenue funds are projected to end the year within budget.

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Agenda Item No. 9.B.

For the Measure J Return to Source Fund, staff recommends a total adjustment of $93,000. This includes $20,000 for a part-time position that was approved in FY 2022- 23 but not included in the budget, $10,000 for emergency traffic signal and street light repairs, and $21,000 for repair and maintenance services on San Pablo Avenue. It also includes $42,000 for the Ohlone Greenway Uptown District Improvements Project, which was approved by City Council on November 7th, 2023 but did not include an appropriations increase.

For the Measure J Storm Drain Fund, staff recommends a total adjustment of $13,000 towards the aforementioned part-time position that was approved but not yet budgeted for. The Police Department recommends increasing the budget for the COPS grant fund by a total of $153,000 to support purchases of safety equipment and software services.

In the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Fund, staff recommends adjustments to reflect Council-approved projects and transfers. The Ohlone Greenway Uptown District Improvement Project included both the $42,000 transfer from the Measure J Return to Source Fund to the CIP fund as well as a $180,000 appropriation from the CIP Fund itself. Staff also recommends increasing the revenue budget for the CIP Fund to reflect the transfer of the $350,000 from the General Fund to satisfy the repayment terms of the loan from the MSC. The total increase in revenue due to transfers for the CIP fund is $392,000 and the total expenditure increase, also including transfers, is $222,000.

Staff also recommend revenue and expenditure adjustments to the Integrated Waste Management Fund. Environmental Services staff are projecting revenues above budget of $103,632 due to increased fees in Calendar Year 2024. Staff also request authorization for $107,000 in additional expenditures to support vehicle and equipment repairs and part of the costs of the approved part-time position.

STRATEGIC PLAN CONSIDERATIONS
This action supports the City’s Strategic Plan Goal(s) of:
• High Performing Organization; and
• Community Safety; and
• Livability and Belonging; and
• Infrastructure and Amenities; and
• Environmental Sustainability.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS
This section is not applicable to this agenda item.

Agenda Packet Page 348 of 494
Agenda Item No. 9.B.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
Each fiscal year, the City Council adopts a resolution establishing spending limits by Fund. On June 20, 2023, the City Council adopted Resolution 2022-49 authorizing $77,385,884 in total spending limits across all funds for FY 2023-24. Attachment 1 summarizes the requests by Fund, the total spending authority requested as a part of this action, and the projected net impact to fund balances.

LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS
Approval of the attached resolution is required to amend the City’s FY 2023-24 spending authority.

Reviewed by:

Karen Pinkos, City Manager
Attachments:

1. Resolution

2. Summary of Proposed Adjustments
Agenda Packet Page 349 of 494
RESOLUTION 2024-XX

RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EL CERRITO AMENDING

THE SPENDING AUTHORITY BY FUND FOR THE CITY OF EL CERRITO FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023-24
WHEREAS, on June 20, 2023 the City Council of the City of El Cerrito adopted the Fiscal Year 2023-24 Budget with spending limits across funds (Resolution 2023-47); and WHEREAS, changes to the spending limits throughout the year are necessary to account for unexpected opportunities, unforeseen changes, or if the City's financial position changes and additional spending authority is required to meet the needs of the City; and
WHEREAS, staff presented this update to the City Council of the City of El Cerrito for its consideration and the City Council has reviewed and analyzed it; and WHEREAS, this update includes expenditure authorization for operational needs and Council approved projects; and
WHEREAS, purchase orders totaling $1,651,532, including $1,000,000 from the General Fund, were approved in FY 2022-23 but not completed due to staffing vacancies, consultant availability, and supply chain constraints; and WHEREAS, City Council approved the roll forward of purchase orders from Fiscal Year 2022-23, increasing the total spending authority in Fiscal Year 2023-24 but not ongoing costs; and
WHEREAS, proposed changes to spending authority from tax proceeds are within the City's Fiscal Year 2023-24 Gann Appropriations Limit as defined by California State Constitution Article XIIB.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of El Cerrito that it hereby amends the spending authority by fund for fiscal year 2023-24 as follows:

Fund
Amended FY
2023-24
Budget
Purchase
Order Roll
Forward
Total
Appropriations
FY 2023-24
General Fund 52,216,608.00 1,000,000.00 53,216,608.00
Gas Tax Fund 779,381.00 916.02 780,297.02
NPDES 402,567.00 9,601.20 412,168.20
Landscaping and Lighting 837,507.00 837,507.00
Measure J Return to Source 878,980.00 642.29 879,622.29 Measure A Parcel Tax - 143,393.70 143,393.70
Measure J Storm Drain 1,139,841.00 12,508.16 1,152,349.16 Measure H Parcel Tax 740,062.00 56,444.39 796,506.39
Agenda Packet Page 350 of 494
Asset Forfeiture 120,000.00 50,600.06 170,600.06
Vehicle Abatement 200,000.00 200,000.00
Street Improvement Fund 2,857,015.00 7,776.00 2,864,791.00 SB-1 Road Repair 1,138,030.00 23,853.58 1,161,883.58
Public Art Fund 100,000.00 100,000.00
Measure J – Paratransit 293,876.00 293,876.00
Federal, State, & Local
Grants 395,511.00 6,045.13 401,556.13
C.O.P.S. Grant 403,000.00 600.00 403,600.00
Donations 50,000.00 50,000.00
City LMI Housing 207,528.00 207,528.00
Capital Improvements 13,734,015.00 310,613.52 14,044,628.52 Integrated Waste
Management 5,338,609.00 28,537.50 5,367,146.50
Vehicle/Equipment
Replacement 136,591.00 136,591.00
Financing Authority City Hall
Debt Svc 582,763.00 582,763.00
Financing Authority Street
Improv Debt Svc 707,100.00 707,100.00
Total 83,258,984.00 1,651,531.55 84,910,515.55
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Council hereby authorizes the roll forward of purchase orders totaling $1 million from the 2022-23 budget surplus and the use of Unassigned General Fund Balance to support a net budget increase of 2,292,554 to ensure continuous City operations.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of El Cerrito hereby authorizes the City Manager or their designee to:

1. Create such appropriations into such new accounts as may be appropriate for proper accounting in the City’s financial system and to make any necessary non-material changes to finalize the budget document.

2. Apply correct accounting rules for the proper classification of interfund transactions, including transfers between funds, or other financial transactions as may be necessary to address bond or loan covenants or any other requirements imposed by formal, legal agreements between the City any other parties, as previously entered into by the City.

3. Approve payment of goods and services received by the City in accordance with the City’s approved budgets, programs, and policies, subject to a limitation of $45,000 for any single vendor in any one fiscal year, beyond which amount the City Council retains authority to approve payment with the exception of those items falling under other statutory authority (e.g., Public Works, State purchasing).

4. Shift expenditure authority within funds among departments, as may be necessary to meet the City’s operational needs.

Agenda Packet Page 351 of 494
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution shall become effective immediately upon passage and adoption.

I CERTIFY that at a regular meeting on March 5, 2024 the City Council of the City of El Cerrito passed this Resolution by the following vote:

AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS:

NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS:

ABSTAIN: COUNCILMEMBERS:

ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS:

IN WITNESS of this action, I sign this document and affix the corporate seal of the City of El Cerrito on .
________________________
Holly M. Charléty, City Clerk
APPROVED:
________________________
Tessa Rudnick, Mayor
Agenda Packet Page 352 of 494
Attachment 1: Summary of Proposed Adjustments
* Does not assume roll forward of purchase orders
** Detail of YTD Budget Amendments included in Background section *** Reflects Transfers from the General Fund
⁺ Includes EDRF, General Fund Reserve, and funds reserved for UAL/Pension costs Draft Fund
Balance
Projected
Ending Fund
Balance
June 30, 2023 Revenue Expenditures Revenue Expenditures Revenue Expenditures Revenue Expenditures June 30, 2024 General Fund 23,143,081* 48,528,763 48,435,585 1,334,269** 154,200 2,446,754 48,682,963 52,216,608 (3,533,645) 19,609,436⁺ Gas Tax Fund 295,043 704,800 779,381 704,800 779,381 (74,581) 220,462 NPDES 123,522 337,300 402,567 337,300 402,567 (65,267) 58,255 Landscaping and Lighting 168,046 800,800 837,507 800,800 837,507 (36,707) 131,339 Measure J Return to Source 655,475 493,300 785,980 93,000 493,300 878,980 (385,680) 269,795 Measure J Storm Drain 935,562 709,400 1,126,841 13,000 709,400 1,139,841 (430,441) 505,121 Measure H Parcel Tax 451,191 647,000 740,062 647,000 740,062 (93,062) 358,129 Asset Forfeiture 407,264 - 120,000 - 120,000 (120,000) 287,264 Vehicle Abatement 417,005 8,000 200,000 8,000 200,000 (192,000) 225,005 Street Improvement Fund 2,793,188 1,805,000 2,857,015 1,805,000 2,857,015 (1,052,015) 1,741,173 SB-1 Road Repair 1,012,523 561,200 1,138,030 561,200 1,138,030 (576,830) 435,693 Public Art Fund 157,133 - 100,000 - 100,000 (100,000) 57,133 Measure J – Paratransit 434,149 266,597 293,876 266,597 293,876 (27,279) 406,870 Federal, State, & Local Grants (167,271) 395,511 395,511 395,511 395,511 - (167,271) C.O.P.S. Grant 423,968 100,000 250,000 153,000 100,000 403,000 (303,000) 120,968 Donations - 50,000 50,000 50,000 50,000 - -
City LMI Housing 5,260,264 164,800 207,528 164,800 207,528 (42,728) 5,217,536 Capital Improvements (312,572) 12,184,619 12,557,938 75,000*** 954,077 392,000*** 222,000 12,651,619 13,734,015 (1,082,396) (1,394,968) Integrated Waste Management 4,627,343 3,968,630 4,681,609 550,000 103,632 107,000 4,072,262 5,338,609 (1,266,347) 3,360,996 Vehicle/Equipment
Replacement
456,819 156,000 136,591 156,000 136,591 19,409 476,228
Financing Authority City Hall
Debt Svc
7,130 582,914 582,763 582,914 582,763 151 7,281
Financing Authority Street
Improv Debt Svc
597 707,100 707,100 707,100 707,100 - 597
Section 115 Trust Fund - - - 1,000,000*** 1,000,000 - 1,000,000 1,000,000 Total 73,171,734 77,385,884 1,075,000 2,838,346 649,832 3,034,754 74,896,566 83,258,984 Net Impact to
Fund Balance Fund FY 2023-24 Adopted Budget Budget Amendments Mid-Year Requests Amended FY 2023-24 Budget Agenda Packet Page 353 of 494
CITY HALL 10890 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito, CA 94530
Telephone (510) 215-4305 Fax (510) 215-4379 http://www.el-cerrito.org

SUPPLEMENTAL AGENDA MATERIALS

CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS
March 5, 2024
(revised March 8, 2024)

1. Public Comments (Not on the Agenda and Consent Calendar)

2. Agenda Item 6.B. - Classification and Compensation Study a. Public Comments

3. Agenda Item 9.B. - Fiscal Year 2023-24 Midyear Budget Update a. Public Comments
b. Presentation
Agenda Packet Page 354 of 494
March 5, 2024
El Cerrito City Council
El Cerrito City Hall
10890 San Pablo Ave
El Cerrito, CA 94530
Mayor Rudnick and City Council Members:

On February 12, 2024, the El Cerrito Urban Forest Committee, with a unanimous vote, endorsed a recommendation that encourages the El Cerrito City Council to contact PG&E regarding the removal of mature native oak trees on Moeser Lane, and that City Council request from PG&E:
• A written response providing details regarding the apparent necessity of the tree removal that occurred in June 2023
• Future a priori (before the fact) communications from PG&E to the City of El Cerrito for any tree removal plans, prior to execution
• Mitigation plans to accompany any tree removal plans going forward.

The attached El Cerrito Urban Forest Committee letter was developed by an ad-hoc subcommittee who are concerned about the removal of mature and healthy native oak trees by PG&E.

Action: The Urban Forest Committee recommends that the document: UFC Moeser Lane PG&E Tree Removal Letter, be submitted to City Council and authorizes Chair Robert J.

Hrubes to submit the recommendation and letter to the City Council in their March 5, 2024, meeting.

Motion / Second: Kaczor/ Mitchell
Ayes: Six (6): Bleier, Hrubes, Hughes, Kaczor, Linhart, Mitchell, Nays: None

Absent: None
Please consider acting on this recomendation.
this matter,
Chair, Urban Forest Committee
General Public Comments
Agenda Packet Page 355 of 494
UFC Moeser Lane PG&E Tree Removal Letter
Overview
The City of El Cerrito's Urban Forest Committee (UFC) would like to raise our concerns to the City Council's attention regarding PG&E's removal of a number of healthy, mature Coast Live Oaks and underlying vegetation from the upper part of Moeser Lane last year, and PG&E's lack of communication to the City or the public about its plans to do so. In addition to the UFC's concerns, residents in the area have also expressed their dissatisfaction to the City over PG&E's actions.

The UFC encourages the City Council to contact PG&E and request:
• A written response providing details regarding the apparent necessity of the tree removal that occurred in June 2023
• Future a priori (before the fact) communications from PG&E to the City of El Cerrito for any tree removal plans, prior to execution
• Mitigation plans to accompany any tree removal plans going forward Background
For the past 10 years, PG&E has regularly notified City staff about its plans for vegetation management on its Moeser Lane easement. City staff have consistently encouraged PG&E to remove as few mature oaks as possible and to achieve safety standards through tree pruning, not removal. Every year, City staff have inquired about PG&E's mitigation plans: What could be done to mitigate the removal of native habitat? What could be replanted? Each year, the response was noncommittal. (At times, PG&E has removed natives [Redbud and Toyon] and left non-natives [Cotoneaster and 8ottlebrush].)
In 2023, PG&E notified City staff of its plans for tree removal. But for the first time, PG&E did not specify what kind of trees ( or their sizes) were to be removed, even when specifically prompted via email by City staff. City staff estimates approximately a dozen Coast Live Oaks greater than 10 inches in diameter were removed, again with no mitigation plan. City staff shared their concern about potential erosion and a loss of habitat, as communicated to the PG&E team numerous times in the past. Again, PG&E's response to the City's request for a revegetation plan was to discuss options in the future.

For added context: Three years ago, the City received a request from a nearby resident about trees that were interfering with her view. City staff and PG&E met with the resident and they came up with a pruning plan, which was conducted. This year, a complaint was filed again, and City staff put this same resident in touch with PG&E and indicated the City's preference to prune instead of removal.

Agenda Packet Page 356 of 494
While the UFC understands the need to prioritize public safety concerns regarding wildfire and to minimize wildfire risks, it is the UFC's view that the removal of these trees and the lack of revegetation plans are combined actions that are not up to the City's urban forest management standards, as described in its Urban Forest Management Plan. It's understood that utility companies are required to maintain regulated minimum clearance distances from high voltage power lines. However, without documentation demonstrating otherwise it is the UFC's view that the removal of trees was excessive, and the lack of a mitigation plan is unacceptable.

Coast Live Oaks, fire resistance, and risks of removal
According to the USDA Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System: "Coast Live Oak is exceptionally fire resistant, more so than other California oak species." The trees on Moeser include particularly large specimens of up to 50 inches in diameter, whose size and thick bark add to their fire resistance.

These trees provide a wide range of benefits and constitute an important investment in our City's green infrastructure in terms of GHG reduction and climate effects mitigation, water quality, habitat values, and aesthetics (quality of life). According to the Forest Service's Climate Change Resource Center's I-Tree Calculator, just one 20-inch Coast Live Oak in this neighborhood stores over 7,000 lbs of CO2 (released upon cutting), and also avoids over 1,000 gallons of runoff, which is especially critical for preventing erosion on Moeser's steep gradient.

Coast Live Oaks are also one of our most valuable native species for birds, pollinators, and other wildlife.

Response from El Cerrito residents
El Cerrito resident Robin Winton contacted City staff in July 2023 when she first saw the oak removal. Staff put her in touch with PG&E, who responded within 24 hours to address her concerns. Per Ms. Winton, the PG&E representative told her he was a little surprised himself about the work, that it seemed different than usual, and that he wasn't there when it happened.

He assured her there wasn't any more work planned for the season, and that height compliance work of 30-foot vertical separation between wires and treetops would resume in Q1 or 02 of calendar year 2024. Ms. Winton is concerned that the other oaks in the area are vulnerable, as she estimates that the oaks that were removed were probably about the same height as the ones remaining. Ms. Winton stresses that in the past PG&E did a great job with tree pruning and clean-up.

Additionally, in 2019, Cathy Bleier, UFC member and former manager of oak conservation and fire planning programs for CALFIRE, wrote an email to PG&E as a resident and member of the public. Addressed to the PG&E vegetation program manager responsible for the Moeser easement, she expressed her concerns about the removal of healthy, mature Coast Live Oaks from the upper part of Moeser Lane. PG&E's response expressed appreciation for her email and a request to consider other factors related to removing trees that are incompatible with power lines, and described required practices for vegetation management within areas identified as a High Fire Threat District (HFTD).

Agenda Packet Page 357 of 494
In conclusion
As stated above, the Urban Forest Committee requests that the City Council contact PG&E for the purpose of securing a written report regarding the necessity of the removal of Coast Live Oaks from the Moeser Avenue easement lands in June 2023, rather than pruning to the appropriate height to meet the PG&E requirements. The UFC also asks that the City Council requests of PG&E timely communications and mitigation plans for any future tree removal plans prior to execution going forward, as well as mitigation plans for the trees already removed.

Thank you,
Urban Forest Committee
Agenda Packet Page 358 of 494
From: adelitalarosa
To: City Clerk; Paul Fadelli; Lisa Motoyama; Gabe Quinto; Tessa Rudnick; Carolyn Wysinger Subject: Item not on the agenda - Ceasefire Resolution
Date: Saturday, February 24, 2024 12:14:25 PM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

Dear Mayor and City Council Members,
Our city is failing to listen to our leaders in Congress, our community members, and the majority of the American people when we call on you for a ceasefire resolution in Gaza.

There is a genocide happening and the city of El Cerrito needs to stand on the right side of history, our city needs to support a ceasefire resolution.

Stand United Against Hate - Ceasefire now!
Adelle LaRosa Noble
Sent from my iPhone
Agenda Packet Page 359 of 494
From:

To: City Clerk; Paul Fadelli; Lisa Motoyama; Gabe Quinto; Tessa Rudnick; Carolyn Wysinger Subject: Item not on the agenda - Ceasefire Resolution
Date: Saturday, February 24, 2024 9:29:10 PM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

I recently learned that [INSERT SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO YOU THAT COMPELS YOU TO WRITE THIS MESSAGE].

Stand United Against Hate - Ceasefire now!
Sent from my iPhone
Agenda Packet Page 360 of 494
From: Madeeha Bibi Khan
To: City Clerk; Carolyn Wysinger; Gabe Quinto; Lisa Motoyama; Paul Fadelli; Tessa Rudnick Subject: Item not on the agenda - Ceasefire Resolution
Date: Saturday, February 24, 2024 9:30:45 PM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

I recently learned that the last place left for refuge, Rafah, is being bombed. Innocent people are dying at the hands of a war machine, hatred fueled, genocidal regime.

Stand United Against Hate - Ceasefire now!
Madeeha Khan
LinkedIn
UC Berkeley '24
Agenda Packet Page 361 of 494
From: Louise Spears
To: City Clerk; Paul Fadelli; Lisa Motoyama; Gabe Quinto; Tessa Rudnick; Carolyn Wysinger Subject: Item not on the agenda - Ceasefire Resolution
Date: Sunday, February 25, 2024 2:56:59 PM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

Stand United Against Hate - Ceasefire now!
From a resident of El Cerrito.

Agenda Packet Page 362 of 494
From: Hillary Kilimnik
To: City Clerk
Cc: Tessa Rudnick
Subject: No Ceasefire Resolution, No Ceasefire "Proclamation" without call for immediate release of hostages and dismantling of Hamas
Date: Monday, February 26, 2024 8:56:52 AM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

Dear Mayor Rudnick and members of the City Council,
I applaud you for not folding to pressure from a vocal minority in the community who calls for a one-sided ceasefire in the Israel Hamas war.

This city council has exemplified what it means to be a local governing body.

Make no mistake, I support PEACE in the Middle East for ALL populations including Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze. Any call for a ceasefire after the horrific attack on October 7, is essentially giving a green light to Hamas and other extremists for similar such actions, unless such a resolution or proclamation first and foremost calls for:
1) an immediate and unconditional RELEASE of all the hostages taken captive by Hamas on October 7 AND
2) the immediate surrender and dismantling of Hamas from the Gaza strip In fact, I believe that if the International community had made such demands on October 8, we would not have this war raging on right now, and many thousands of innocent Gazans would be alive today.

I was appalled to see signs and calls for Mayor Rudnick to recuse herself from this issue given her Jewish heritage.

