From:
To: City Council
Subject: Sebastopol Resident - Please confirm receipt
Date: Tuesday, April 2, 2024 1:47:16 PM
Dear Mayor and Members of the City Council,
As a doctor in this community, I am concerned about the health of my patients and the community as a whole. I am not in support of any cease fire resolutions as they are divisive and create anxiety in the population.
In medicine we live by the Latin phrase, ‘Primum Non Nocere!’…First do not harm! I would hope that our beautiful community that we nicknamed ‘Peacetown’ wants peace and to do no harm. I love our democratic tradition in this town whereby people express their points of view on the corner every Friday afternoon….honk or don’t honk, love me or don’t love me. But it is all there for everyone to express themselves, for everyone to be seen.
How do we go from there to saying one side of the street is right and the other side of the street is wrong? Your resolution seems one sided and it does not represent all parties involved, and therefore it does not represent the community.
You cite HR 786 as if it had been passed by Congress, yet it was written by a small group of Representatives and was never even considered in the Foreign Affairs Committee. A recent article in Tablet Magazine by a Wharton School of Business scholar refutes the numbers that the Hamas Ministry of Health presents, which you correctly quote as including Hamas Terrorists that have died but fails to include those killed by Hamas misfired missiles and human shield casualties.
You state your support for the Resolution by saying, “Well Cotati did it”, but fail to notice that the Board of Supervisors did not pass a ceasefire resolution. They saw that it would be divisive. The same goes for Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Healdsburg, Rohnert Park and Cloverdale City Councils. They all saw that passing a ceasefire resolution would be divisive.
As 'Peacetown' we can stand for peace, as Santa Cruz did when they adopted a “Peace resolution” wherein they, “affirmed our shared humanity and wish for peace,” and emphasized the city’s commitment to peace, instead of joining the pro-Hamas Ceasefire resolution movement.
Peace begins at home. 'Primum Non Nocere'…. Please, FIRST do no harm.
Thank you,
Dr. Robert Gitlin