From:
To: City Council
Subject: Re: Support a Ceasefire Resolution
Date: Monday, February 19, 2024 12:10:14 AM
Furthermore, and I’m sorry to have to follow up with a second email but I forgot to make a very important point:
I would like to remind the Council that our tax dollars are going towards Israel in unprecedented amounts of foreign aid packages which are in direct violation of the Leahy law.
For reference, this law is "two statutory provisions prohibiting the U.S. Government from using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights" (https://www.state.gov/key-topics-bureau-of-democracy-human-rights-andlabor/human-rights/leahy-law-fact-sheet/ ) Please take this into consideration when you decide whether or not to adopt the resolution. We should denounce any moment in which our government decides to fund a military that is clearly committing gross violations of human rights. Otherwise we risk allowing it to become a precedent.
Gigi
On Sun, Feb 18, 2024 at 5:40 PM Gigi wrote:
Greetings to all members of the Sebastopol City Council, I wanted to reach out and voice my support, as a Jewish member of this community for the past 27 years, with friends & family in Israel and with many friends of Palestinian and Arab descent- PLEASE PASS A CEASEFIRE RESOLUTION.
I wanted to share a few short videos, shared with me by way of my Israeli cousins:
1) Israeli anti-occupation activist, Gaia Dan, sharing her testimony about protesting for a ceasefire in Haifa and the harassment they experience as a result. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1SM3aHuBll/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== 2) Israeli peace activist Maoz Inon, who lost both of his parents on Oct. 7, speaking at a peace rally in Israel, demanding that the US stop sending military aid to Israel. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3No_CoMuZz/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== 3) Peace activists in Tel Aviv being brutalized by Israeli police officers for peacefully demanding a ceasefire:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2p0sB6tHul/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== The point in sharing this with you is to highlight that there are courageous Israelis themselves, who have lost loved ones and YET, they still keep their heart open and desire PEACE.
Above all, when, as you can see, there is a growing movement WITHIN Israel, of people who have been DIRECTLY affected by this conflict, that are calling for a CEASEFIRE. I think it is utterly ridiculous that some of our local synagogues are mobilizing their members to speak out against this resolution, which is not inflammatory to any reasonable, peaceloving person. It is a disgrace that any synagogue, and any Jew for that matter, would argue in favor of the continuation of a genocide, especially when the people themselves who live there want that too. Who are we to argue against that?
I have faith in you all to keep a level head. Please do not allow yourselves to be intimidated or deceived by people who are unable to see that the use of violence will never result in peace nor security. And we as taxpayers funding the bombs being dropped on Gaza have a moral obligation to do ALL that we can, in EVERY space we inhabit, to speak out loud for justice and an end to war mongering.
Shalom,
Gigi S.