If this isn't blatant anti-semitism I don't know what is. Can you imagine John Lewis not using his position in government to help uplift the African American community? Do you hear these same folks call for Rashida Tlaib to recuse herself from this issue? The double standards against Israel and Jews is jaw-dropping. Please don't play into it.

Thank you for your service, and know that your community appreciates your efforts.

Sincerely,
Hillary K.

Sent from my iPhone
Agenda Packet Page 363 of 494
From: Alissa Hauser
To: City Clerk; Paul Fadelli; Lisa Motoyama; Gabe Quinto; Tessa Rudnick; Carolyn Wysinger Subject: Ceasefire Resolution
Date: Monday, February 26, 2024 9:18:58 PM
Hello City Council, I was at the meeting last week and was very discouraged by the failure of our progressive city to consider a ceasefire resolution. Councilmember Fadelli said he would b Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization. sophospsmartbannerend
Hello City Council,
I was at the meeting last week and was very discouraged by the failure of our progressive city to consider a ceasefire resolution.

Councilmember Fadelli said he would be in favor of a ceasefire resolution if he thought it would save even one person's life. While a ceasefire resolution in El Cerrito won't directly save a life, it will help build civic momentum and add pressure to our federal government to stop enabling Netanyahu's genocide against the Palestinian people.

It is an important message that will make a difference, and I hope the City Council will consider it and stop remaining silent on this urgent issue.

Thank you,
Alissa Hauser, ., El Cerrito
Agenda Packet Page 364 of 494
From: Rebecca Taralom
To: City Clerk; Paul Fadelli; Lisa Motoyama; Gabe Quinto; Tessa Rudnick; Carolyn Wysinger Subject: Public Comment at City Council Meeting
Date: Tuesday, February 27, 2024 8:52:31 PM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

Just wanted to correct an erroneous bit of information that was spread at the last City council meeting
Someone claimed that the majority of Americans were in favor of a ceasefire. The important information they left out was that they backed a ceasefire after Hamas is removed and the hostages are freed.

This is from the last Harvard Harris Poll Harvard CAPS / Harris Poll (harvardharrispoll.com) Americans stand with Israel:

According to the latest Harvard/Harris poll there is overwhelming US support for Israel :
- 82% back Israel over Hamas.
- 68% say Israel tries to avoid civilian casualties
- 67% back a ceasefire only AFTER Hamas is removed and all Israeli hostages are freed - 78% back Hamas removal from Gaza
And I STILL believe that El Cerrito has no logical reason to get involved with this conflict, and I thank you for your principled stand
Agenda Packet Page 365 of 494
From: Jennifer Mangel
To: City Clerk
Subject: No Ceasefire Resolution, No Ceasefire "Proclamation" Date: Wednesday, February 28, 2024 10:23:03 PM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

Dear Mayor Rudnick and El Cerrito City Council Members, I understand that you are under pressure to consider a ceasefire statement related to the Israel Hamas war. I am also deeply concerned about what I have heard about the mayor under pressure and being singled out because of her Jewish heritage. I do not believe that singling someone out because of their background is consistent with the values of diversity that El Cerrito is proud of.

While I am deeply committed to peace in the Middle East, and Ukraine, and Sudan, and other war ravaged international communities, I implore you to use your voices and leadership on the El Cerrito city council to care for our city and allow other government bodies to attend to resolution of international conflicts.

Instead I hope you can turn your attention to our pressing local issues:

1. Permanent housing for unhoused members of our community;

2. Lighting and safety measures along the BART greenway;

3. Adequate financial support for our first responders;

4. Building that amazing library we keep hearing about; and

5. Continuing to offer the excellent rec programs for children before/after school and during school breaks.

This May will mark my 17th anniversary living in El Cerrito. Our family is engaged in the community and wants to keep El Cerrito a welcoming place that embraces and supports people of multiple backgrounds.

Thank you for your work on behalf of our community,
Jennifer Mangel
Agenda Packet Page 366 of 494
From: Robin Winton
To: City Clerk
Subject: public comments - not on the agenda
Date: Thursday, February 29, 2024 5:09:55 PM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

PG&E Oak Tree & Vegetation Removal on Moeser Lane
In late June or early July of 2023 I noticed and was very alarmed that a one block section of healthy mature native oak trees and underlying vegetation had been completely removed on the north side of Moeser Lane as well as the median between the northeast and northwest intersections of Terrace Drive. As a 36 year resident of El Cerrito, I have long admired the mix of drought tolerant and native plants that have thrived and softened this thoroughfare. I have always appreciated, what would otherwise be a 4-lane road of industrial electrical towers is instead a very attractive, low maintenance landscaped section for our city.

I called El Cerrito's Public Works department and Mr. Stephen Pree told me this property is owned and managed by PG&E and is not regulated by the City of El Cerrito and that PG&E did not make the scope of their work known to Mr. Pree, nor have they provided a mitigation or revegetation/erosion prevention plan.

I called PG&E's David Carruth who informed me that this section of Moeser was selected based on several concerns and complaints over a number of years by a resident on the north side of it. He was not able to provide any information about why EVERY tree and shrub had to be removed rather than handled in a more selective manner as had been done previously.

He was not onsite when the tree and vegetation work was done. Mr. Carruth did inform me that he would be back to this area for an annual inspection for height compliance of trees in Q1 or Q2 of 2024. As for the weed abatement work, he told me that a different department handles that.

I understand that wildfire prevention is absolutely necessary. I have admired the increased and selective weed abatement and tree trimming that has been done along Moeser Lane since the 2017 fire season. My real concern is, without knowing the reason for the utility company's drastic vegetation removal last summer, the entire length of Moeser Lane's borders and medians between Arlington Lane and Shevlin Drive may suffer the same fate as the one block section I highlighted above. We can't let that happen. Therefore, I request that the City Council do whatever it takes, and soon, to get PG&E to manage Moeser Lane in a way that maintains a safe and attractive greenbelt for our community. Q1 is here and Q2 is rapidly approaching.

Sincerely,
Robin R. Winton
Arlington Blvd.

El Cerrito, CA 94540
Agenda Packet Page 367 of 494
Agenda Packet Page 368 of 494
From: Starcat311
To: Paul Fadelli; Lisa Motoyama; Gabe Quinto; Tessa Rudnick; Carolyn Wysinger; City Clerk; Karen Pinkos Subject: Regarding Ceasefire Resolution on agenda
Date: Friday, March 1, 2024 9:16:56 PM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

Dear Mayor Rudnick, Council member Fadelli, Council member Motoyama, Council member Quinto, and Council member Wysinger,
Thank you for continuing to not take up a ceasefire resolution on the city council agenda. As we have seen in neighboring cities, these resolutions can divide communities and make Jewish residents feel less safe. I truly appreciate you keeping El Cerrito a safe and welcoming community for all.

Sincerely,
Emily Somberg
(El Cerrito resident of approx 15 years)
Agenda Packet Page 369 of 494
From: deb massey
To: City Clerk
Subject: No Ceasefire Resolution
Date: Monday, March 4, 2024 9:00:07 AM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

Dear Mayor Rudnick and members of the City Council,
I applaud you for not folding to pressure from a vocal minority in the community who calls for a one-sided ceasefire in the Israel Hamas war.

This city council has exemplified what it means to be a local governing body.

Make no mistake, I support PEACE in the Middle East for ALL populations including Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze. I am also deeply concerned about what I have heard about the mayor under pressure and being singled out because of her Jewish heritage. I do not believe that singling someone out because of their background is consistent with the values of diversity that El Cerrito is proud of.

I am a proud resident of El Cerrito for 14 years, and my career is in Jewish education. As past Head of School at Tehiyah Day School, I was proud to collaborate with the city on MLK Day and the Library expansion initiative. El Cerrito is a wonderful place to live and raise children, and I'm proud of its diversity.

Please, do not divide our community any more than it already is by bringing an issue of international focus to our city council.

Thanks so much for all you do on a daily basis. I look forward to more celebrations of our city's diversity and heritage.

Best,
Debra Massey
Thank you for your service, and know that your community appreciates your efforts.

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From: Laurie Welstand
To: City Clerk
Subject: public comments – not on the agenda -- opposition to putting a ceasefire resolution on the agenda Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 9:08:35 AM
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Hello Council members,
As a 20 year resident of El Cerrito, and as a lifelong Jew, I strongly feel that putting a motion to support a ceasefire on your agenda is the wrong way to support a resolution to this conflict.

I do support a ceasefire. I supported the ceasefire that was in place on October 7th, when Hamas attacked Israel and instigated this current round of fighting. But more importantly, we are opposed to putting such a motion on the agenda because it creates a forum where Israel haters and antisemites can express their vile, hate filled opinions. We have already seen this in Richmond, Oakland and San Francisco and we don't want it in El Cerrito.

We cannot have a ceasefire without also including language that demands the release of ALL remaining hostages.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
Laurie Welstand
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From: D Dorenz
To: City Clerk
Subject: No to ceasefire resolution
Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 9:54:16 AM
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Dear City Council members,
I’m sending you this article in hopes that you will realize that passing a cease-fire resolution is just another nail in the coffin of our pluralistic democracy. There’s harassment at the schools based on this desire for a cease-fire by teachers who are propagandizing our students. I hope you read this article. The harassment increases after these ceasefire resolutions are passed at City Council’s. The ceasefire resolutions are propaganda because the people who submit them know perfectly well that you don’t have the power to do anything about the situation in the Middle East, nor do you have the knowledge to understand and react intelligently to what is going on in the Middle East, especially since the situation changes on a daily basis. Hamas just rejected a cease-fire resolution.

Meanwhile here, we have people coming to you, pressuring you to pass a cease-fire resolution that Hamas does not want. Please read this article and don’t allow yourself to become propaganda tools for those who want the destruction of Israel, and to sever the relationship between the United States and Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, and our only ally in the Middle East.
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/east-bay/berkeley-unified-lawsuit-allegedharassment-jewish-student/3471369/ https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/east-bay/berkeley-unified-lawsuit-allegedharassment-jewish-student/3471369/ Thanks for your consideration Of my point of you and of many of the Jewish residence of El Cerrito, and the Bay area.

Dorothea Dorenz
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From: Rebecca Angel
To: City Clerk
Subject: City Council Meeting
Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 9:49:44 AM
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To the City Council of El Cerrito,
Please note that there is a ceasefire proposal on the table which Israel has accepted and Hamas has rejected. Putting this topic on the agenda only increases hate speech and hate actions against Israel and Jews. Please remove this item from the agenda for tonight’s city council meeting.

Sincerely,
Rebecca Angel
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Greetings City Council Members,
Thank you for your service to the City of El Cerrito. I want you to know that I see you as human beings and that my righteous indignation is aimed at the injustices occurring against the Palestinian people and not you. My sincere wish for you all is safety, peace of mind, and a political legacy unmired by a refusal to stand up against genocide and other human rights violations committed by the nation of Israel.

Over the past several months, there have been far more people supporting a permanent ceasefire in Gaza in the nation, El Cerrito, and in our City Council meetings than people opposed to it.

The fact that over 70 cities passed a ceasefire resolution by the end of January shows that this is a growing tool for liberating the Palestinian people from colonization, displacement, apartheid, occupation, various forms of ethnic cleansing, and the current genocide. If any of these words do not resonate with you, it means that you have only been exposed to this issue from exclusively the point of view of the governments of Israel and those who defer to the government of Israel for all or most of their information such as the US Government and those affiliated with the largest media outlets in both Israel, the US, and other nations that serve to benefit from a partnership with the USA and Israel.

It is not good critical thinking to only consider the voice of one party in a situation being labeled a genocide, occupation, and apartheid by most of the world. Here are some sources from a Palestinian perspective to balance out key areas of misunderstanding, where the mainstream discourse centers the Israeli perspective:

1. Some claim that Zionism is not colonialism, just Jewish self-determination. Learn a counter argument in Source 1 at the end of this letter..

2. Some claim that Anti-Zionism is Anti-Semitism. Learn another view in Source 2 here.

3. Some claim that Israel was created as penance for the Holocaust. Learn another point of view here in Source 3.

4. Some claim that Israel is not an Apartheid state. See another perspective in Source 4.

5. Some claim that individual Israeli leaders are to blame. See another view in Source 5.

6. Some claim that Israel is defending itself. See another view in Source 6.

7. Some believe that Palestinians fake Israeli atrocities. See another view in Source 7.

8. Some believe that Palestinians use human shields. See another view in Source 8.

9. Some believe that the Palestinian Authority funds terrorism. See another view in Source 9.

10. Some believe that Israel does not occupy Gaza. See another view in Source 10.

11. Some believe that Israel did not ethnically cleanse Palestine due to in Palestinian population increases. See another view in Source 11.

12. Some believe that Palestinian governments sabotage peace processes. See another view in Source 12.

13. All sources can be found here: decolonizepalestine.com/myths/ My hope is that in light of the facts above, you will stand up for what is morally righteous and make a permanent ceasefire resolution that meets the standards set forth by the Palestinian and Jewish alliance that we have in El Cerrito, that is supported by many who wish to see equal rights, justice, and safety for Jews and Arabs in occupied Palestine.

In loving community and towards the equality of all humans, Miguel Gravelle
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Source 1
Since the 1990s, the Oslo accords attempted to relegate the Palestinian revolution to a quest for statehood on Israel’s table scraps. With the failure of this paradigm to produce any solution, there has been a renewed interest in returning to the anti-colonial understanding of the question of Palestine which formed the core of international solidarity for decades. This is not to say that this camp was non-existent since the Oslo years, but rather that the charade of the peace process has shown without a doubt that negotiations and appeasement are a failed strategy. Naturally, with this return comes the inevitable and necessary re-discussion of Zionism, the ideology responsible for the establishment of Israel and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Facing increased criticism, advocates of Zionism adapted to the sensibilities of today and began to claim that it was merely Jewish self-determination, nothing more and nothing less. It just means that the Jewish people deserve to take control of their own destiny through a state. Not only that, but suggesting that Zionism is colonialism is in itself antisemitic, because it denies the Jewish people the right to self-determination. As a matter of fact, some even argue that Zionism is decolonization, and is an indigenous rights movement.

The recent rise to prominence of a distorted and shallow understanding of identity politics in the US has been a boon to this kind of argument. Suddenly we see Zionism being detached from its material history and presented as an integral part of an identity. This is especially popular in the West, where young Zionists who are raised on propaganda and myths of this “amazing” Zionist project come to treat it as inseparable from themselves. Here, we see the cynical twisting of social justice language to declare that only Zionists may define what Zionism is -As if it was a subjective phenomenon, with no material reality, Agenda Packet Page 375 of 494
founders, history or effects- and that it was an attack on the Jewish people to describe it as colonial.

This is rather humorous because the original Zionists legitimized their claim to Palestine exactly because they were colonists and superior to the natives. While I understand how it can be difficult to escape a worldview that was planted in you at a young age, there is a mountain of easily available resources and historic documents available to anyone who is even a little bit critical or intellectually curious.

When we speak of Israel as a settler colony, we refer to a very specific phenomenon. Settler colonialism differs from classic colonialism, in that settler colonialism only initially and temporarily relies on an empire for their existence. In many situations, the colonists aren’t even from the empire supporting them, and end up fighting the very sponsor that ensured their survival in the first place.

Another difference is that settlers are not merely interested in the resources of these new lands, but also in the lands themselves, and to carve out a new homeland for themselves in the area.

The obvious issue here is that these lands were already inhabited by other people before their arrival.

This is when the settler “logic of elimination” comes into play. Coined by scholar Patrick Wolfe, this means that the settlers needed to develop not only moral justifications for the removal of the natives, but also the practical means to ensure its success. This could take the form of ethnic cleansing, genocide or other gruesome tools of ethnocide.

If you’re at all familiar with Zionist talking points, you can see this logic of elimination in motion. “A land without a people for a people without a land“, “there is no such thing as a Palestinian“, “Israel made the desert bloom” and many other talking points illustrate this perfectly. For example, you can immediately see how denying the existence of Palestinians resembles the Terra Nullius argument used by colonists all over the world [You can read more about this here]. All of Agenda Packet Page 376 of 494
these talking points are aimed at justifying the dispossession of the Palestinians and legitimizing Zionist claims to the land they wished to colonize. As for the practical means to remove the natives, the Nakba remains a testimony to such crimes.

The claim that Zionism is merely Jewish self-determination also conflates the Jewish people with Zionism, an ideology finding its origins in Europe in the late 1800s. At the time, the Jewish people were largely uninterested in Zionism. As a matter of fact many Jewish groups were fiercely anti-Zionist. The attempt to conflate the two is an attempt to give legitimacy to self-professed settlers from Europe, and portray any criticism of the Zionist project as inherently antisemitic.

Yet in the early days, the Zionist movement was astonishingly honest about its existence as a form of colonialism. For example, Herzl, one of the founders of political Zionism wrote in 1902 to infamous colonizer Cecil Rhodes, arguing that Britain recognized the importance of “colonial expansion”:
“You are being invited to help make history,” he wrote, “It doesn’t involve Africa, but a piece of Asia Minor ; not Englishmen, but Jews . How, then, do I happen to turn to you since this is an out-of-the-way matter for you? How indeed? Because it is something colonial.”
Nordau, Herzl’s right hand man, even rightfully called Zionist settlements in Palestine “colonies”:
“Zionism rejects on principle all colonization on a small scale, and the idea of “sneaking” into Palestine. The Zionists have therefore devoted themselves preeminently to a zealous and tireless advocacy of the uniting of the already existing Jewish colonies in Palestine with those who until now have given them their aid and who of late have inclined towards the withdrawal of their support from them.”
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Menachem Usishkin, chairman of the Jewish National Fund, was known for his calls to rid Palestine of its natives:
“What we can demand today is that all Transjordan be included in the Land of Israel. . . on condition that Transjordan would be either be made available for Jewish colonization or for the resettlement of those [Palestinian] Arabs, whose lands [in Palestine] we would purchase. Against this, the most conscientious person could not argue . . . For the [Palestinian] Arabs of the Galilee, Transjordan is a province . . . this will be for the resettlement of Palestine’s Arabs. This the land problem. . . . Now the [Palestinian] Arabs do not want us because we want to be the rulers. I will fight for this. I will make sure that we will be the landlords of this land . . . . because this country belongs to us not to them . . . “ Revisionist Zionist Vladimir Jabotinsky, in an essay titled The Iron Law (1925) wrote that:
“A voluntary reconciliation with the Arabs is out of the question either now or in the future. If you wish to colonize a land in which people are already living, you must provide a garrison for the land, or find some rich man or benefactor who will provide a garrison on your behalf. Or else-or else, give up your colonization, for without an armed force which will render physically impossible any attempt to destroy or prevent this colonization, colonization is impossible, not difficult, not dangerous, but IMPOSSIBLE!… Zionism is a colonization adventure and therefore it stands or falls by the question of armed force. It is important… to speak Hebrew, but, unfortunately, it is even more important to be able to shoot – or else I am through with playing at colonizing.”
These quotations are merely the tip of the iceberg, but lest you think I am cherry-picking and choosing out of context passages, I invite you to read their original writings. There are only so many mental gymnastics you can perform to try and find a different meaning to “Zionism is a colonization adventure.” One of them is the claim that the Zionists adopted this kind of language only to convince Agenda Packet Page 378 of 494
the great imperial powers. It must have been a pretty convincing act, then, as its practice is still ongoing after over 100 years.

This, of course, is nonsense. It was not a question of rhetoric, but also execution.

The first Zionist bank established was named the ‘Jewish Colonial Trust’ and the whole endeavor was supported by the ‘Palestine Jewish Colonization Association’ and the ‘Jewish Agency Colonization Department’. Such an association was yet to become unpopular or taboo as it is today.

A further problem with the claim that Zionism is merely Jewish self-determination is that it is an intellectually dishonest claim. It is a claim so rife with critical omissions that it cannot but be classified as a lie when the full context is explored.

Let’s try and apply this argument to another prominent settler colonial context:

The colonization of Turtle Island.

When somebody today describes American “Manifest destiny” as settlers seeking a better life for themselves, or claims that the United States was founded on liberty, equality and justice for all, you instantly know that something is amiss.

How could they leave out details such as the genocide of the indigenous nations or slavery from the story?
When they say liberty, equality and justice for all, you ask, liberty for whom? Equality for whom? Justice for whom?
In the American case, the answer was white, male land-owners. Everybody else’s oppression -to different degrees- was necessary to build the privileges and power of this class. But you absolutely cannot glean an accurate understanding of American history without mentioning this foundational and continuing oppression.

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So, when Zionists claim that Zionism is just Jewish self-determination, what are they leaving out of their story?
At what cost was Israel established?
What happened to the society that already existed when the first Zionist settlers arrived?
Is the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the colonization of their lands not worth mentioning in this context?
Furthermore, is it intellectually honest to frame objection to these atrocities as objection to Jewish self-determination as a concept?
Once again, we return to the logic of elimination where this destruction is justified.

When it came to Palestinians, the issue was never with an abstract Jewish self-determination. Everybody should be able to determine their own destiny, but not at the expense of the oppression of others. As a matter of fact, there is ample evidence -recorded by the Zionist pioneers themselves- that the native Palestinian population was welcoming of the first Zionist settlers. They worked side by side, they taught them how to work the land, even when they showed arrogance and saw the natives as inferior. Only after it became clear that these settlers did not come merely to live in Palestine, but to become its landlords as Usishkin said, did resistance to Zionism begin.

Palestine has always been home to countless refugee populations, the idea that the Jewish people fleeing persecution could find a safe home in Palestine was never the issue. The issue is that these ideals of coexistence were never reciprocated by the Zionist movement, who showed disdain towards Palestinians from the very beginning and sought to take over the land. For example, it sanctioned settlers working with Palestinians, even calling Arab labor an “illness” and formed a segregated trade union that banned non-Jewish members.

In 1928, the Palestinian leadership even voted to allow Zionist settlers equal representation in the future bodies of the state, despite them being a minority who had barely just arrived. The Zionist leadership rejected this, of course. Even after this, in 1947 the Palestinians suggested the formation of a unitary state for Agenda Packet Page 380 of 494
all those living between the river and the sea to replace the mandate to no avail.

There were many attempts at co-existence, but this simply would not have benefited the Zionist leadership who never intended to come to Palestine to live as equals.

It is due to this long history that Zionism is facing a legitimacy crisis. It has nothing to do with denying Jewish self-determination, and everything to do with attempting to right historical wrongs. You cannot hope to find solutions if you refuse to even entertain thinking about the root causes.

After all, could it ever be righteous to end a diaspora by causing another one? Further Reading:
● Patrick Wolfe, “Settler Colonialism and the Logic of Elimination of the Native,” Journal of Genocide Research, 8:4, 2006: 387–409. ● Pappé, Ilan. “Shtetl colonialism: First and last impressions of indigeneity by colonised colonisers.” Settler Colonial Studies 2.1, 2012: 39-58.
● Masalha, Nur. “Expulsion of the Palestinians.” Washington, DC:

Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992.
● Pappe, Ilan. A history of modern Palestine: One land, two peoples.

Cambridge University Press, 2004.
● Khalidi, Rashid. Palestinian identity: The construction of modern national consciousness. Columbia University Press, 2010. ● Khalidi, Rashid. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017. Metropolitan Books, 2020.
● Jabotinsky, Vladimir. “The iron wall (we and the Arabs).” Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics, and Foreign Relations, Pre-1948 to the Present, 1923: 41-43.

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Source 2
Attempts to conflate the state of Israel, as well as Zionism, with Judaism has a long and sordid history. Consequently, even the mildest criticisms of Israeli policy can be twisted by bad-faith actors into having racist and even genocidal intent.

There is no doubt that antisemitism has been an incredibly destructive force throughout history, and that the Jewish people have been persecuted and put through pogrom after pogrom, as well as endured attempts at systematic annihilation. This is what makes it more tragic when we see that sometimes this very real history of persecution can be cynically weaponized to legitimize or deny the reality which Palestinians suffer under.

The recent rise to prominence of a distorted and shallow understanding of identity politics has been a boon to this kind of conflation. Suddenly we see Zionism being detached from its material history and presented as an integral part of Jewish identity. This is especially popular in the West, where young Zionists who are raised on propaganda and myths of the Zionist project come to treat it as inseparable from themselves. Here, we see the cynical twisting of social justice language to declare that only Zionists may define what Zionism is -As if it was a subjective phenomenon, with no material reality, founders, history, effects or victims- and that it was an attack on the Jewish people to oppose it or describe it as colonial.

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Questioning the legitimacy of criticism of Israel has a long history shrouded in many ambiguities. For his part, Natan Sharansky came up with a test to distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel and antisemitism. He dubbed this approach the “3D test“. According to this test, the criticisms are evaluated based on the following criteria:
1) Demonization. Which he described as when “Israel’s actions are blown out of all sensible proportion”.

I imagine this point is left vague on purpose. How do we quantify “sensible”? Who is qualified to mete out judgment on what constitutes “sensibility”? For example, most Jewish Israelis don’t even view the West Bank as militarily occupied. Surely what’s sensible to them would go against the norms of international law and the very obvious and very well documented facts on the ground. Note that here the issue becomes not that Israel has not committed these alleged actions, but rather that the response is not to his liking. 2) Double standards. Which he described as Israel being “singled out” or that criticism is “applied selectively”.

The idea that Israel is being singled out and treated differently is ubiquitous.

However, it should be noted that although Israel is one of the world’s leading countries when it comes to violating the Geneva conventions and ignoring UNSC resolutions, it is still afforded a special place among the nations and considered a democratic civilized first world country and has access to special privileges, trade offers and partnerships not available to any other serial violator of human rights.

If Israel is being singled out for anything, it is for its impunity to any real consequences for its violations. Nonetheless, once again, we see that the focus is not on denying the charges against Israel, but rather with quantifying how we should respond to them.
3) Delegitimization. Which he described as questioning “Israel’s fundamental right to exist”.

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To begin with, no state has a “fundamental right to exist”, not Israel nor any other in the world. [You can read more about this here]. But beyond that, what does this mean in practice?
It means that the Palestinians, whose entire society and way of life was destroyed, whose villages were dynamited, whose people were ethnically cleansed, must embrace the state that now exists only due to their suffering.

Could you imagine asking any indigenous nation on Turtle Island whether the United States or Canada have a right to exist? Who would demand that these nations rubber-stamp their own dispossession with approval, and lend it legitimacy?
If we naturalize the idea that nation states are inherently legitimate, and champion the false notion that they have a right to exist anchored in international law, then this restricts our ability to critique any country’s foundations. Suddenly, acknowledging the Zionist ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the attempted ethnocide of the Palestinians people in any meaningful way becomes an infringement upon Israel’s fabled right to exist. I am not speaking of mere empty acknowledgment that functions to signal a superficial settler regret while continuing to profit off the dispossession of the natives, but an acknowledgment that aims to be the first step in righting historical wrongs.

The more you research what constitutes “legitimate” criticism of Israel, the more obvious it becomes that it is a cynical attempt to control the discussion. It really is quite convenient for advocates of Israel, as it diverts attention away from the charges at hand to quibbles about the proper way to criticize Israel. Once again, the speech of colonized peoples is policed and relegated to secondary importance after the comfort of the colonist.

A different, but related argument, claims that by denying the Jewish people the only Jewish state in the world, you are denying them self-determination, which is undoubtedly antisemitic.

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This is quite the intellectually dishonest argument, so rife with critical omissions, that it cannot but be classified as a lie when the full context is taken into account.

Let’s try and apply this argument to another prominent settler colonial context:

The colonization of Turtle Island.

When somebody today describes American “Manifest destiny” as pilgrims seeking a better life for themselves, or claims that the United States was founded on liberty, equality and justice for all, you instantly know that they are omitting crucial elements. How could they possibly leave out details such as the genocide of the indigenous nations or slavery from the story?
When they say liberty, equality and justice for all, you ask, liberty for who? Equality for who? Justice for who?
In the American case, the answer was white male landowners. Everybody else’s oppression -to different degrees- was necessary to build the privileges and power of this class. But you absolutely cannot gain an accurate understanding of American history without mentioning this foundational and continuing oppression.

So, when Zionists claim that living in Israel is just Jewish self-determination, what are they leaving out of their story? At what cost was Israel established? What happened to the society that already existed when the first Zionist settlers arrived? Is the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the colonization of their lands not worth mentioning in this context?
Furthermore, is it intellectually honest to frame an objection to these atrocities as an objection to Jewish self-determination as a concept? When it came to Palestinians, the issue was never with the abstract idea of Jewish self-determination. Everybody should be able to determine their own destiny, but not at the expense of the oppression of others. As a matter of fact, there is ample evidence -recorded by the Zionist pioneers themselves- that the native Palestinian population was welcoming of the first Zionist settlers. They worked side by side, they taught them how to work the land, even when they showed arrogance and saw them as inferior. Only after it became clear that these settlers did not come to live in Palestine, but to become its landlords as Jewish National Fund Chairman Menachem Usishkin said, did resistance to Zionism begin.

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Palestine has always been home to countless refugee populations, and the idea that the Jewish people fleeing persecution could find a safe home in Palestine was never the issue. The issue is that these sentiments were never reciprocated by the Zionist movement, which showed disdain towards Palestinians from the very beginning and sought to take over the land to build an exclusivist ethnic state. For example, it sanctioned settlers employing or working with Palestinians, even calling Arab labor an “illness”.

A further point of content, is that there is no reason that the self-determination of the Jewish people can only be realized through a colonial ethnocracy, sustained purely by the fact that the original inhabitants of land are in refugee camps all over the world. Israelis have long been brought up on the idea that Israel is the only thing keeping them safe, and that there can be no possible alternative other than the state as it currently stands. They are taught that any challenge to this system is tantamount to calling for the mass ethnic cleansing or genocide of Jewish Israelis between the river and the sea, or even worse, the destruction of the Jewish people as a whole.

These anxieties are hardly unique to Jewish Israelis, settlers in many different colonies throughout history have echoed these same sentiments. If we were to take a look at the narrative surrounding anti-Apartheid South Africa activism and boycotts, we would find eerily similar projections and arguments.

For example, in an article for the Globe and Mail under the title “The good side of white South Africa” Kenneth Walker argued that ending the Apartheid system and giving everyone an equal vote would be a “a recipe for slaughter in South Africa”.

Others, such as Shingler, echoed similar claims, saying that anti-racist activists were actually not interested in ending Apartheid as a policy, but in South Africa as a society. Others came out to claim these activists were actually motivated by “anti-white racism”, fueled by “Black imperialism”. Political comics displayed a giant soviet bear, bearing down on South Africa declaring “We shall drive South Africa into the Sea!”
Sound familiar?
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As Fred Moten once said:
“Settlers always think they’re defending themselves. That’s why they build forts on other people’s land. And then they freak out over the fact that they are surrounded. And they’re still surrounded.“
Underlying the logic of both of these assumptions are racist prejudices that the colonized are barbaric, bloodthirsty and ruthless. It is a deeply dehumanizing logic, steeped in every colonial and Orientalist trope. The idea that a free, decolonized Palestine would inevitably lead to genocide comes from this same logic. As a matter of fact, for all the claims of the Palestinians wanting to push Israelis into the sea, only the opposite has occurred in reality [You can read more about this here].

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Palestinians flee from Gaza’s beaches onto boats during the Palestinian Nakba, 1949. (Photo: UNRWA)
Naturally, as with all Israeli talking points, the standards do not apply consistently.

For example, the same people who suggest criticizing Israel is antisemitic often use the incredibly racist and dehumanizing language of “demographic threats” to describe Palestinian children.

Israel is a state, like any other settler state, with policies, an army and a long history of crimes against the natives, and all of that should be open for the harshest of criticism. From the get-go, Israel was intended to be a settler colony [You can read more about this here]. Judaism preceded it, and Judaism will still be there after its inevitable dismantling. Only then can we move forward towards real peace, not as it is currently where the welfare of one people is predicated on the diaspora of another.
● Khalidi, Rashid. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017. Metropolitan Books, 2020.
● Khalidi, Walid, Sharif S. Elmusa, and Muhammad Ali Khalidi. All that remains: The Palestinian villages occupied and depopulated by Israel in 1948. Institution for Palestine Studies, 1992.
● Masalha, Nur. “Expulsion of the Palestinians.” Washington, DC:

Institute for Palestine Studies (1992).
● Pappe, Ilan. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Simon and Schuster, 2007.

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● Shohat, Ella, On the Arab-Jew, Palestine, and Other Displacements, Pluto Press, 2017.

Source 3
From the very onset of Zionist colonialism in Palestine, enormous efforts were undertaken to control the telling of the story. A new grand narrative was created, one which lionized the settlers and demonized the Palestinian natives -that is, if the Palestinians were even acknowledged. Like all foundational mythologies, it was half-baked, contradictory, and twisted the truth to the point of breaking it many times over. Consequently, many misunderstandings surrounding the establishment of Israel are common to this day.

For instance, the myth that the United Nations created Israel is frustratingly widespread. So too is the belief that Israel was established by the world community because of -or even as penance for- the Holocaust. This imbues the creation of Israel with an air of legitimacy, of righting wrongs, and learning from the past. This, of course, is nonsense.

Nearly 80 years before the Holocaust, a group which came to be known as the “Bilu pioneers” came to settle in Palestine. It was comprised of primarily Russian Jewish settlers who viewed their mission in Palestine as a pioneering one towards “the physical upbuilding of the land as contributing toward both a revitalization of the Jewish nation and the reemergence of Jewish masculinity and virility”. While this group predated Zionism as a political movement as we understand it today, it would not be unreasonable to call it proto-Zionist.

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Unsurprisingly, and like all colonialist movements at the time, they had the same condescending and racist attitude towards the Palestinians living there. In a rare moment of reflection, one of the group leaders, Chaim Chissin, wrote the following entry in his diary, after failing to grow any crops:
“Whenever the Arabs told us that it was already too late to sow barley, or that the land was unsuited for it, we never hesitated to tell the ‘barbarians,’ with considerable self assurance, ‘Oh, that doesn’t matter. We’ll plow deep, we’ll turn the soil inside out, we’ll harrow it clean, and then you’ll see what a crop we’ll have!’ We provided ourselves with big plows, sunk them deep into the soil, and cruelly whipped our horses which were cruelly exhausted. Our self-confidence had no limits. We looked down on the Arabs, assuming that it was not they who should teach us, but we who would show these barbarians’ what a European could accomplish on this neglected land with the use of perfect tools and rational methods of cultivation. The only trouble was that we ourselves knew about European methods of cultivation only from hearsay, and our agriculturalist, too, knew very little [about conditions in Palestine].”
The Bilu pioneers would be followed by other groups, such as the Hibbat Zion.

Some would fail and leave, others would remain. However, the shift in the quality and organization of Zionist colonialism would begin in 1897. Convened in the Swiss city of Basel, the first Zionist congress included over 200 delegates from all over Europe. The program of the congress called for establishing a Jewish state in Palestine, and to begin coordinating the settlement of Zionists there. The Zionist congress distinguished itself from previous attempts at settling Palestine by being the first to organize and marshal colonization efforts in a centralized and effective manner.

All of these efforts to colonize Palestine began nearly a century before the Holocaust, and was already picking up steam after the first world war. By the end of the 1800s, Theodor Herzl -the founder of political Zionism- was sending out letters to imperialist powers all over the globe in an attempt to elicit their aid in colonizing Palestine. Perhaps the most infamous is his letter to Cecil Rhodes, arguing that Britain recognized the importance of “colonial expansion”:

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“You are being invited to help make history,” he wrote, “It doesn’t involve Africa, but a piece of Asia Minor; not Englishmen, but Jews. How, then, do I happen to turn to you since this is an out-of-the-way matter for you? How indeed? Because it is something colonial.”
Following from the above, the colonization and ethnic cleansing of Palestine were a precondition for the success of the Zionist movement, and these were being planned long before even the first world war. This was encapsulated by a conversation overheard and documented by Moshe Smilansky in 1891:
“We should go east, into Transjordan. That would be a test for our movement.”
“Nonsense… isn’t there enough land in Judea and Galilee?” “The land in Judea and Galilee is occupied by the Arabs.” “Well, we’ll take it from them.”
“How?” (Silence.)
“A revolutionary doesn’t ask naive questions.”
“Well then, ‘revolutionary,’ tell us how.”
“It is very simple, we’ll harass them until they get out… Let them go to Transjordan.”
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“And are we going to abandon all of Transjordan?” asks an anxious voice. “As soon as we have a big settlement here we’ll seize the land, we’ll become strong, and then we’ll take care of the Left Bank [of the Jordan River], we’ll expel them from there, too. Let them go back to the Arab countries.”
The second problem with this misconception is that it assumes that world powers operate based on a system of morals, or that they can be compelled to “do what is right”. A cursory glance at history would show how misguided an idea this is.

While the French waxed poetic about defeating fascism in the wake of the second world war, they were committing genocide against the people of Algeria.

French intellectuals would write about how the various peoples of the French colonies were better off living under their domination. Since then the “Allies” would prop up tyrannical and bloody regimes the world over to protect their interests. As de Gaulle once famously said, France has no friends, only interests.

This is the context of the establishment of Israel; it was supported by the hegemonic imperialist powers of the time, not because they suddenly grew a conscience, but because it was deemed strategic for their interests. A glimpse at the political landscape today reveals that remarkably little has changed with this arrangement. While Western countries pay lip service to the façade of a “rules based international order”, their actions betray their intentions. Human rights are only as useful as their ability to be instrumentalized to their benefit.

Listening to western diplomatic statements justifying sanctions on Russia, for example, you’d be forgiven for thinking international law was a holy set of commandments, faithfully adhered to as a matter of principal. However, you’ll soon snap out of it when you hear the same diplomats prevaricate and collectively shrug when asked to comment on Israeli annexation of territory, or Agenda Packet Page 392 of 494
the brutal war crimes in Yemen. Germany, which loves to act contrite and endlessly prattles on about how many lessons it learned from its genocidal past, couldn’t even pretend to care that it is supplying nuclear-capable submarines to an Apartheid state, by the admission of the largest human rights organizations in the world.

It is not a coincidence that Israel has always enjoyed the backing of the colonial powers of the world, especially the settler colonies which share similar origin stories, and it is not a coincidence that Israel is basically a client state of the world’s imperialist hegemon. Israel was useful to these powers at the time of its establishment, and it continues to function as an outpost for imperialism in the region today.

The Holocaust was undoubtedly one of the greatest tragedies of modern history, where millions of innocents were murdered in an unspeakably cruel and industrialized manner. Also true is that this was not the reason for the creation of Israel, which had its colonial seeds planted nearly a century prior. It was not remorse that motivated the colonial powers to support Israel, powers which were actively committing genocide against multiple colonized populations. Framing the creation of Israel as repentance for the Holocaust is not only historically inaccurate, but deliberately paints the legitimate rejection of its creation at the expense of the Palestinians as complicity with Nazi genocide. It transfers Europe’s guilt onto Palestinians, where they become the embodiment of everything the grandchildren of fascists claim to despise in their grand quest for (empty, symbolic) redemption. A redemption with the theatrics and loud proclamations of regret and change, but none of the substance. At the end of the day, nothing can justify the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, who share no blame for the barbarity of Europe’s pogroms and genocides.

Palestine has always been home to countless refugee populations; Jewish people fleeing persecution and finding a safe home in Palestine was never the issue. The issue is that these ideals of coexistence were never reciprocated by the Zionist movement, who showed disdain towards Palestinians from the very beginning and sought to take over the land. It sanctioned its own settlers working with Palestinians, even calling Arab labor an “illness” and forming a segregated trade union that banned non-Jewish members.

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In 1928, the Palestinian leadership even voted to allow Zionist settlers equal representation in the future bodies of the state, despite them being a minority who had barely just arrived. The Zionist leadership rejected this, of course. Even after this, in 1947 the Palestinians suggested replacing the Mandate with the formation of a unitary state for all those living between the river and the sea, to no avail. These gestures were brushed aside, as they did not benefit the Zionist leadership who never intended to come to Palestine to live as equals.

For decades Palestinians have been massacred, their homes stolen and destroyed, ethnically cleansed into refugee camps and denied their right of return. The notion that these colonial powers were ever concerned about Jewish safety as they fomented the conditions that made pogroms possible and denied Jewish refugees safety within their own borders is absurd. So too is the idea that Jewish people from all over the world must all live in a singular nation-state in the Middle East where they are a demographic majority to be safe, that the eradication of anti-Semitism around the world is a lost cause, and that whatever violence is wreaked upon Palestinians for the maintenance of this regressive demographics-obsessed state is justifiable.

It would instead behoove us all to question what it really means to make sure that never again can millions be so dehumanized as to make their dispossession and their violent deaths be widely seen as justified. The way that the Israeli government and Israeli society at large legitimize the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the name of this state, which includes but is not limited to calling Palestinians death-loving terrorists incapable of loving their children, brazenly discussing rape as a form of collective punishment, and pontificating the logistics of the mass-transfer of Palestinians to other countries, is in fact laying the groundwork that makes mass extermination feasible.

Western countries who were complicit in the Holocaust and in other genocides against colonized peoples did not and cannot wash their hands of these crimes by backing a racist settler-colonial project. To believe so is to deny the actual historical conditions that made creating the state of Israel possible, and to keep us all further away from a world free of racist colonial oppression and its bloody consequences.

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● Kayyali, Abdul-Wahab. “Zionism and Imperialism: The Historical Origins.” Journal of Palestine Studies 6.3 (1977): 98-112. ● Hughes, Matthew. “From Law and Order to Pacification: Britain’s Suppression of the Arab Revolt in Palestine, 1936––39.” Journal of Palestine Studies 39.2 (2010): 6-22.
● Kamel, Lorenzo. Imperial perceptions of Palestine: British influence and power in late Ottoman times. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015. ● Khalidi, Rashid. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017. Metropolitan Books, 2020.
● Pappe, Ilan. The idea of Israel: A history of power and knowledge.

Verso Books, 2014.

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Source 4
Associating Israel with the label of Apartheid has become ubiquitous as of late; annual events all over the globe such as Israeli Apartheid Week have done much to normalize this coupling. Naturally, advocates for Israel insist that it is all nonsense, indeed how could Israel practice Apartheid when there are “Arab” judges, or members of Knesset? How could anyone accuse Israel of such practices when every citizen is allowed to vote?
Let us delve a little bit deeper into this question and try to come up with an answer.

Firstly, it is important to establish what we mean with Apartheid. There is a widespread misconception that Apartheid refers solely to the case of South Africa. While it’s understandable that people think of South Africa when Apartheid is mentioned, it is critical to recognize that it was merely one manifestation of it, and that there were different regimes with different configurations which upheld the same system.

According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the crime of Apartheid is defined as follows:
“The crime of apartheid” means inhumane acts of a character similar to those referred to in paragraph 1, committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime;”
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There are many inhumane acts listed under paragraph 1, but the most relevant to our case are:
● Deportation or forcible transfer of population.
● Imprisonment and severe deprivation of liberty.
● Persecution based on ethnic, religious or national origins. ● Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.

It is indisputable that Israel practices these acts against Palestinians, inside and outside of the green line. It is also indisputable that as a state built on a colonial ideology that privileges one ethnic group over the rest, its actions are ultimately committed to maintain this system of supremacy.

You will notice that nowhere in this description does it say that if you have a judge from the oppressed minority then it ceases being an Apartheid system. As a matter of fact, Nelson Mandela was a successful lawyer. The counter-argument that there are “Arab” judges or policemen ceases to be convincing when you realize that the system doesn’t need to be a complete carbon copy of South Africa to be counted as Apartheid.

Mentioning that there are “Arab” members of Knesset is also not as powerful a gotcha moment as Israeli advocates believe it to be, simply because there is a precedent of an Apartheid state having parliament members of the oppressed indigenous group. That precedent is Southern Rhodesia. Despite allowing a certain number of black parliamentarians, it was still a racist entity ruled by a white minority, with the very honest declared goal of maintaining itself as a white state.

As you have surely noticed I have been referring to “Arabs” in parenthesis, this is because most Palestinians living within the green line prefer to call themselves Palestinians, not merely Arab. Naturally, this is a threat to the Israeli narrative of the non-existence of Palestinians as a people [You can read more about this here], so even as they tokenize them in an attempt to prove their egalitarianism, they seek to simultaneously erase their actual identity.

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So now that we have established the meaning of Apartheid, and that having a few members of the oppressed group in high profile positions is irrelevant to the definition, we can move onto the next part of our answer.

The argument that Israel does not practice apartheid hinges on one very crucial caveat: that we are distinguishing between Israel and the areas Israel rules. In practice, however, this distinction is functionally meaningless. (Even following this caveat, Israel itself is definitely not a democracy, at best it could be described as an ethnocracy [You can read more about this here]).

In practice, Israel rules everything from the river to the sea, it is the only sovereign power that runs the lives of all who inhabit this area. I know some of you will point to the Palestinian Authority, but in reality, the Palestinian Authority is relegated to the realm of administering occupied territories, without any real power, sovereignty or influence.

For example, the Palestinian Authority can’t even determine who a Palestinian citizen is. The citizen registry for Palestinians is under de facto Israeli control.

Meaning that if a Palestinian marries a non-Palestinian, their spouse will never be able to gain Palestinian citizenship as Israel’s demographic obsessions would not allow for any preventable increase in the Palestinian population. Even Abbas needs to coordinate with the Israeli military to be able to visit other Palestinian cities, cities of a “country” he is supposedly president of.

In a watershed moment, B’Tselem, Israel’s largest human rights group recently released a report officially calling Israeli practices Apartheid, it argues that:
“Although there is demographic parity between the two peoples living here, life is managed so that only one half enjoy the vast majority of political power, land resources, rights, freedoms and protections. It is quite a feat to maintain such disfranchisement. Even more so, to successfully market it as a democracy (inside the “green line” – the 1949 armistice line), one to which a Agenda Packet Page 398 of 494
temporary occupation is attached. In fact, one government rules everyone and everything between the river and the sea, following the same organising principle everywhere under its control, working to advance and perpetuate the supremacy of one group of people – Jews – over another – Palestinians. This is apartheid.”
They continued:
“There is not a single square inch in the territory Israel controls where a Palestinian and a Jew are equal. The only first-class people here are Jewish citizens such as myself, and we enjoy this status both inside the 1967 lines and beyond them, in the West Bank. Separated by the different personal statuses allotted to them, and by the many variations of inferiority Israel subjects them to, Palestinians living under Israel’s rule are united by all being unequal.”
Indeed, the green line has long been invisible to Israelis, and Israel treats the settlements as parts of its own state. Why should we pretend otherwise? Why pretend that we’re talking about two governing bodies when the Palestinian Authority is a glorified bantustan administrator with no say about anything? This is by design, not by chance. Israel has been very conscious with how it approached its colonization project in the West Bank, in 1972 Ariel Sharon proclaimed that:
“We’ll make a pastrami sandwich out of them. We’ll insert a strip of Jewish settlements in between the Palestinians, and then another strip of Jewish settlements right across the West Bank, so that in twenty five years’ time, neither the United Nations nor the United States, nobody, will be able to tear it apart.”
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Even more recently, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have also officially designated Israeli behavior as constituting Apartheid. We promise they won’t be the last human rights organization to do so.

It is about time we stopped pretending that there ever was a hope for two states, or that we aren’t already living under a de facto one state from the river to the sea, with varying tiers of rights and privileges bestowed upon you based on where you come from and your ethnicity.

When a Jewish settler attacks a Palestinian and is tried in a civil court, while those protesting the attack are tried in a military court, that practice is Apartheid, and no appeals to the contrary can change that. Pretending that this occupation is temporary has long been delusional, but has now crossed the line into intellectual dishonesty. If we are to have any hope for a way forward then we must call things as they are. We do not have the privilege of wasting another 25 years pretending to live in an alternate reality.

Finally, it should be stressed that calling Israeli policy Apartheid does not mean that the Palestinian question is not a settler-colonial context, nor does it imply that the solution lies in a civil rights movement for equality or the mere incorporation of the West Bank or Gaza Strip into the Israeli state. The Palestinian cause is a cause for decolonization and freedom, not for acquiring privileges in a colonial state. Consequently, we argue that the term Apartheid is not a sufficient descriptor for the status quo, but merely one of the many crimes committed by Israel. After all, even if Israel stopped practicing Apartheid, without true decolonization and the right of return, the Palestinian struggle for liberation would be incomplete.
● Farsakh, Leila. “Independence, cantons, or bantustans: Whither the Palestinian state?.” The Middle East Journal 59.2 (2005): 230-245.

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● Bakan, Abigail B., and Yasmeen Abu-Laban. “Israel/Palestine, South Africa and the ‘one-state solution’: the case for an apartheid analysis.” Politikon 37.2-3 (2010): 331-351.
● Yiftachel, Oren. Ethnocracy: Land and identity politics in Israel/Palestine. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. ● Tilley, Virginia Beyond occupation: apartheid, colonialism and international law in the occupied Palestinian territories. Pluto Press, London, London, 2012.
● El Ad, Hagai. We are Israel’s largest human rights group – and we are calling this apartheid, The Guardian. January 12th, 2021. ● Tilley, Virginia. The one-state solution: A breakthrough for peace in the Israeli-Palestinian deadlock. University of Michigan Press, 2010. ● Abunimah, Ali. One country: A bold proposal to end the Israeli-Palestinian impasse. Macmillan, 2006.
● UN General Assembly, Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (last amended 2010), 17 July 1998, ISBN No. 92-9227-227-6 Agenda Packet Page 401 of 494
Source 5
The electoral defeat of Benjamin Netanyahu has been the cause of many a celebration. This was especially the case among supporters of Israel who still believe themselves to be liberals or progressives. Finally! King Bibi was dethroned, after more than a decade in office. Maybe now Israel can return to its original values -the values that Netanyahu supposedly betrayed.

Over the years we have heard time and time again how Netanyahu was an “aberration” from Israel’s alleged democratic and progressive core. Thus, Netanyahu became a bit of a convenient scapegoat upon which Israel’s sins could be piled. This is a familiar tactic that is often employed by the Zionist left, where they have created a mythological version of Israeli history before “things went wrong”. This mythology is fluid and ever-changing, adapting to any current narrative with the purpose of absolving Israel from all wrongdoing. The occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in 1967 is often invoked in this context [You can read more about this here].

Suddenly, the defenders of the “only democracy in the Middle East” were beseeching people not to lump in the people of Israel with their democratically elected representatives. As if that government formed itself and Netanyahu wasn’t elected as Prime Minister multiple times. It appears that the propaganda of appealing to Israeli democracy is only so useful until the time comes for any kind of collective responsibility.

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For the liberal Zionist, combatting the perceived loss of Israeli morality and legitimacy worldwide is paramount. After all, it is becoming increasingly difficult to defend Israel and still be accepted in progressive circles. This is not a uniquely Israeli trait, as we saw a similar phenomenon upon the election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States. Liberals all over the country bemoaned how Trump’s actions were “un-American”, and were eroding the United States’ moral standing, completely ignoring how Trump was a symptom rather than a root cause of racism and reactionary politics in the U.S. They too, mistakenly believed that removing Trump would solve these issues.

As in the U.S, in Israel Netanyahu was also a symptom, and a deeply racist, ethno-nationalist settler society has always been the root cause.

Like all settler societies, Israeli society depends on the dispossession of the natives to exist. Consequently, extreme dehumanization of Palestinians is necessary to justify the war crimes frequently committed; after all, if Israelis viewed Palestinians as equally human, they wouldn’t be able to so easily brush aside the systems of oppression and domination they benefit from.

Decades of brainwashing and incitement against the native Palestinians are evident in the daily attitudes of the Jewish Israeli population. We’re not even talking about Palestinians in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, but the Palestinians they refer to as “Arabs” who hold the same citizenship, and who are frequently tokenized to prove how egalitarian and democratic Israel is. For instance, 79% of Jewish Israelis believe they should get preferential treatment over “Arabs”. Half of Jewish Israelis believe that “Arabs” should be completely ethnically cleansed.

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None of these sentiments are new, as an older poll from 2007 found that 75% of Jewish Israelis didn’t approve of living in the same apartment building with “Arabs”. Over a half of them considered marrying an “Arab” to be national treason. 55% were for open segregation, keeping ethnicities apart in entertainment sites. Half of Jewish Israelis wanted their government to encourage “Arabs” to emigrate, and a large portion (40%) wanted “Arab” voting rights revoked. Clearly, these racist views have only grown.

These attitudes are also intergenerational, and cut across ideology and demographics. Nearly two thirds of Jewish Israeli teenagers believe that “Arabs” are less intelligent, less cultured, and violent. This was during Ehud Olmert’s tenure as Prime Minister, and before Netanyahu’s long reign. Since then, these attitudes have remained, as today approximately half of the religious, and a quarter of secular Jewish teenagers in Israel are in favor or stripping “Arabs” of their nationality.

One of the most popular Israeli football teams, Beitar Jerusalem, is renowned for its racist slogans, chanting “may your village be burned” whenever going up against a team with any “Arab” players.

As you have surely noticed, we have been referring to “Arabs” in parenthesis; this is because most Palestinians living within the green line see themselves as Palestinian Arabs, not merely as Arabs. Naturally, this is a threat to the Israeli narrative of the non-existence of Palestinians as a people [You can read more about this here]. Even as they are tokenized in international Israeli propaganda efforts, their actual identity is denied and erased.

None of these attitudes were created by Netanyahu, and none of them are unintentional or isolated phenomena. As mentioned earlier, they are part and parcel of Israel as a settler colony. Naturally, a colonial society will also produce a colonial “left”, and even a colonial “peace” movement. This was exemplified by Yitzhak Rabin, who many Israelis consider to be a dove and peace-maker. The issue, of course, is that Rabin was a notorious war criminal responsible for many Agenda Packet Page 404 of 494
atrocities against Palestinians. One of them was the policy of breaking the bones of any Palestinian arrested during the first Intifada, and another was signing the order for the ethnic cleansing of Lydda and starting the infamous Lydda death march.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from their homes in Lydda, and forced to march to Ramallah in a single file. No water or aid was given, and hundreds died on the way. Chilling testimonies from the survivors evoke genocidal massacres committed by imperialist forces all over the globe:
“While marching in the blazing heat, he [Shammut] spotted some water. He rushed to fill a pot he was carrying. He later recalled: “At that moment, a jeep pulled up with three people. One of them, a Zionist officer, got out. He pulled a gun and put it to my head and ordered me to put the water down.” The Arab teenager had no choice but to obey. Ismail would never forget the thirst of the thousands of people who trudged on, not knowing where they were going. He saw people chewing grass in the hope of obtaining a bit of moisture. Others drank their children’s urine. By the roadside pregnant women were prematurely delivering babies, their labour brought on by the strain of their ordeal. None of these infants survived. Since no one had any opportunity to bury the dead, they were covered with grass and abandoned. Eventually Ismail managed to get some water out of sight of the Israeli soldiers. Although the water was dirty and obviously polluted he drank some while soaking his clothes in the reddish liquid.

As Ismail attempted to return to his family, people followed him hoping to get a few drops of the precious fluid. One woman sucked at his moist shirt.” Even this supposed “dove” never agreed to the establishment of a Palestinian state, but a “state-minus” with no real sovereignty [you can read more about this here]. Ultimately, the debate on the “peace” process in Israeli society was not a Agenda Packet Page 405 of 494
disagreement over the subjugation of Palestinians, but over what form it would take. Even this was considered a step too far, and Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli, with his supporters often referred to as “leftist traitors”.

At the time of writing, although the new Israeli government has barely been sworn in, there is unsurprisingly no indication that this government will be any better for Palestinians. If there is one consensus in Israeli society and politics, it is that Palestinians must be crushed.

During the election period, the oft-touted Benny Gantz, who was seen as the alternative to Netanyahu, campaigned on the promise of annexing more Palestinian land, and being more belligerent towards Gaza. Gantz, who was at the helm of Israel’s 2014 butchery in Gaza, was seen as a center left politician in Israel. That should tell you all you need to know about how fascist the Israeli political climate is.

The new Prime Minister, Naftali Bennet, is known for his ultra-nationalist and ultra-right wing racism and violence. He openly talks about never allowing a Palestinian state, and calls for the annexation of most of the West Bank and removing the Palestinians living there. Ayelet Shaked, the current Minister of Interior, is infamous for her racist and genocidal rants against Palestinians. She once described Palestinian children as “little snakes” and called for killing the mothers that gave birth to them. But since this is Israeli society we’re talking about, this only made her more popular instead of ending her career.

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To record every racist statement of every Israeli politician would be to record the history of the Israeli state. But since our time on this earth is finite, we will spare you from listing more examples.

Similar to blaming the occupation of 1967 for the state of Israeli politics today, invoking Netanyahu as a scapegoat serves to assuage liberal Zionist guilt about openly supporting Israel. Regardless of how loud they protest, Israel is increasingly being identified with reactionary and fascist movements all over the world- and for good reason. With every war crime committed, support for Israel becomes more of a taboo in progressive circles. Claiming that Israel has merely “lost its way” with Netanyahu is a coping mechanism to keep pretending that this is a temporary state of affairs, that Israel at its core is good, and thus worthy of continuous support.

By focusing their criticism on individuals rather than on systems, the liberal Zionist is spared from having to consider their complicity in the destruction of Palestinian society. They are spared from having to think about what the establishment of Israel meant for the natives living there. They invoke a mythical past version of Israel that never existed as proof that things can “go back to normal” once Netanyahu is removed, sometimes even sparing a few words for the plight of Palestinians. This past iteration of the Israeli state might have been more conscious about how it presented its settler-colonialism worldwide, and was thus easier to defend; however, for Palestinians there has been little distinction between the different Israeli governments.

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There has never been an Israeli government not littered with war criminals. There has never been an Israeli government that has not perpetrated crimes against humanity. As a settler-colonial ethno-state, Israel is inherently oppressive for Palestinians. This was true before Netanyahu, and will be true after Netanyahu. It is time that people moved past their denial and honestly and critically reflect on this.
● Khalidi, Rashid. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017. Metropolitan Books, 2020.
● Masalha, Nur. A land without a people: Israel, transfer and the Palestinians 1949-96. Faber and Faber, 1997.
● Sayegh, Fayez Abdullah. Zionist colonialism in Palestine. Vol. 1.

Beirut, Lebanon: Research Center, Palestine Liberation Organization, 1965.
● Salaita, Steven. Israel’s dead soul. Temple University Press, 2011. ● Honig-Parnass, Tikva. The False Prophets of Peace: Liberal Zionism and the Struggle for Palestine. Haymarket Books, 2011.

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Source 6
From the onset of Zionist settler colonialism, the settlers always worked hard to distinguish themselves from the natives. Naturally, this included areas such as technology, where the Palestinians were framed as backwards and uncivilized, the complete antithesis to the civilized European colonist. Another crucial point of differentiation was in the realm of morality. Palestinians, according to the settlers, were short-sighted, scheming and untrustworthy, and therefore not fit to have a land of their own.

An extension of this moral superiority, is the claim that the colonists only resorted to warfare to defend themselves, unlike the warlike Arabs who thirsted for conquest. This gave birth to myths such as “purity of arms” and the laughable assertion that Israel has always sought peace [You can read more about this here].

This can even be seen in the name chosen for their military: “the Israel Defense Forces”. Funnily enough, this is the exact same tactic and moniker adopted by the Apartheid South African military which also referred to itself as the “South African Defense Force”. This rhetoric animates much of the political culture of Israel and its defenders and serves multiple purposes.

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Framing is important. Being able to dictate the narrative, to be given the freedom to explain events in a way sympathetic to your worldview can be an incredibly powerful tool. As many studies have shown, there has been an empirically proven bias towards the Zionist and Israeli narrative in US media. This means that Israelis have had enormous advantages in framing what is happening in Palestine.

Palestinian Author Mourid Barghouti wrote:
“It is easy to blur the truth with a simple linguistic trick: start your story from “Secondly.” […] Start your story with “Secondly,” and the world will be turned upside-down. Start your story with “Secondly,” and the arrows of the native Americans are the original criminals and the guns of the white men are entirely the victim. It is enough to start with “Secondly,” for the anger of the Black man against the white to be barbarous.”
He continues:
“You only need to start your story with “Secondly,” and the burned Vietnamese will have wounded the humanity of the napalm, and Victor Jara’s songs will be the shameful thing and not Pinochet’s bullets, which killed so many thousands in the Santiago stadium. It is enough to start the story with “Secondly,” for my grandmother, Umm ‘Ata, to become the criminal and Ariel Sharon her victim.” The selective “telling” of the story, is exactly what Israel aims to achieve by framing all its military operations as “self-defense”. Invoking self-defense shifts the conversation from Israeli settler colonialism, and focuses it on any reactions Agenda Packet Page 410 of 494
to said colonialism. It compartmentalizes current events into separate decontextualized “escalations” that Israel must “handle”. This is done to avoid situating anything into its proper historical context.

If you limit the scope of the story and begin it with Hamas’ rockets, suddenly they become the aggressors. What gets swept under the rug is the entire history of Zionist settler colonialism -which predates every Palestinian faction existing today- or how the Gaza Strip was created, why there are millions of refugees, and why they are prevented from going home or from having the most fundamental of human rights. Even Hamas’ Arabic acronym translates into “The Islamic Resistance Movement”, which should clue you that it was formed as a reaction to resist something. Stripping this information from the story completely changes its conclusions.

This rhetorical method has been applied to even the most ludicrous scenarios, such as framing a sneak attack on Egypt in 1967 as a “preemptive defensive strike” [You can read more about this here]. Because no matter what Israel does, it always argues that it is purely for defensive reasons.

The whole situation is quite ridiculous when you think about it.

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Settler colonialism by its very definition necessitates violence and oppression.

They are so constant that they seep into every facet of life for the colonized.

There are no periods of “calm” or “normalcy” for the Palestinians. Take the average Palestinian living in Gaza, for example. They are a refugee who had their family ethnically cleansed simply because they were not Jewish, and would thus be an inconvenient “demographic threat” to Israeli ethnocracy. This person has the right, by any means possible, to try and reclaim their stolen rights. That cannot under any possible scenario be construed as aggression which could warrant “self-defense”. Even more, Israel wants to reserve the “right” to occupy Palestinians, torment them, besiege them, ethnically cleanse them and steal their land, homes and livelihoods and claim self-defense against any push-back to this oppression.

It boggles the mind that we have people demanding that the colonized and militarily occupied population must guarantee the safety of their oppressors and tormentors. It is akin to a mugger claiming self-defense when their victim fights back against their mugging.

This is hardly unique to Zionism and Israel; colonial forces throughout history have always sought to frame their racist colonialist expansionism as “self-defense” or as acts of mere “self-preservation”.

Thomas Jefferson even argued against abolishing slavery using this exact same logic, citing “self-preservation” as the reason why this barbaric practice must continue. Imagine the audacity of arguing that the slave masters were acting in self-defense against their slaves.

Naturally, this example is not meant to equate the oppression between the victims of slavery on Turtle Island and those of Israeli colonialism, but to highlight Agenda Packet Page 412 of 494
the ridiculous ways in which reactionary forces consistently frame their aggression as self-defense.

Israel has a long history of arguing about its dubious “rights”.

An infamous example is its “right to exist” which has no basis in international law, nor does it have any practical meaning [You can read more about this here]. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Israel’s legal claims have always gone hand in hand with masking its colonial expansionist agenda. After all, Israel still claims that the West Bank and Gaza strip are unoccupied, even with its troops, siege, settlements and military bases; their argument is that for an occupation to exist, a territory must be part of a sovereign state, which the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were not. This same justification is used to argue that the Geneva conventions, and international and humanitarian law in general, don’t apply to Palestinians. Of course, this argument was never accepted by the international community, which still maintains that these areas are occupied.

Long story short, Israeli legal claims should be taken with a mountain of salt.

However, due to the long-standing refusal of said international community to hold Israel accountable, Palestinians have become jaded by international law.

Decades of advisory opinions and resolutions have gone ignored by Israel and the international community, even as Israel’s violations have become more brazen. Were international law be actually applied, Israel’s “right” to self-defense wouldn’t pass muster.

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The major flaw with Israel’s claims is that quite simply no legal right can be derived from an illegal act. What are the illegal acts in question? ● Israel’s foundation and actions are predicated on denying the Palestinian people the right to self-determination. Peoples the world over have this right, and according to international law, an occupying power cannot suppress any insurrection or resistance which is struggling to gain self-determination.
● Israel’s occupation of Palestine has crossed into a permanent occupation, whereas Israel has created permanent new facts on the ground, such as the illegal transfer of its settler population into the occupied areas.

Basically, Israel’s actions are illegal to begin with, and therefore it cannot claim any right to “defend” these actions.

It should be noted that resistance or insurrection here does not necessarily mean “peaceful” or “popular” resistance, but includes all means possible.

United Nations resolution 37/43:
“Reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle”.

It continues:

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“Reaffirms the inalienable right of the Namibian people, the Palestinian people and all peoples under foreign and colonial domination to self-determination, national independence, territorial integrity, national unity and sovereignty without outside interference”.

Even if such a right was not enshrined in international law, Palestinians have a moral right to rid themselves of domination and oppression.

Regardless of what type of resistance Palestinians choose, they will be designated as terrorist aggressors anyway. When Israel seized private Palestinian land to expand an illegal settlement, Palestinians responded by erecting a small encampment called Bab al-Shams on it as a peaceful demonstration against this action. Naturally, they were accused of practicing “construction terrorism” by Israelis and promptly beat, repressed, arrested and removed from the land. When Palestinians started preparing a case against Israel in the International Criminal Court, they were accused of practicing “legal terrorism“. Palestinian prisoner hunger strikes are described as “Terrorism in Prison”. None of this would qualify as terrorism from an international law perspective; however, Israel uses this designation indiscriminately to demonize and ostracize any kind of Palestinian resistance, no matter what it looks like, while simultaneously claiming its monstrous repression as defensive. There must be consistent and principled pushback against the ludicrous claim of Israeli “self-defense”. It is the Palestinians who are defending themselves against settler-colonial, ethnonationalist aggression, and who surely need the support more than an imperialist backed nuclear state.

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● Massad, Joseph. Israel’s right to defend itself. Electronic Intifada.

January 19th, 2009. [Link]
● Finkelstein, Norman. Gaza: An inquest into its martyrdom. University of California Press, 2018.
● Finkelstein, Norman, Stern Weiner, Jamie. Israel Has No Right of Self-Defense Against Gaza. Jacobin. July 27th, 2018. [Link] ● Erakat, Noura: No, Israel Does Not Have the Right to Self-Defense In International Law Against Occupied Palestinian Territory. Jadaliyya.

July 11th, 2014. [Link]
● Gathara, Patrick. The fallacy of the colonial ‘right to self-defence’.

Al-Jazeera. May 16th, 2021. [Link]
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Source 7
When you’re a serial violator of human rights and international law, it becomes imperative to try and cover up your atrocities as much as possible. This is especially the case when a cornerstone of your propaganda strategy revolves around projecting an image of morality and civilization.

In the light of the spread of smart phones and the ability of any bystander to document the systemic abuse of Israeli forces, Hasbara efforts had to similarly evolve to counter this new form of evidence. In the past, it was easier to dispel accusations by simply denying them, claiming that Palestinians were incapable of being objective, and that these accusations only aimed to delegitimize Israel.

This was even the mainstream view of the Nakba, where the Palestinian narrative was dismissed in the West only to be indisputably confirmed by declassified Israeli war archives [You can read more about this here].

Following a similar logic, advocates of Israel developed the incredibly racist concept of “Pallywood” to shed doubt on any photographic or video evidence of Israeli violations. According to this talking point, Palestinians produce fake media to demonize Israel. This could range from hiring crisis actors, to doctoring footage and editing it in a dishonest way that misrepresents reality.

The appeal of this to Israelis is clear, not only does it clear Israel from any wrong-doing that is caught on camera, it also frames Palestinians as untrustworthy schemers without integrity, hell-bent on making Israel look bad at Agenda Packet Page 417 of 494
any cost. This means that any photographic or video evidence, no matter how clear or concise, could ever be proof of Israeli violations.

This concept became popular among defenders of Israel in the second Intifada.

Perhaps the most emblematic usage of this smear was in response to the murder of Muhammad al Durra, who was killed by Israeli gunfire during clashes between Palestinian resistance fighters and the IDF. Although many Palestinian children died during this week, what separated the case of Muhammad al Durra was that he died in his father’s arms, and more importantly, that it was caught on camera.

Naturally, the first reactions from Israel was to claim that either the child is not dead, and that he was merely a crisis actor, or that if he died, he was actually killed by Palestinian gunfire to make Israel look bad. The video has been dissected and studied to exhaustion, with known conspiracy theorists such as Nahum Shahaf, coming up with “evidence” that debunks the video. Some of the ridiculously insulting “evidence” is the allegation that Al-Durra did not bleed when shot, but was holding a red piece of cloth to make it look like blood for the cameras. Needless to say, that the child was buried and his father is still traumatized to this day are inconvenient truths that are not addressed.

But as usual, the goal of propaganda is never to reach the truth. The goal of this talking point is to contest any kind of evidence against Israeli violations. That’s all it needs. Because in the minds of many, if a case is contested then it is not settled. It doesn’t even matter if this contestation is illogical or implausible, all it needs to do is exist for them to discard the whole case and pretend that Israel was vindicated. This has been the go-to approach of Israeli hasbara whenever an inconvenient video or photo surfaces.

However, no matter how you look at it, these claims about Al-Durra are quite ridiculous. Either the former child is alive in hiding, with absolutely no evidence at all for the last 20 years, with his entire family still living the charade, not to mention the buried body. Or the other implication, is that Palestinians killed one Agenda Packet Page 418 of 494
of their own children just to make Israel look bad. Both of these scenarios are incredibly absurd and racist.

To suggest that Palestinians would murder an innocent child of their own just so that they could have some incriminating footage on Israel is immensely dehumanizing. Yet, this view is not so fringe in Israel. During Israel’s bloody 2014 assault on Gaza, Netanyahu addressed those raising concerns about the high number of murdered innocent civilians by claiming that:
“They want to pile up as many civilian dead as they can. They use telegenically dead Palestinians for their cause. They want the more dead, the better.”
Telegenically dead.

That’s all Palestinians were good for. In typical colonist fashion, they cannot even begin to comprehend the humanity of the colonized. Even in their death, the center of attention must remain on the settlers. To the settlers, the colonized do not have dreams or ambitions, they have no loved ones or family. They exist only as an undifferentiated monolith solely to make their lives more difficult.

Another case which demonstrates the intellectual dishonesty of this talking point is the case of Nadeem Nuwarra. In 2014, and during the annual Nakba day protests marking the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, Nadim Nuwarra and Mohammad Salameh were both shot and killed by Israeli forces in front of the Ofer military prison in Beitunia.

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They were unarmed and far away from anything that could possibly be constituted as a risk to the soldiers, they were killed with live ammunition, and one of them was even shot in the back while walking away from the soldiers.

They were standing over 90 meters away from the soldiers, for reference, that’s close to the length of a professional football field.

What followed, was the typical song and dance that the IDF performed every time it is accused of war crimes and human rights violations against Palestinians.

First, they denied that there was any use of live ammunition. The soldiers were only supposed to be firing rubber bullets. This was “corroborated” by an internal “investigation” that concurred that no live ammunition was used. Second, they claimed that these two teenagers were shot by the soldiers in self-defense, as they were partaking in violent attacks against the soldiers who felt threatened.

But before that, the idea was floated that they were actually killed by Palestinians who were firing at the IDF and killed them by mistake. The IDF changing its story multiple times is a staple of its damage control modus operandi.

Then the videos began to surface. Taken from multiple CCTV cameras in the vicinity, they showed that the teens were standing far away and were shot while they indisputably could not have been posing any threat, debunking the entire defense the IDF had been running with prior.

Naturally, this is where the smear of “Pallywood” reared its ugly head once again.

The videos, they alleged, were faked and doctored. They were simply created to defame Israel and its army. As a matter of fact, Micahel Oren, former Israeli diplomat, claimed that the shot teens were actually Palestinian crisis actors, and baselessly claimed that nobody even died in the first place.

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“That film was edited and does not reflect the reality of the day in question, the violence,”
claimed Major Arye Shalicar, an IDF spokesperson. Moshe Ya’lon, even though he admit that he had not watched the film yet, was sure it was edited:
“but I’ve seen lots of films that were edited [to distort what had happened].

This film I’ve not yet seen, but I know the system.”
Israeli Channel 2’s military correspondent Roni Daniel claimed that the film was a fake. To try and prove this, he quibbled about the position of hands of the teens being shot, and how it did not appear consistent with being shot.

Pro-Israel media “watchdog” Camera also claimed that something was amiss with the Palestinian story about what happened. Johnathan Tobin even claimed it was a blood libel akin to the case of Mohammed al Durra. In a Facebook post, Danny Ayalon also claimed that the video was fabricated.

These accusations and more were hurled at the victims. Shortly after, the spent bloody bullet was found in Nuwarra’s backpack, it had landed there after it exited his body. Of course, Israel claimed it was planted there and not real. To challenge this, the family exhumed the body of their murdered child and had an autopsy confirm that indeed, the bullet wounds were consistent with this kind of live ammunition. However, the final nail in the coffin of Israeli lies, was when new footage from CNN surfaced, showing the soldier clearly shooting in the direction of Nuwarra at the same time of death.

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Of course, none of these sources ever apologized for the disgusting dehumanization of the victims, or their claims of manufactured Palestinian suffering.

The false accusations of doctored footage are also quite a clear case of projection on the part of Israel. For example, Razan al Najjar was a volunteer nurse who was shot tending to the wounded during the Gaza protests of 2018, even though she posed no danger. The IDF began its usual mantra of denials, and even released an edited video to try and defame Al-Najjar and make it seem that she was being used as a human shield. This backfired when the full video was released that made no such claim. The whole issue was buried under the IDF’s “internal investigation” to this day.

Time and time again, these smears are shown to be false. There was even an attempt to frame a “die-in” protest in Cairo as a case of Palestinians in Gaza faking being dead. Is this not exactly what advocates of Israel claim Pallywood is? However, once again, it doesn’t matter. Because as I said, as far as propaganda goes, for many it’s enough to contest a video to discard it completely. Then they can go back to believing in the myth of the righteous Israeli state that never does wrong as opposed to the lying, bloodthirsty, backwards Palestinian who would do anything to harm it.

There will never be a form of evidence put forward by Palestinians, or any other group, that will not be defamed and attacked. This is not a uniquely Israeli trait.

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Oppressive systems have always accused the oppressed of exaggerating or lying about their lived experience.

In these particularly egregious cases, what propagandists are asking of you is to believe them over your own eyes, hearts, minds and historical precedents. ● Aouragh, Miriyam. “Hasbara 2.0: Israel’s public diplomacy in the digital age.” Middle East Critique 25.3, 2016: 271-297. ● Wang, Kuan-Yun. “Illegally Blonde: The Racialisation of Blondness and Visual Representations of Palestinian Activist Ahed Tamimi in American and Canadian Media.” Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies 19.1, 2020: 15-36.
● Roth-Rowland, Natasha. Why the ‘Pallywood’ myth endures. +972 Magazine. October 15th, 2020.
● Herman, Edward S., and Noam Chomsky. Manufacturing consent: The political economy of the mass media. Random House, 2010.

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Source 8
If you follow the news on Palestine, especially during the periods of Israel’s assaults on Gaza, then you have undoubtedly come across the narrative being pushed by the Israeli government that the high civilian death toll in Gaza was due to Palestinian citizens being used as human shields. This talking point has long been a main staple of Israeli hasbara whenever Palestinians bring up the high number of murdered civilians.

These accusations are expedient, as they achieve two propaganda wins in one fell swoop. The first is the dehumanization of their target. Indeed, this is especially effective when the accusations are of using women and children as human shields. The message implied here is that only uncivilized and barbaric peoples would purposefully put their vulnerable in harm’s way. This automatically reinforces the position and narrative of the accuser by placing them on a higher moral ground. This accusation becomes harder to dispute if the target population had already been historically demonized.

Second, this accusation retroactively justifies the large amount of civilian deaths caused by the accuser, and lays the foundation for the justification of similar deaths in the future. In this scenario, the victimized people become culpable for their own deaths, and the responsibility is shifted away from the perpetrator of the deadly violence.

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Due to the perceived effectiveness of such accusations, they have been weaponized by many forces throughout history. We can see such accusations being employed in other contexts, such as in India and Egypt in order to demonize protestors and blame them for their own repression.

So now that we understand the value of such an accusation to those in power, is there any truth to the Israeli claims against Hamas and Palestinians in general? Despite how ubiquitous this accusation is, there is actually scant evidence to corroborate it.

If the use of human shields was so wide as to cause hundreds upon hundreds of dead Palestinian civilians, then surely there would be a reporter or an observer on the ground that could have caught a whiff of it. But reporters on the ground could find no trace of such a supposedly widespread action, Jeremy Bowen of the BBC wrote that he found no evidence of the use of human shields while he was covering the assault on Gaza. Similarly, Kim Sengupta writing for the Belfast Telegraph interviewed Palestinians in Gaza and unsurprisingly came to a similar conclusion: Hamas was not forcing anybody to be a human shield, counter to Netanyahu’s claims.

But perhaps these reporters were missing something, let us consult an organization which specializes in these matters. Fortunately for us, Amnesty international released a detailed report of its investigation into the matter. In their report they indicate that:

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“The Israeli authorities have claimed that in a few incidents, the Hamas authorities or Palestinian fighters directed or physically coerced individual civilians in specific locations to shield combatants or military objectives.

Amnesty International has not been able to corroborate the facts in any of these cases.”
So, it seems that the Israeli claims have no basis in reality, and are just a way to demonize Palestinians and legitimize their indiscriminate bombardment of civilians. This is hardly the first time Israel has used this accusation to delegitimize their enemies. For example, in the 2006 war against Lebanon Israel accused Hizballah of using human shields. Unsurprisingly, investigations by both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch similarly found no evidence.

The same accusations were also hurled at Palestinians during the great march of return when Israeli snipers killed Palestinian nurse Razan Al-Najjar while she was tending to the injured. Naturally, no evidence was provided other than a clearly doctored video in an attempt to defame her.

Fortunately, these investigations into the supposed Palestinian use of human shields tend to backfire on Israel, and have historically produced a wealth of literature showing how often Israel targets civilians far removed from any combat context. Amnesty International reported that
“In the cases of precision missiles or tank shells which killed civilians in their homes, no fighters were present in the houses that were struck and Amnesty International delegates found no indication that there had been any armed confrontations or other military activity in the immediate vicinity at the time of the attack.”
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This is not in error, and is in fact by design. The destruction of non-military infrastructure and incurring massive losses in civilians is a deliberate policy followed by the IDF. This policy has come to be known as the Dahiya doctrine, where it was first practiced in the Dahiya area of Beirut.

Gadi Eizenkot was quoted as saying that:
“We will apply disproportionate force on it (village) and cause great damage and destruction there. From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases.”
This is a direct admission that Israel sees civilian areas as military targets, now the only thing that remained was finding a way to justify it. This is where the human shields accusation comes in. And in the end when the war is over, the fact that no evidence is ever presented, or that various organizations exonerate the accused is forgotten, and the smears remain, and contribute to justify the same inhumane actions in any future conflagration.

Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of this accusation is that it is a case of pure projection on part of Israel. Israel has been notorious in its use of Palestinians as human shields. As a matter of fact, many of these same reports investigating the Palestinian use of human shields found that it was actually Israel that was using Palestinians as human shields. For example, they would force Palestinian Agenda Packet Page 427 of 494
civilians to check houses for traps, or handle suspicious objects, or tie them to military vehicles to discourage stone throwing.

Even a simple search reveals hundreds of cases of Palestinians being used as human shields. This is not a case of a few bad apples, but of rampant and widespread behavior. In fact, using Palestinians as human shields was so popular that when the Israeli high court attempted to outlaw the practice the IDF actually appealed to have the decision reversed.

I would further argue that not only does Israel use Palestinians as human shields, but also its own population when it uses them to settle and colonize areas beyond the green line. They are directly put in danger as a sacrifice to Israel’s expansionist colonial designs, which they can then blame on Palestinians to further accelerate this same project.

So not only is the Palestinian use of human shields a myth lacking any evidence, it is in fact Israel who is infamous for using human shields in its oppression of the Palestinians. Examples of this are incredibly easy to find even with the most rudimentary of research. Like much Israeli propaganda, it seeks to turn reality upside down and accuse the Palestinians of the crimes that Israel so often commits. This is a prime example of baseless dehumanization that many eagerly embrace because they have come to internalize a demonized image of Palestinians based on Israeli propaganda.

The fact that this slander is so prevalent while not having any basis in reality is a testament to the power of propaganda, and how readily people accept the projections of barbarity onto the peoples of the global south. In the narrative war against Palestine there is hardly a method Israel has not resorted to in order to dehumanize Palestinians. It is on us to resist that, and set the record straight.

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● Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights, Israeli Matrix of Control: Use of Palestinian Civilians as Human Shields, 2014. [Link]
● Gordon, Neve, and Nicola Perugini. Human Shields: A History of People in the Line of Fire. Univ of California Press, 2020. ● B’tselem, Human Shields, November 11th, 2017. [Link]
● Gordon and Perugini, The fallacy of Israel’s human shields claims in Gaza, Al Jazeera, June 18th, 2018. [Link]
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Source 9
One of the more recent approaches to the demonization of Palestinians is the claim that the Palestinian Authority subsidizes “terrorism”, or what advocates of Israel gleefully call “pay to slay”. Listening to these sources, you’d think that the Palestinian Authority pays out bounties to incentivize Palestinians to go out and randomly attack Israelis. As per usual, this kind of talking point intentionally distorts and misrepresents reality.

What actually occurs is that the Palestinian Authority provides a small amount of money for the family of those put in jail so that they can sustain themselves. This applies to every single Palestinian prisoner who has spent a certain amount of time in Israeli jail, regardless of charges. Suggesting that this forms an incentive to go out and attack Israelis is as ridiculous as suggesting that meager unemployment benefits incentivize unemployment.

This family support is especially important considering that Israel practices a cruel form of collective punishment, where it demolishes the home of anyone suspected of being a “terrorist”. In such a condition, the family needs all the help it can get. Unless you believe that the family should starve in the street after becoming homeless solely due to them being related to an alleged “terrorist”, then you can see the necessity of such measures.

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Another aspect that often goes unappreciated, is that part of these payments ends up in Israeli coffers anyway, as Israeli prisons are well-known for their negligence, and lack many basic necessities. Much of these payments are spent on providing for the basic needs of these prisoners in Israeli jails. This has been rather lucrative for Israel, as many a business have popped up whose practices revolve around exploiting thousands of prisoners with no other options, charging obscene amounts of money for blankets and other basic items.

Furthermore, the Israeli military court system that tries Palestinians and designates them as guilty of “terrorism” is notoriously racist and discriminatory.

Bearing in mind that civilians shouldn’t be tried in military courts to begin with, they have an astonishing 99.7% conviction rate, meaning that you’re virtually guaranteed to be convicted of something regardless of your guilt or innocence.

As if that isn’t bad enough, it has been widely documented that torture is still de facto the standard operating procedure in Israeli prisons to extract false confessions, and it’s very common for interrogators to force Palestinians to sign documents in Hebrew which they do not even understand. This is an especially popular tactic with children detainees who are more easily intimidated and manipulated.

As for the designation of “terrorist” itself, it is applied liberally and without even a second thought when it comes to Palestinians. For example, when Israel seized private Palestinian land to expand an illegal settlement, Palestinians responded by erecting a small encampment called Bab al-Shams on it as a peaceful demonstration against this action. Naturally, they were accused of practicing Agenda Packet Page 431 of 494
“construction terrorism” by Israelis and promptly beat, repressed, arrested and removed from the land. Another example was when Palestinians were preparing a case against Israel in the International Criminal Court, they were accused of practicing “legal terrorism“. Palestinian prisoner hunger strikes are described as “Terrorism in Prison“. Naturally, none of this would qualify as terrorism from an international law perspective, however, Israel uses this designation indiscriminately to demonize and ostracize any kind of Palestinian resistance, no matter how peaceful.

According to international law, it is legitimate for an occupied people to resist occupation by any means available to them. United Nations resolution 37/43:
“Reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle”.

It continues:
“Reaffirms the inalienable right of the Namibian people, the Palestinian people and all peoples under foreign and colonial domination to self-determination, national independence, territorial integrity, national unity and sovereignty without outside interference”.

However, even if such a right was not enshrined in international law, it is natural for humans to want to rid themselves of domination and oppression. But since even the most peaceful methods are enough to paint Palestinians as terrorists, Agenda Packet Page 432 of 494
armed struggle would undoubtedly result in worse. However, historically this has been the norm for many a liberation movement. Even Nelson Mandela was called a terrorist in his struggle against Apartheid, MLK was called a “self-seeking rabble–rouser” and was accused of fomenting violence with his marches. Those who fight for freedom are always vilified by the reactionary powers of their time, Palestinians are no exception.

The more you research the long history of Palestinian resistance, whether armed or unarmed, you very quickly come to realize that the issue is the very concept of resistance, not its methods. It would seem like the only way Palestinians can escape this accusation is by just laying down and dying, but even then they’d probably be accused of “telegenically dying” to make Israel look bad, as Netanyahu once claimed [You can read more about this here].

It is, however, quite amusing that the Palestinian Authority has such a negative reputation among mainstream Israelis. If anything, the Palestinian Authority has been an incredible boon for Israel and its expansionist project. It is a deeply unpopular body among Palestinians for exactly that reason.

By nominally participating in the sham that is the Oslo peace process, Israel managed to transfer all of its responsibilities as an occupying power onto the Palestinian Authority while maintaining effective control over the entirety of the area. There is no point in denying the reality on the ground: There exists one sovereign power between the river and the sea. While the Palestinian Authority has some limited administrative powers in certain areas, it has absolutely no Agenda Packet Page 433 of 494
sovereign powers. As a matter of fact, Israel de facto even determines who is a Palestinian citizen and who is not through control of the civilian registry, that is how complete Israeli control is. So, to summarize, Israel still has all the benefits of an occupying power while having none of the responsibilities. Even worse, since much of the Palestinian Authority’s functions are supported by the international community through foreign aid, Israel has managed to reap the benefits of a well subsidized occupation.

Security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, a cornerstone of the post-Intifada status quo, has greatly contributed to the repression of Palestinians and the criminalization of their resistance. It’s no coincidence that the Palestinian Authority is often described as a subcontractor for the occupation, because for all intents and purposes this has become its role, and this is how many Palestinians view it.

The fact that most Israelis see the Palestinian Authority as an enemy speaks to how little information they have about the current status quo, or how anything functions under their occupation of Palestinian society. They have swallowed wholly Israeli state propaganda designed to reinforce a bunker mentality, where Israel is always the victim and anyone ever asking anything of it is tantamount to genocidal incitement.

The vilification of Palestinians through outright falsities like the “pay to slay” and “pallywood” smears are designed to legitimize Israeli intransigence and expansionism. After all, if the other side is so untrustworthy and evil, why even give them one inch? Why compromise on anything? This becomes especially more egregious when you realize that Israel’s “compromise” during the Oslo negotiations was to simply lessen its violations of international law. With enough Agenda Packet Page 434 of 494
demonization, even that can be dropped, and Israel’s colonial landgrabs can continue unperturbed.
● Hajjar, Lisa. Courting conflict: The Israeli military court system in the West Bank and Gaza. Univ of California Press, 2005.
● Corbett, Ryan. “Prosecuting Collective Punishment: Israel’s Breach of International Law in the West Bank.” BU Int’l LJ 35 (2017): 369. ● Erakat, Noura. Justice for some: Law and the question of Palestine.

Stanford University Press, 2019.
● Hanafi, Sari, and Linda Tabar. “The Intifada and the aid industry: The impact of the new liberal agenda on the Palestinian NGOs.” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 23.1 ,2003: 205-214.
● Herman, Edward S., and Noam Chomsky. Manufacturing consent: The political economy of the mass media. Random House, 2010.

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Source 10
A favorite talking point among defenders of Israel is the claim that Israel has always done everything in its power to achieve peace with the Palestinians and its Arab neighbors [You can read more about this here]. They will point to supposed “sacrifices” Israel has made for this noble goal. Perhaps the most frequent example given is the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, naturally, this always comes with the addendum claiming that such an approach did not work, and that Palestinians cannot be pleased.

Overlooking the fact that complying with international law is not a compromise, there is a major flaw in this argument: The Gaza strip is still occupied.

While it is true that Israeli forces and settlers withdrew from within Gaza in 2005 due to Palestinian resistance, this does not mean that all manifestations of the occupation were ended. How is this possible?
There is a general misconception regarding what constitutes a military occupation. Many believe that it takes boots on the ground to consider an area occupied, but today this is no longer the case. For an area to be considered occupied the occupying state must exercise “effective control” over the occupied area. This idea becomes even more clear when we consider Israeli surveillance and monitoring technology that allow for greater control of an area through controlling select key positions without the necessity of a full occupation force in the territory.

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It is without a doubt that Israel holds effective control over the Gaza strip, Israeli law experts would naturally beg to differ, but these same experts argued that Gaza was unoccupied even before Israel withdrew its forces and settlers anyway.

Israel controls virtually every aspect of life in Gaza. Israel maintains control of Gaza’s airspace, its territorial waters, no-go zones within the strip and even the population registry, meaning Israel even gets to determine who is a Palestinian and who isn’t inside the Gaza strip. What kind of sovereign, non-occupied entity can’t even determine who its citizens are?
This is not conjecture, but the opinion of the United Nations, Amnesty International, the International Red Cross, and countless other international organizations specialized in human rights and international humanitarian law.

However, we must situate the Israeli claims that Gaza is not occupied within its correct historical context. As mentioned above, even prior to 2005, Israel always argued that the Gaza strip was unoccupied, even with its troops and settlements and military bases. As a matter of fact, Israel even claims the same about the West Bank to this day. The argument being that for an occupation to exist, a territory must be part of a sovereign state, which the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were not, even though they were controlled by other sovereign states. This same justification is used to argue that the Geneva conventions, and international and humanitarian law in general, don’t apply to Palestinians. Of course, this argument was never accepted by the world community which still maintains that these areas are occupied.

The lesson here is that Israeli legal claims have never been in good faith. If Israel could legally claim that an area with thousands of soldiers and dozens of bases and settlements is not occupied, then of course it would argue the same for Gaza today.

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But this claim that Gaza is unoccupied has been very useful for Israel, as it plays into the propaganda that Israel has sacrificed immensely for peace, a talking point unsubstantiated by actual history, and also erases the valiant efforts of Palestinian resistance fighters in the Gaza Strip who played a critical role in making the maintenance of a physical military presence inside the strip very costly to Israel to the point it had to retreat.

As noble as Israelis make it sound, there were other less altruistic intentions regarding the retreat from Gaza, articulated by Dov Weisglas, top aide to Ariel Sharon who was Prime Minister at the time:
“The significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process, and when you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem. Effectively, this whole package called the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed indefinitely from our agenda. And all this with authority and permission. All with a presidential blessing and the ratification of both houses of Congress.”
He continued:

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“The disengagement is actually formaldehyde, it supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary so there will not be a political process with the Palestinians.”
And he was right. For example, whenever the Palestinian Authority criticized Israel for its intransigence or its new settlement and colonization projects in the West bank, Israel would retort that they gave up Gaza and sacrificed immensely for peace. This was an effective way for Israel to circumvent criticism of its violations of international law and shift the onus of compromise onto Palestinians.

In this context, “compromise” came to mean acquiescence to the brazen colonization of the vast majority of the West Bank. Weisglas bragged that:
“That is exactly what happened, you know, the term `peace process’ is a bundle of concepts and commitments. The peace process is the establishment of a Palestinian state with all the security risks that entails. The peace process is the evacuation of settlements, it’s the return of refugees, it’s the partition of Jerusalem. And all that has now been frozen…. what I effectively agreed to with the Americans was that part of the settlements would not be dealt with at all, and the rest will not be dealt with until the Palestinians turn into Finns. That is the significance of what we did.” Furthermore, Israel knew it was not really relinquishing control of the Gaza strip, but rather reconfiguring how the occupation looked and functioned. They knew that the occupation, despite being in a new form, would still illicit resistance from those inside the strip. Israel could then use this resistance as proof that “relinquishing” land in return for peace with the Palestinians was an impossible task, because Palestinians would continue to attack it no matter what. This has Agenda Packet Page 439 of 494
served as a major argument for why Israel should not withdraw from any inch of the West Bank to this very day.

So, as you can see, the withdrawal from Gaza did not really end the occupation, and it certainly was not a compromise out of a desire for peace with the Palestinians. This is not speculation, this is not a conspiratorial reading or analysis of the policy; we have a complete candid confession from the architect of this plan, it is all documented and easily accessible and we encourage you to read the full interview for context.

Gaza today remains as a staunch reminder of Israel’s birth: A small strip of land filled to the brim with refugees whose houses have been seized by foreign colonists. Israel can occupy, besiege and bomb the strip, but it will never beak the spirit of those yearning for freedom and a return to their stolen homes. It is our duty to help them in any way we can, even if by simply not allowing Israel to create its own false narrative and pass it off as the indisputable truth. ● Erakat, Noura. Justice for some: Law and the question of Palestine.

Stanford University Press, 2019.
● Darcy, Shane, and John Reynolds. “An enduring occupation: the status of the Gaza Strip from the perspective of international humanitarian law.” Journal of Conflict & Security Law 15.2, 2010:
211-243.
● Shehadeh, Raja. “Occupier’s Law and the Uprising.” Journal of Palestine Studies 17.3, 1988: 24-37.

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Source 11
When Israeli propaganda becomes so absurd that even its target audience raises an eyebrow, the need arises to imbue it with a pseudo-scientific sheen. At the end of the day, apologists for Israel aren’t actually going to do any research on the matter before absorbing it into their repertoire of mythology; all a talking point needs to accomplish is to sound plausible, regardless of how false it is. After all, this is about making claims, not reflecting reality.

In this context, we see all kinds of numbers and sources emerging that supposedly “debunk Palestinian propaganda”. We saw this with Joan Peters’ “From Time Immemorial”, which cherry-picked and distorted data to make unfounded claims and allegations not supported by the aforementioned data [You can read more about this here].

Similarly, we see population charts and numbers being deployed all over social media to “prove” that there never was any ethnic cleansing of Palestinians during the Nakba. These same sources had also previously written about the “demographic danger” of allowing Palestinian refugees to return. It is quite amusing how one must contort themselves into a knot to try and make any sense of the Zionist narrative of history.

Absurdity of these claims aside, this manipulation of sources and data could serve as a good teaching moment; just because hasbarists cite a source, it doesn’t make it reliable, scientific or even representative of its actual content.

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Producing a complicated-looking table and claiming it proves your argument may seem impressive. It might even convince those less-acquainted with the history and facts on the ground. After all, it looks so “scientific”. However, these attempts to imbue propaganda with empirical validity collapse under even the briefest of scrutiny.

An oft-used tactic is to cite actual data from real sources but to remove them from their context, and proceed to project meaning onto them which isn’t supported or claimed by the original source. Even grifters and genocide deniers use copious amounts of citations and data in their racist publications, but as mentioned previously, they usually tend to be decontextualized, distorted and cherry-picked to build a certain narrative while suppressing contradictory evidence.

Indeed, statistics can be lazily used to claim relationships between different phenomena. Let’s look at an example of how the same data can be decontextualized and used to reach radically different conclusions:

In a certain city, the health of citizens was measured and given a numerical value. After reviewing the data, it became apparent that the average health of citizens in a specific area of the city was significantly less than the city-wide average. What conclusions can we draw from these numbers? Poverty has been known to have adverse effects on health. People living in poorer neighborhoods tend to have lower life expectancies, as they have less Agenda Packet Page 442 of 494
access to healthy nutrition, less time to take care of themselves, and less access to healthcare. This area could simply be a poor neighborhood.

An alternative explanation is that this area houses a chemical plant that has been known to dump its toxic waste nearby, decreasing the overall health of the residents of the area.

Perhaps the whole idea of the area reducing health is erroneous to begin with, and the lower health average is simply due to it being the location of a hospital complex. Meaning that people with poor health congregate in this area rather than the area itself being the cause.

As you can see, without knowing enough about the context and history of this city, the same data -no matter how accurate- cannot tell us the real story or help us to draw conclusions or causal relationships. This is why propagandists love statistics, because they are wagering that you are not familiar enough with the context or history and that these raw decontextualized numbers will convince you. This is why it is also critical to not only look at how the numbers are used, but also where they came from to begin with.

It is a mistake to think of all data as neutral and objective. It was produced by humans who are -at best- influenced by their social context no matter how objective they try to be, and at worst engineer the data specifically to reinforce a narrative or argument.

This is why you should always ask yourself, who is asking the questions? Why are they asking the questions? How did they arrive at their numbers? Do they have any interest in skewing results one way or another? Agenda Packet Page 443 of 494
Pro-Israel organizations are infamous for designing misleading surveys, where the questions are heavily slanted to produce certain outcomes.

Denying or minimizing the Nakba is nothing new. A brief look at our myths section shows that the Palestinian refugees and their ethnic cleansing have always been the target of Israeli propaganda. From blaming the Palestinians for their own expulsion, to claiming that no expulsions happened at all, you will find contradictory talking points to fit any purpose.

What these myths have in common is their dishonesty in how they present information. They either decontextualize data to influence conclusions, or they build an argument on erroneous assumptions and projections. This myth mixes both these approaches.

From the get-go, it launches its argument from a false definition of ethnic cleansing, conflating it with outright genocide. While it is argued that ethnic cleansing is a form of genocide, it can vary in the methods used. For example, you do not need to wipe out an ethnic group to practice ethnic cleansing. The term “ethnic cleansing” came to prominence after its widespread practice in the regions of former Yugoslavia, a United Nations Commission of Experts referred to ethnic cleansing as:
“… a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.”
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This is not a mere misunderstanding by hasbarists, but a deliberate twisting of the term to make a slanted argument not compatible with the full definition. (Similarly, the term Apartheid is often incorrectly used to mean a complete carbon copy of South Africa when the definition of Apartheid says no such thing. There are many examples and types of Apartheid. The insistence on this false definition is to distract you from that fact and to stop you from judging Israel by the criteria of the legal definition.)
With the information above in mind, it becomes clear that looking at the total population number to determine if any ethnic cleansing happened is not in and of itself a useful indicator. Indeed, if everyone was pushed out of New York into Austin, the total population number of New Yorkers would not differ. This would not change the fact that the entire population of New York was expelled.

When the correct dates and areas are specified, not even openly pro-Israel websites like Jewish Virtual Library can dispute the fact that Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from the areas people today call “Israel”:
(The table has been abridged for brevity. You can access the full table here) Agenda Packet Page 445 of 494
This is the reason why many Zionist memes trying to “debunk” this historical fact often begin their table after 1948. This kind of cherry-picking of data, and the suppression of inconvenient facts is rife in the Zionist narrative of the Nakba.

It is no surprise that social media has also become a battleground for hearts and minds when it comes to Palestine. Zionist propaganda has always adapted to whatever is trendy at the time; at its inception, it argued that the Zionists were enlightened colonists who would bring the “backwards” Palestine into civilization, a feat the natives could not accomplish. As colonialism fell out of favor, suddenly Zionist colonizers started rebranding themselves as a force for decolonization, the absolute opposite of their forefathers.

Today, with the recent rise to prominence of a distorted and shallow understanding of identity politics in the US, we see that hasbarists are once again adapting according to popular rhetoric. Suddenly, we see Zionism being detached from its material history and presented as an integral part of an identity.

This is especially popular in the West, where young Zionists who are raised on propaganda and myths of the Zionist project come to treat it as inseparable from themselves. Here, we see the cynical twisting of social justice language to frame any criticism of Israel as antisemitic.

In this context, many Zionist “influencers” -often on the payroll of Israel and its various hasbara organizations- have risen to prominence, spreading disinformation and propaganda couched in progressive language. One such propagandist is Hen Mazzig, who recently shared a laughably bad series of Agenda Packet Page 446 of 494
images “debunking” the Nakba, using terrible statistics to try and flip reality on its head:

I’m certain that you can instantly see some of the problems with this graph.

Twitter user Terriblestats published a series of short videos absolutely demolishing the claims presented.

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You will notice that they utilize many of the methods to lie with statistics explored earlier in the article. For example, the graph conveniently inspects the areas of “West Bank, Gaza Strip, Israel” to measure any population change. This is similar to the New York and Austin example above; they are trying to tell you since no population decreased in this area there was no ethnic cleansing. This is clearly false. Another problem with this chart is that it purposefully lacks any kind of data points, obscuring the fact that many Palestinians were expelled to neighboring Arab countries.

This brings us to our next point: The data. Mazzig claims the data is from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS). The PCBS can indeed be a good source of information on Palestinians today; however, notice how no specific report is cited, just a whole website full of hundreds of reports. The specific numbers used by this chart cannot be verified from the website by a cursory look at the majority of their population statistics.

Even the way the chart is designed would not pass a Statistics 101 class, as it doesn’t even present consistent units of measurement. Notice how the first notch is 30 years, and the remaining ones are 10. If we look at the other graphics in the post, the years and the population being measured are also inconsistent. This was done deliberately to affect the steepness of the inclination of the line on the graph, and by doing so imply a more “rapid” change than what actually occurred.

Once again, we strongly recommend looking at the short videos from Terriblestats for a more illustrated explanation of this post and how it is fudging the numbers.

Ultimately, none of the people spreading these images and memes will fact-check them. We see this all the time in Zionist propaganda. We have seen claim after claim of posts “debunking” well-documented Palestinian history and Agenda Packet Page 448 of 494
events by simply contesting them, without providing any real evidence or argument. Quite often, the “debunkings” rely on distortions and outright lies like the case above.

But as we usually say, the goal of propaganda is never to reflect reality.

Propaganda exists to make political claims and justify them. It doesn’t even matter if these claims are illogical, all they need to do is support a certain worldview or ideology and its apologists will uncritically adopt it. As our website consistently demonstrates, these ahistorical talking points and dishonest framings comprise much of Zionist propaganda, where ridiculous claims that could be debunked within a minute of research become the cornerstone of a narrative.
● Khalidi, Rashid. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017. Metropolitan Books, 2020.
● Khalidi, Walid (ed.), Sharif S. Elmusa, and Muhammad Ali Khalidi. All that remains: The Palestinian villages occupied and depopulated by Israel in 1948. Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992.
● Masalha, Nur. “Expulsion of the Palestinians.” Washington, DC:

Institute for Palestine Studies
● (1992).
● Pappe, Ilan. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Simon and Schuster, 2007.

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● Said, Edward W., and Christopher Hitchens, eds. Blaming the victims:

Spurious scholarship and the Palestinian question. Verso, 2001. ● Finkelstein, Norman G. Image and reality of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Verso, 2003.
● Flapan, Simha. The birth of Israel: Myths and realities. London:

Croom Helm, 1987.

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Source 12
Decades after the failure of the Oslo paradigm to produce any beneficial results for Palestinians, the idea of the two-state solution continues to face ever-growing skepticism. It is becoming increasingly common for pundits and academics to acknowledge that Israel’s rampant colonization of Palestinian land, as well as permanently changing facts on the ground, have doomed any such prospects.

Despite this shift in public opinion and among the intelligentsia, the two-state solution is still the only solution on the agenda of policy-makers worldwide, and why not? It is convenient for them, it does not challenge their interests, and even though they know that it has been made impossible, the status quo is much more politically fortuitous than demanding actual concessions from Israel which might strain their relationship. After all, it is not they who need to live under a military dictatorship and settler colonialism.

Yet even after all of this, apologists for Israel claim that we only reached this point due to Palestinian intransigence, and the refusal of the Palestinian leadership to sign any peace treaty with Israel. Setting aside the ridiculous assertion that Israel was forced to violate the Geneva Conventions because the Palestinian Authority didn’t sign a treaty, what is often conveniently left out of the story is what exactly these “offers” entailed.

This is a common theme in Israeli Hasbara efforts, leaving out key context or information that would completely change the significance of an event. For example, when discussing the 1948 war, the focus is often on the number of the Agenda Packet Page 451 of 494
Arab states “ganging up” on Israel, in an attempt to imply numerical superiority.

However, when the actual number of troops is inspected the question becomes not if the Israeli army outnumbered all the Arab ones combined, but how badly [You can read more about this here].

Following this same method, what has come to be known as the “peace process” is plagued with such cases. We have previously discussed the numerous problems with partition as a concept, as well as in practice, this is not the focus of this article. Instead, we would like to set aside these objections and skepticism for a moment and look at the “peace process” and judge it even by the standards of those who support the two-state solution. The Camp David summit in 2000 is an excellent case study to attempt this, and it still serves as a representative microcosm of the negotiation process to this day.

Why Camp David specifically?
Camp David is one of the most emblematic instances of this kind of rhetoric, where the common “wisdom” to this day is that Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestinian Authority at the time, rejected an incredibly generous offer from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Prod any of the other periods of negotiation and you will find extreme similarities and parallels with Camp David, where the focus remains on the “offer” part without delving into any of the specifics or context of said offer, any counter-offers, or what was rejected.

In general, the quest for two-states found its genesis in the diplomatic process in the 1970s which called for establishing a sovereign Palestinian state next to Israel. The first bilateral breakthrough in this process materialized in the -at the time- secret Oslo Accords where Palestinians, represented by the PLO, and Agenda Packet Page 452 of 494
Israelis agreed upon a declaration of principles that would lead to creating the Palestinian Authority. The Authority would act as an interim Palestinian government that would supposedly pave the way for a final settlement. These accords were mostly a declaration of principles which did not contain any parameters for how such a state would even look. As a matter of fact, the word “state” with regards to Palestinians was never mentioned once. It was two years later, in what is referred to as Oslo II, taking place in the Egyptian city of Taba, that negotiations earnestly began. In these negotiations more concrete parameters were discussed, as well as the logistics and method for instating the Palestinian Authority on the ground.

The Palestinian Authority was supposed to last no longer than 5 years, after which a sovereign Palestinian state would be established as a culmination of the negotiation process. Clearly, this did not materialize and the negotiation process stalled. In 2000, US. President Bill Clinton called for a summit at Camp David to try and nudge negotiations forward and put an end to the “conflict” once and for all.

The summit lasted for approximately two weeks, and needless to say, it failed in its objectives. Following this failure, there was a media frenzy blaming Arafat and the Palestinians for the negotiations breaking down.

The claim was that Barak offered the Palestinians everything they could ever want for peace, and that Arafat simply threw that all away. Articles started emerging saying that this was the perfect test for Arafat’s intentions and that he failed miserably, and asserted that the Palestinians refused to make any concessions or compromise on anything.

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Thus, it became part of the “canon” that the Palestinians had -once againrejected a peace offer by Israel, proving that Israelis really have no partner for peace, and that nothing could appease Palestinians.

Let’s step away from the sensationalism and media spins of Camp David and take a bit of a deeper look into what Barak offered, and why it was rejected.

To begin with, the often-repeated line that Barak offered the Palestinians the Gaza Strip and 96% of the West Bank for a state is completely untrue. Barak offered the Palestinians 96% of Israel’s definition of the West Bank, meaning they did not include any of the areas already under Israeli control, such as settlements, the Dead Sea, and large parts of the Jordan Valley. This meant that Barak effectively annexed 10% of the West Bank to Israel, with an additional 8-12% remaining under “temporary” Israeli control for a period of time.

In return for this annexation, Palestinians would be offered 1% of desert land near the Gaza Strip. Thus, Palestinians would need to give up 10% of the most fertile land in the West Bank, in exchange for 1% of desert land. Not to mention that if the past record is any indicator, the additional 8-12% under “temporary” Israeli control would remain so forever.

In addition to all of this, Israel demanded permanent control of Palestinian airspace, three permanent military installations manned by Israeli troops in the West Bank, Israeli presence at Palestinian border crossings, and special “security arrangements” along the borders with Jordan which effectively annexed additional land.

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The cherry on top of all of these stipulations, is that Israel would be allowed to invade at any point in cases of “emergency”. As you can imagine, what constituted an emergency was left incredibly vague and up to interpretation. The Palestinian state would be demilitarized, and the Palestinian government would not be able to enter into alliances without Israeli permission. None of these are ingredients for the creation of an actual sovereign state.

But the Israeli conditions did not end here. In the case of East Jerusalem, which was supposed to be the capital of the Palestinian state, Israel refused any form of Palestinian sovereignty over the majority of the city, including many Palestinian neighborhoods. It should be noted that the PA agreed to Israeli sovereignty over Jewish neighborhoods and the Buraq wall, and even proposed Israel annex settlements in East Jerusalem in return for land swaps elsewhere. This was met with Israeli intransigence, and an insistence that the Noble Sanctuary remain under Israeli sovereignty, and that a part of it should be reserved for Jewish worshippers.

Furthermore, when it came to the right of return, Israel refused to admit any responsibility for the millions of refugees it created [You can read more about this here]. The only thing it offered was a very limited return of a very limited number of refugees over a very long period of time.

Ultimately, this “generous offer” amounted to turning the West Bank into non-contiguous cantons, crisscrossed by a network of settlements, roads and Israeli areas. Even the supposed “capital” of the Palestinian state would mostly be under Israeli control, with stipulations and conditions that stripped any real sovereignty from any area of the supposed Palestinian “state”. Not even the sky above Palestinian heads would be under their control, nor the water under their feet, as Israel still demanded access to water resources under the West Bank.

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To add insult to injury, Israel was adamant that Arafat declare “the conflict over” with the signing of these accords, meaning that Palestinians could never ask for anything more after this.

As I’m sure you’ll agree, none of this was conducive for the establishment of a real, sovereign and viable Palestinian state. How could anyone accept a state where they don’t even have control over their own capital? Even Shlomo Ben Ami, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, and one of the main negotiators at Camp David, later candidly admitted later that:
“Camp David was not the missed opportunity for the Palestinians, and if I were a Palestinian I would have rejected Camp David, as well.” As it stands, Palestinian aspirations cannot be allowed to exceed the ceiling of Israeli table scraps. What is acceptable to Palestinians never enters the discussion, which must always be tailored to what Israel is willing to concede.

This becomes even more infuriating once you realize that Israel is not really conceding anything; ending its occupation and stopping its settlement activities is merely following international law. It is not a sacrifice -it should be the default position.

This is how all of the “generous” Israeli peace offers play out. The majority of people who hear about this on the news have no clue what the parameters of the offer are. All they hear is that the Palestinians have rejected yet another “peace” initiative by Israel [You can read more about this here]. This is why Israel focuses on the number of offers, because it distracts from their content, similar to the above example regarding army numbers in 1948.

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All of this feels completely irrelevant today. We’re talking about some failed negotiation summit from a couple of decades ago. Hell, many of its participants have actually passed away since. We bring attention to Camp David not specifically because we believe Camp David needs revisiting, but for it to serve as an archetypal example of how Israel has always approached negotiations with the Palestinians, and how any justified rejection of absurd stipulations leads to decades of accusations and smears.
● Baumgarten, Helga. The Myth of Camp David or the Distortion of the Palestinian Narrative. Birzeit University. Ibrahim Abu Lughod Institute of International Studies, 2004.
● Decolonize Palestine, Myth: Israel has always sought peace. [Link] ● Decolonize Palestine, Myth: The two-state solution is the only way forward. [Link]
● Finkelstein, Norman G. “The Camp David II negotiations: How Dennis Ross proved the Palestinians aborted the peace process.” Journal of Palestine Studies 36.2, 2007: 39-53.
● Hanieh, Akram. “The Camp David Papers.” Journal of Palestine Studies 30.2, 2001: 75-97.

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From: Lauren Schiffman
To: City Clerk
Subject: public comments – not on the agenda -- opposition to putting a ceasefire resolution on the agenda Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 10:35:59 AM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

Hello,
I am a Jewish resident of Richmond Annex with a child who attends El Cerrito High School. I want to register my opposition to putting a ceasefire resolution regarding Gaza and Israel on the agenda.

While I am strongly in favor of a ceasefire, I also condemn the violence on both sides. I have seen firsthand the vitriol against Jews that these resolutions have spurred in Richmond, Oakland, etc. I urge you not to weigh in on international politics but instead to ensure that all the residents of West Contra Costa County feel safe.

Thanks for your attention to this.

Lauren Schiffman
Agenda Packet Page 459 of 494
From: Seth Morrison
To: City Clerk; Paul Fadelli; Lisa Motoyama; Gabe Quinto; Tessa Rudnick; Carolyn Wysinger Subject: Item not on the agenda - Ceasefire Resolution
Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 10:54:01 AM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

Although I can't attend tonight I want to remind the council that the majority of your constitutents are demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and that the Council seems deaf to our pleas for a resolution on the issue.

It is unconscionable that my city council can pass resolutions and issue proclamations on every equal rights issue in our society except Palestine.

Yes this is a tough and deeply emotional issue but that should not leave us afraid of open discussion. As local officials supposedly focused on our community you have consistently ignored the world wide call for justice in Palestine.

Agenda Packet Page 460 of 494
From: Zeid Arnaout
To: City Clerk; Paul Fadelli; Lisa Motoyama; Gabe Quinto; Tessa Rudnick; Carolyn Wysinger Subject: Item not on the agenda - Ceasefire Resolution
Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 11:15:19 AM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

Dear City Council members,
I trust this email finds you well. I am writing to you as a concerned resident of El Cerrito. Last night, Albany City Council took a significant step by voting in favor of establishing a subcommittee to discuss the development of a ceasefire resolution. This moment is pivotal in our collective pursuit of peace and justice.

However, it is disheartening to hear rumors suggesting that El Cerrito City Council may be prioritizing personal matters over the urgent humanitarian crisis unfolding in Palestine. The loss of over 30,000 lives in this conflict demands immediate attention and action, transcending political agendas and personal preferences.

Despite persistent advocacy at every city council meeting since January, our pleas for humanity appear to have fallen on deaf ears. It is imperative that we escalate our efforts and amplify our voices to ensure that the dire situation in Palestine is not overshadowed by any political considerations.

This week, we are organizing multiple actions to demand immediate action under the banner of "CEASEFIRE NOW!" We invite you, as a representative of our city, to join us in solidarity and lend your voice to this critical cause. By standing together, we can send a powerful message that El Cerrito cares deeply about global peace and justice.

Your support in this matter would mean a great deal to our community, and it would reaffirm our faith in the values of compassion and empathy that we believe El Cerrito stands for. We kindly urge you to consider our plea and take a stance in favor of an immediate ceasefire in Palestine.

Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,
Zeid
Agenda Packet Page 461 of 494
From: Rachel Sommovilla
To: Paul Fadelli; Lisa Motoyama; Gabe Quinto; Tessa Rudnick; Carolyn Wysinger; Karen Pinkos; City Clerk Subject: please continue to resist efforts to place a one-sided cease fire resolution on El Cerrito"s agenda Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 11:28:41 AM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

Mayor and Councilmembers,
I wanted to reiterate my prior request and comment that you stay focused on El Cerrito business and continue to not put a ceasefire resolution that will lead to more division in our community on your agenda. Putting this issue on your agenda will only invite hate speech into our city, which we have already seen happen in surrounding communities and is especially dangerous given the 337 percent increase in antisemitic incidents in the US and in our community since Oct. 7th.

Thank you for all that you do for El Cerrito,
Rachel Sommovilla, EC resident
Agenda Packet Page 462 of 494
From: Hannah M. Schoenberger
To: City Clerk; Paul Fadelli; Lisa Motoyama; Gabe Quinto; Tessa Rudnick; Carolyn Wysinger Subject: Item not on the agenda - Ceasefire Resolution
Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 11:44:11 AM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

Hello,
I am a resident of El Cerrito who would like to express my full support for a ceasefire resolution regarding Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza.

I have been deeply distressed by the ongoing crisis in Palestine over the past few months, and I join countless scholars, lawyers, and UN officials in recognizing that Israel is committing genocide. As a US citizen I am horrified on a daily basis to see how my tax dollars are being used used to brutally destroy the lives of the people of Gaza through the destruction of homes, hospitals, city infrastructure, and the deliberate starvation of a captive population ( https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/27/un-israel-food-starvation-palestinians-warcrime-genocide).

Palestinian people deserve to live with safety, dignity, and freedom, but instead are being bombed, starved, shot, and maimed.

It should not be controversial, and it is not morally complicated, to take a stand against the actions of the Israeli government and military.

Small cities have historically passed resolutions related to international conflict, including El Cerrito. In April 2022 the city passed a resolution in support of Ukraine. I struggle to understand why the city felt it was acceptable then but not now to take a stance on an international matter, especially one so dire as Israel's destructive campaign in Gaza, and one so directly influenced by the US through our continued financial and political support of Israel.

I feel ashamed that my city, which markets itself as progressive, is turning a blind eye to this issue.

As someone of Jewish descent, who could choose to become a citizen of Israel if I wanted (while displaced Palestinians are blocked from returning to their ancestral villages), I feel that it is important that I stress that anti-Zionism is NOT anti-Semitism. Conflating the two, in my opinion, actually feeds real anti-Semitism by deliberately associating the horrific actions of the Israeli government with Jewish life.

Genocide is not a Jewish value. Never again means never again for anyone, anywhere.

Sincerely,
Hannah Schoenberger
Agenda Packet Page 463 of 494
From: Michelle Ayazi
To: City Clerk; Paul Fadelli; Lisa Motoyama; Gabe Quinto; Tessa Rudnick; Carolyn Wysinger Subject: Item not on the agenda - Ceasefire Resolution
Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 11:44:59 AM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

Ceasefire should never be controversial for someone who truly wishes for peace. 30,000 people killed by Israel with US tax dollars and impunity and no end in sight - and you choose silence? You choose neutrality? Fact: there is no neutral in genocide. By staying silent and doing nothing, you are complicit in genocide. Simple - not complicated. If you still think this is complicated, then it seems more education and compassion toward humanity is needed.

If you will not listen to the pleas of your community that voted for you and are your neighbors, if you fear more for your reputation than you fear the continued horrific loss of human life, if Tessa reputation is more important to you than human life - then you don't deserve to be in this role. You would be an example of what is wrong with this "democracy".

Can you please add a Ceasefire Resolution to the agenda? Thank you for reading,
Michelle Ayazi
Agenda Packet Page 464 of 494
From: Alan Marks
To: City Clerk
Subject: Public comments - not on the agenda - opposition to putting a ceasefire resolution on the agenda Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 10:24:24 AM
Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization.

Putting a resolution calling for a ceasefire will cause division in our community and give Jew haters a platform to espouse their vitriol. Foreign policy is not within the purview of local elected politicians. Please stand up to their bullying.

Alan Marks
Agenda Packet Page 465 of 494
From: Lucinda Casson
To: City Clerk
Subject: public comments – not on the agenda -- opposition to putting a ceasefire resolution on the agenda Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 11:26:35 AM
Council Members, As an officer of the Board of DIrectors of Temple Beth Hillel, West Contra Costa County's only synagogue, I wish I could be there in person to express my opposition to putting a Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization. sophospsmartbannerend
Council Members,
As an officer of the Board of DIrectors of Temple Beth Hillel, West Contra Costa County's only synagogue, I wish I could be there in person to express my opposition to putting a ceasefire resolution on the El Cerrito City Council's agenda. Unfortunately, I recently had surgery for cancer and am not able to attend.

Hamas violated a cease-fire in place since 2014 and started this latest war. Putting a cease-fire resolution on the agenda will most certainly open the Council chambers doors to hate and fuel verbal attacks on Jews.

I implore you not to allow this.

Lucinda Casson
San Pablo, CA
Agenda Packet Page 466 of 494
From: carl nelson
To: City Clerk
Subject: Public comments – not on the agenda -- opposition to putting a ceasefire resolution on the agenda Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 11:43:50 AM
I was an El Cerrito resident for over 32 years until October 2020, when my wife and I moved to Berkeley to be nearer to our grandchildren. I write to encourage the City Council to continue not Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization. sophospsmartbannerend
I was an El Cerrito resident for over 32 years until October 2020, when my wife and I moved to Berkeley to be nearer to our grandchildren.

I write to encourage the City Council to continue not to take up a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel. It is to your credit that you have resisted doing so far, joining the City of Berkeley among others. As you well know, foreign policy issues are beyond the scope of your mandate as City officials. There are plenty of issues here in El Cerrito that demand your attention.

As we have seen from surrounding communities, taking up a ceasefire resolution on the agenda will invite hate into the City Council chambers and allow verbal attacks on Jews. As you know, Jews have already been physically attacked here in El Cerrito. Taking up such a resolution will serve to further divide the community and exacerbate strife.

This is not to deny the suffering being experienced in both Israel and Palestine. Such suffering is unimaginable to those of us who live here in the East Bay. Here, we are not being bombed or subject to rocket attacks. Hundreds of our residents are not being held as hostages by terrorists hiding in multi-billion-dollar labyrinths beneath neighboring communities, terrorists who have sworn in their charter to kill all of us. We are not at war. War is horrible.

But, taking up this resolution will do nothing to stop the war, although it could easily increase divisiveness and hatred within the City, as we have seen in many neighboring communities who have chosen to weigh in on international affairs.

Please continue to stay the course.
--
Carl P A Nelson
Agenda Packet Page 467 of 494
From: Siobhan Siegel
To: City Clerk
Subject: public comments – not on the agenda -- opposition to putting a ceasefire resolution on the agenda Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 11:47:49 AM
Dear City Council, I am unable to attend the meeting tonight, but want to express my strong feelings against putting a ceasefire resolution on the agenda. There was a ceasefire in place on October 7, Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization. sophospsmartbannerend
Dear City Council,
I am unable to attend the meeting tonight, but want to express my strong feelings against putting a ceasefire resolution on the agenda.

There was a ceasefire in place on October 7, before Hamas broke it by invading Israel.

During this attack, people of all ages, genders, and nationalities were massacred, kidnapped, tortured and raped.

In the months that have followed, Hamas has rejected all ceasefire proposals, except the 4 day pause in November 2023.

Putting a ceasefire resolution on the agenda will invite hate into the City Council chambers and allow verbal attacks on Jews.

Thank you,
C. Siobhan Siegel
Agenda Packet Page 468 of 494
From: Dean Kertesz
To: City Clerk
Subject: public comments – not on the agenda: opposition to agendize a cease fire resolution Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 12:09:47 PM
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Dear Members of the City Council,
I write to you once again to respectfully request that you not yield to pressure to put a ceasefire resolution on the City Council agenda.

My primary objection is that putting such a resolution on the agenda will allow hate speech to enter the City Council chambers. While there is legitimate disagreement over the conflict between Jews and Arabs in Israel/Palestine, we have seen, in every city where such a resolution has been put on the agenda, an outpouring of vicious invective, demonizing the State of Israel, calls for its destruction, denial of Hamas' role in starting the fighting, and perhaps worst of all, calls for violence against Jews.

Such a resolution is moot, since President Biden and Vice President Harris have both called for a ceasefire. Further, a ceasefire is on the table. Israel has accepted it, Hamas has not. The fighting could have ended already had Hamas accepted the ceasefire and shown a willingness to return the hostages it kidnapped on October 7th. At least those who remain alive.

The passion of the proponents of a ceasefire resolution is admirable. Their unwillingness to see that there is blame on both sides and that both sides must lay down their arms is deplorable. Their unwillingness to acknowledge the suffering of Jew as well Palestinains undercuts whatever moral authority they might claim
I also want to thank the ECPD for arresting the man who assaulted two women on January 6th, during a peace rally. His actions, as well as the personal and antisemitic attacks against Mayor Rudnick and her family demonstrate a willingness to cross any boundary, to employ, "any means necessary," including threats and violence to achieve their goal. Such behavior should never be rewarded. If we cannot treat each other as human beings when with legitimate and profound differences of opinion when we disagree here, how can it ever be possible in Israel/Palestine?
Please, do not allow hate to come into the chambers of our city government. Continue to be steadfast in protecting the needs and feelings of all El Cerrito residents.

Sincerely, Dean Kertesz
Agenda Packet Page 469 of 494
From: Sherry Drobner
To: Tessa Rudnick; Paul Fadelli; Carolyn Wysinger; Gabe Quinto; Lisa Motoyama Cc: Holly Charléty
Subject: Public Comment: Item Not on the Agenda
Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 12:32:19 AM
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Dear Mayor and City Council Members,
I will not be at the March 5th meeting, I have an event to attend...so unfortunately my two minutes are in this letter to you.

Members of the community continue to come before you every meeting since December to ask that the Mayor place a Ceasefire Resolution on the agenda for a full discussion. You have received emails, postcards and letters. We are told the community is divided and I can only conclude by your strident opposition that you believe mayhem will ensue and hate will spill over into the Council Chamber siting examples in other communities.

Please watch the March 4th City Council meeting for Albany, California. Take note at Mayor Miki's pronouncement at the end of the meeting when he discusses why he chose to create an ad hoc committee for the purpose of creating a ceasefire resolution. They voted 4 in favor and 1 abstention to establish the ad hoc committee. to consider a ceasefire resolution.

Certainly the arguments for and against this action were quite similar to those in El Cerrito, and yet no one struck another, there was no name calling, and although my own blood boiled and some of the comments by those who wanted to fix the potholes and ignore the genocide, I could live with this discomfort.

Unfortunately in our city, city council members have found it easier to take cover and use the Mayor as a shield as she proves to be unyielding in her refusal to allow discussion on the matter of a ceasefire resolution, even when there is an overwhelming call from the residents.

Although one of you did speak up, the words traveled into the abyss of inaction. The Mayor, having her own personal opinion, supplants the will of the residents, abandons any neutrality and would rather we all stay mute on this issue.

Watch the Albany meeting and learn a lesson in leadership. I am more than disappointed in all of you who want to get along to get along while the incessant bombing of Gaza continues, with our government assistance. I am ashamed- ashamed that you fail to trust El Cerrito residents work through difficult conversations.

When the International Court of Justice calls the Israeli governments actions in Gaza a 'plausible" genocide, what person who claims to have compassion fails to speak up, or worse, stops others from speaking up?
Permanent Cease Fire Now!
Sherry Drobner
Resident
Agenda Packet Page 470 of 494
--
I live and work on unceded Lisjan Ohlone land in the territory of Huchiun . As a non-Native person I pay Shuumi, a voluntary land tax that supports Lisjan Ohlone sovereignty . Learn more here.

Agenda Packet Page 471 of 494
From: Fred Bialy
To: City Clerk
Subject: Public Comments for March 5, 2024 City Council Meeting - Agenda Item #5 Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 12:45:09 PM
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Dear Mayor Rudnick, Mayor Pro Tem Wysinger, Council Members Motoyama, Quinto and Fadelli, I want to thank Council Member Fadelli for his comments at the last meeting. For us who feel sickened and distraught by the carnage and destruction to the level of genocide in Gaza, it was some relief to know that at least one member of our City Council felt similarly. I hope and suspect in reality that all members of the City Council and all El Cerrito residents, even those who voice their opposition to a ceasefire resolution, would like to see a ceasefire in Gaza. As Fadelli stated, “I must ask, who can oppose a bilateral ceasefire at this time that will stop the daily horrors that we continue to see, that tear us apart.” It is a heartening step that Vice President Harris has finally spoken out for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to stop the killing, allow the release of hostages and the entry of humanitarian aid. The U.S. government can certainly do more. But she mentioned a six-week time period. What will happened then? Resumption of the bombing in an attempt to fully eliminate Hamas and in the process all of Gaza? So, there is still urgency to advocate for a permanent ceasefire and a good faith process that finally recognizes the dignity, humanity and rights of Palestinians. I feel that it is important for this City Council to support that effort. The more voices calling for justice, the more likely that justice will prevail.

Since you, Mayor Rudnick, control the formation of City Council agendas, I ask again that you recuse yourself from that roll on this issue. I think it is wrong, and just a smear tactic, that one member of the public called this request antisemitic. It really has nothing to do with you being Jewish. It has to do with your personal views obstructing the democratic process on an issue important to many El Cerrito residents.

Last night, the Albany City Council decided to form a subcommittee to formulate a ceasefire resolution with input from the community. I commend Mayor Miki for his leadership and support along with Council Member Tiedemann. I urge the El Cerrito City Council to follow their example. I hope that those City Council Members who oppose supporting let alone considering a ceasefire resolution, for whatever reason, will finally agree that enough is enough.

Sincerely,
Fred Bialy
El Cerrito Resident
Agenda Packet Page 472 of 494
From: Andrew Zieminski
To: City Clerk; Paul Fadelli; Lisa Motoyama; Gabe Quinto; Tessa Rudnick; Carolyn Wysinger Subject: Item not on the agenda - Ceasefire Resolution
Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 12:55:43 PM
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As an El Cerrito resident and voter, I'm writing to express my strong support for a Ceasefire Resolution.

Making a statement to end a war should never be controversial, certainly not when more than 30,000 civilians have been killed. Remaining silent on a genocide is complicity with it, and it's shameful that the El Cerrito City Council is taking a position of silence.

Please add a ceasefire resolution to the agenda of your upcoming meeting, and listen to the concerns of El Cerrito residents.

Thank you,
Andy Zieminski
Agenda Packet Page 473 of 494
From: Liberty Schubert
To: City Clerk
Subject: Public comments not on the agenda
Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 12:59:26 PM
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Dear El Cerrito City Council,
Please do not bring divisive resolutions into this city. Hamas itself has broken and rejected every ceasefire Israel and the international community has put on the table. The only thing a resolution in El Cerrito will do is give rioters like we saw on January 6th more power to spew hate and threaten the city. I would also like to remind you it has been 151 days and our hostages are still held by terrorists in Gaza suffering the unspeakable.

Please keep your focus on building lasting peace here in the Bay. -Liberty Schubert
Berkeley resident and El Cerrito shopper
Agenda Packet Page 474 of 494
From: Judith Green
To: City Clerk; Paul Fadelli; Lisa Motoyama; Gabe Quinto; Tessa Rudnick; Carolyn Wysinger Subject: Item not on the agenda - Ceasefire Resolution
Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 2:07:15 PM
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It is urgent that the city support a ceasefire now in Gaza where Israel continues its genocide against the Palestinian people. Babies and children are painfully starving to death because humanitarian aid is not allowed to help.

I am a Jewish resident of El Cerrito who has recently attended two meetings of the City Council to support the issuance of a resolution. Please take action!
Thank you.

Judith C. Green
Agenda Packet Page 475 of 494
From: Hannah Gilberg
To: City Clerk
Subject: public comments – not on the agenda -- opposition to ceasefire resolution - desire for creation of forum for palestian/israeli dialogue
Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 12:41:06 PM
Dear Honorable Councilmembers, My two brothers live in Israel, one in Beer Sheva and one outside of Jerusalem.

After the Gaza Strip was evacuated of Israeli settlers in 2005, rockets from Gaza c Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization. sophospsmartbannerend
Dear Honorable Councilmembers,
My two brothers live in Israel, one in Beer Sheva and one outside of Jerusalem. After the Gaza Strip was evacuated of Israeli settlers in 2005, rockets from Gaza cleared further and further distance, prompting my brother to build a bomb shelter before the rockets were able to reach Beer Sheva. He and his family have needed to use that shelter many times. What happened on Oct. 7th was horrific, but what has happened in Gaza has been exponentially more horrific. I want to see a cease fire as does my brother outside of Jerusalem, though we are both at odds with our brother in Beer Sheva on this matter. It is a truly gut wrenching time for me to be at odds with my brother and members of my Jewish Community. But I don't think voting on a cease-fire at the municipal level is appropriate. I believe it is more appropriate for this issue to be taken up by our members of Congress who have access to the formal levers of power to place pressure on Israel to move forward with cease-fire negotiations.

Other El Cerrito residents who expressed this sentiment at the last city council meeting also mentioned the need to create harmony within the El Cerrito community. I would very much love to see the city create a forum where El Cerrito residents can come together to discuss these types of issues with one another. Clearly there is passion in our community for expression -- possibly that passion could be transformed into dialogue.

Thank you for considering my comments.

Regards,
Barbara Gilberg, El Cerrito Resident
Agenda Packet Page 476 of 494
From: Mark Latiner
To: City Clerk
Subject: Public Comments – Not on the Agenda -- Opposition to Putting a Ceasefire Resolution on the Agenda Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 1:01:31 PM
Hello, I'm writing to ask that the El Cerrito Council not put the ceasefire resolution on the agenda. My reason is simple: These resolutions do not affect actual change but instead simply increa Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization. sophospsmartbannerend
Hello,
I'm writing to ask that the El Cerrito Council not put the ceasefire resolution on the agenda. My reason is simple:

These resolutions do not affect actual change but instead simply increase the level of anti-semitism within the community. This is not something the council should encourage or promote.

Thank you,
Mark Latiner
Agenda Packet Page 477 of 494
From: Anne Okahara
To: City Clerk; Leslie Ceasefire
Subject: Item not on the agenda - Ceasefire Resolution
Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 1:51:56 PM
I write to express strong and unwavering support of a ceasefire resolution. I am extremely disappointed in the El Cerrito City Council for failing to take action to support an end to the genocid Caution! This message was sent from outside your organization. sophospsmartbannerend
I write to express strong and unwavering support of a ceasefire resolution. I am extremely disappointed in the El Cerrito City Council for failing to take action to support an end to the genocide in Palestine.

I am a 38 year resident of El Cerrito who votes, and I urge you to pass a resolution that represents the justice loving people of El Cerrito who are demanding
an immediate and permanent ceasefire, an end to the blockade of humanitarian aid, and an end to ethnic cleansing and genocide. That the US is contributing billions of taxpayer dollars to support Israel in this genocide is unconscionable. Please take courageous leadership to do the right thing and pass a ceasefire resolution in El Cerrito.

Anne Okahara
Agenda Packet Page 478 of 494
From: izat eliyan
To: City Clerk; Paul Fadelli; Lisa Motoyama; Gabe Quinto; Tessa Rudnick; Carolyn Wysinger Subject: Item not on the agenda - Ceasefire Resolution
Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 2:49:33 PM
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I am El Cerrito resident. I urge you to put a cease fire resolution in Gaza on your agenda . Unless you support the ongoing war against civilians in Gaza, you should support resolution for a cease fire . As a member of this community, I expect my city leaders to be courageous enough to stand against ,genocide, injustice, and the killing of innocent civilians, specially woman and children. Please put a cease fire resolution on your agenda .

Izat eliyan
Sent from my iPhone
Agenda Packet Page 479 of 494
From: Ira Sharenow
To: Holly Charléty; City Clerk
Cc: Lisa Motoyama; Paul Fadelli; Tessa Rudnick
Subject: Item 6B Classification and Compensation Study
Date: Saturday, March 2, 2024 1:14:22 PM
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The first thing I noticed is that El Cerrito was compared to much bigger cities. 12 comparison cities were bigger and only 2 were (slightly) smaller. El Cerrito has about 26,000 people. The median for the comparison cities was about 76,000. 4 cities were over 100,000. So in my view the comparisons are not valid. My main takeaway is the study is probably not valid and a statistical analysis needs to be done.

I do not think the study took into account that El Cerrito workers get every other Friday off and work an average of 37.5 hours per week and get a lot of vacations. There are also free meals. For example, in February someone had a $369.78 bill at a local pizza shop. In October someone had a $350.96 bill at the pizza shop.

I do not think the study took into account the fact that often consultants are hired to do the actual work.

For example, consultants were recently hired to run a council workshop at a cost of $12,500 for a few hours of work.

Also some workers get to attend many out of town networking meetings. Are they paid while attending those meetings?
El Cerrito is top heavy with management.

The bottom line is a few years ago El Cerrito was brought to its knees and now the city is once again running a major deficit. Spending on employees is out of control. Where are the performance standards? Agenda Item No. 6B
Agenda Packet Page 480 of 494
From: Ira Sharenow
To: City Clerk; Holly Charléty
Cc: Lisa Motoyama; Paul Fadelli; Tessa Rudnick
Subject: Item 9B Budget adjustment
Date: Saturday, March 2, 2024 9:58:32 AM
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Will the budget adjustment have to be reported to the bond rating agencies as a materially adverse event? Will El Cerrito need a TRAN (payday loan) during the upcoming budget cycle or will the unrestricted general fund have to borrow from other funds? The information in the packet was pretty incomprehensible, but my main takeaway is that the June 2024 unrestricted general fund reserve will be below $2 million as expenses have exploded. How will the city pay its debts? I also noticed that the Financial Advisory Board (FAB) has not met the last couple of months, so it has been left out of the loop.

I also noticed that the council made several significant financial decisions without this budget update.

There are very serious problems with the budget process.

The budget adjustment does not address many critical issues. $85 million pension liability (UAL) NOT addressed.

Funding for a senior center NOT addressed.

Decline in the pavement condition index NOT addressed.

Decline in the Ohlone Greenway NOT addressed.

The state auditor warned against overly optimistic projections especially for the transfer tax. The city needs to start paying attention to the state auditor’s advice.

I ask that management explain the budget without using jargon or insider language and that the city make an effort to make sure the microphones are working and people are speaking into the microphones.

Spending is out of control. Comparing the budget passed in June 2023 to the budget passed in June 2017, spending has gone up much faster than the Consumer Price Index. And this year actual spending far exceeded the budget allocation.

Name FY2018 FY2024
Budgeted
Perc
Change Annualized
Expenditures
Administration $5,534,991 $7,275,373 31.4% 4.7%
Public Works $1,657,685 $2,483,303 49.8% 7.0%
Police $11,454,595 $13,523,728 18.1% 2.8%
Fire $8,706,968 $14,432,355 65.8% 8.8%
Community
Development $2,236,241 $3,799,601 69.9% 9.2%
Recreation $4,662,378 $6,005,416 28.8% 4.3%
Total
Expenditures: $34,994,855 $48,435,585 38.4% 5.6%
SF Bay AREA
Agenda Item No. 9B
Agenda Packet Page 481 of 494
CPI (8/2017-
8/2023) 263.473 334.027 26.8% 4.0%
http://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2020-803/cap/index.html “El Cerrito’s fiscal year 2023–24 budget projects general fund revenues to exceed expenditures by only $93,000. The narrow gap between revenues and expenditures is concerning because, as we have noted in previous assessments, the city is relying on real estate transfer taxes resulting from an unexpectedly robust real estate market. In its update, the city notes the slowdown in the real estate market but states that its tax consultants have predicted that its real property tax will remain steady, and the city’s fiscal year 2023–24 budget assumes real property transfer tax will remain unchanged at $4.3 million.

Consequently, the city will need to closely monitor its funding sources throughout the year and make budget adjustments as needed to avoid expenditures significantly exceeding revenues.” Agenda Packet Page 482 of 494
March 5, 2024
City of El Cerrito
Mid-Year Budget Update
Agenda Item No. 9.B.

Agenda Packet Page 483 of 494
FY 2022-23
• Audit complete, presentation to Council on
March 19
• Estimated surplus of $6.93M due to:
 Higher-than-anticipated revenues (incl. property
tax, sales tax, and business licenses)
 Staffing vacancies
• Policy on surplus use (“waterfall” process):

1. Fund GF Reserve to 100% of target rate (10% of
GF expenditures)

2. Fund EDRF to 100% of target balance (3 months
of payroll)

3. 33% of remaining surplus towards pension
liability

4. CM will recommend one-time expenditures,
including capital improvements, maintenance,
and equipment
Agenda Packet Page 484 of 494
Purchase Order Roll Forward
• Large number of purchase orders incomplete by end of FY 2022-23  Planned, budgeted expenditures
 Incomplete due to staffing shortages (internal and external) and supply chain disruptions
• Staff recommend rolling forward $1M from the General Fund surplus for FY 2022-23 POs
 $1.6M total across all funds
• New process for rolling any future POs
 Will be brought to Council annually in late summer
Agenda Packet Page 485 of 494
Mid-Year
Review
FY 2023-24
Summary:
• Lower than budgeted revenues due to
current economic conditions
• Higher than budgeted expenditures from
unexpected costs
• One-time uses of unrestricted General Fund
Balance for critical infrastructure needs
• Strong reserves, both restricted (EDRF) and
unrestricted
Agenda Packet Page 486 of 494
Summary of General Fund Adjustments
• General Government
 Decrease of $1M in forecasted Property
Transfer Tax revenues due to slow property
markets
 One-time transfer of $350K to CIP Fund to
fulfil terms of MSC Loan
• Administration
 Measure R public information support - $125K
 Increase in Insurance Premiums - $300K
 Salary increase of 4% for SEIU employees
(approved by Council XXX) - $76,484
 Cyber attack deductible and related IT costs - $90K
• Community Development
 Increased permit activity - revenue increase
$360K
 Related expenditure increase - $466K
• Fire
 Higher-than budgeted overtime costs - $287K
 Emergency fire engine repairs - $50K
• Police
 Parking citation revenue expected above
budget - $25K
• Public Works
 Increased permit activity - revenue increase
$139K
 Related expenditure increase - $186K
• Recreation
 High participation and sign-up rates - revenue increase $630K  Related expenditure increase – $510K
Agenda Packet Page 487 of 494
Summary of General Fund Adjustments
Department
One-time
Revenue
Ongoing
Revenue
Total
Revenue
One-time
Expense
Ongoing
Expense
Total
Expense
Net General
Fund Notes
FY 2023-24
City Council 6,270 6,270 (6,270) City Council salary increase (1/2 year) City Management - CM 125,000 125,000 (125,000) Public Information - Measure R City Management- HR 300,000 76,484 376,484 (376,484) Insurance Premium & SEIU increase City Management - IT 90,000 90,000 (90,000) Cyber-hack Deductible & related costs Community Development 360,000 360,000 466,000 466,000 (106,000) Staffing/consultant costs - increased
permit activity
Fire 337,000 337,000 (337,000)
Fire OT increase and emergency fire
engine repairs
Police 25,000 25,000 - 25,000 Parking fines increase
Public Works 139,200 139,200 186,000 186,000 (46,800)
Wildcat inspection services, Emergency
tree work, Filled vacancies
Recreation 630,000 630,000 510,000 510,000 120,000
Staffing/contractors - increased program
activity
Non-Departmental (1,000,000) (1,000,000) 350,000 350,000 (1,350,000) Decrease RPTT, Transfer $350K to CIP for
MSC loan
Total FY 2023-24 154,200 154,200 2,364,000 82,754 2,446,754 (2,292,554) Agenda Packet Page 488 of 494
Council-Approved Uses of Unassigned Fund Balance
Emergency Back-Up Generator for Fire Station 52 75,000
Arlington Park Improvements Project 75,000
El Cerrito Safety Element 184,269
Establishment of Section 115 Trust 1,000,000
Total Budget Amendments by Mid-Year 1,334,269
Purchase of Church Property 1,604,631
Landscape Maintenance Services Contract 86,078
Park & Facility Deferred Maintenance and Repair Projects 1,084,800 Total Approved Budget Adjustments in FY 2023-24 4,109,778 Approved Prior to December 31, 2023
Approved After December 31, 2023
7 • Approved uses total $4.1M
• Investments in City infrastructure
including:
 Park improvements
 Deferred maintenance and repairs
 Purchase of church property
• Includes investment of $1M for pension
obligations
• Uses approved after Dec 31 not included
in mid-year summaries but included in
total General Fund Balance analysis
Agenda Packet Page 489 of 494
General Fund Balance
• Robust General Fund reserves
remaining after all proposed
adjustments
 Emergency and Disaster Recovery Fund
(EDRF) of $9M
 General Fund Reserve of $4.4M, 10% of GF
expenditures per policy
 Surplus reserved for pension costs of
$508K
 Remaining Unassigned Fund Balance of
$1.84M
• Total reserves: $15.7M
 Additional $1M in Section 115 Trust
Beginning Fund Balance 16,214,375
FY 2022-23 Surplus 6,928,706
PO Roll-Forward (1,000,000)
Adjusted FY 2022-23 Surplus 5,928,706
Unassigned Fund Balance 22,143,081
Allocation to General Fund Reserve (4,389,018)
Allocation to EDRF (9,000,000)
Allocation to Section 115 Trust (1,000,000)
33% of Surplus reserved for UAL or Pension or OPEB (508,097) Remaining Unassigned Fund Balance 7,245,966
Approved adjustments during FY 2023-24 (3,109,778)*
Recommended Adjustment for FY 2023-24 Operations (2,292,554) Remaining Unassigned Fund Balance 1,843,634
8 *Includes commitments by Council made after December 31, 2023.

Recommended adjustments in blue
Agenda Packet Page 490 of 494
General Fund Forecast
• Forecast based on current budget
year and carefully developed
assumptions
• Preliminary FY 24-25 estimates:
 Revenue stagnant
 Costs increasing from inflation and
labor contracts
• Staff will incorporate forecast
during FY 2024-25/FY 2025-26
budget adoption process
• Assumptions:
 Moderate revenue growth based on
historic and current trends
 Expenditure growth includes
existing employment agreements
and conservative expenditure
growth
 Includes impact of dissolution of
Successor Agency and current
CalPERS actuarial estimates
 Does not include use of funds held
in Section 115 Trust
9 Agenda Packet Page 491 of 494
General Fund Forecast – Current Projection
10 • Current budget year, including proposed mid-year adjustments • Steep drop in FY 23-24 from use of one-time funds, including establishment of EDRF and Pension Trust • Assumes no budget changes or corrections in future years Agenda Packet Page 492 of 494
General Fund Forecast – Scenario
11 • Ongoing budget adjustments of $1M beginning in FY 24-25 • Further discussions of budget adjustments during community outreach and future Council meetings Agenda Packet Page 493 of 494
Questions
Agenda Packet Page 494 of 494

El Cerrito City CouncilMarch 5, 2024

El Cerrito City Council
March 5, 2024