Okay. We're recording. Thank you. Good evening. It's March 4, 2024. And while this is a regular meeting of the town council, the focus is primarily on the proposed resolution in support of a ceasefire in Gaza. The open meeting law allows us to continue holding meetings. You cannot hear me. Can we adjust the mics please. Can you hear me now. The open meeting law allows us to continue holding meetings remotely. However, obviously we're not doing that tonight. Without a quorum of the council physically present, but we have a council physically present in the room tonight. At the same time, we must provide the public with adequate alternative access to the meeting. This meeting is accessible in real time by zoom by phone and as a live broadcast on Amherst media channel nine and live stream, given that we have a quorum of the council. Thank you. Given that we have a quorum of the council present I'm calling the March 4, 2024 regular town council meeting to order at 633. For those of you that have signs, you may not block other people's views. I would stress strongly that you move use the walls over here, or way back there. Please do not raise your signs so that you are in fact blocking other people's views. The mics are on. I want to make sure the council knows that but they're on at all times this is different than when we are in the town room. So that is a change for us being here. I'm going to call on each counselor to make sure that they can hear us and we can hear them. And then we will proceed with the rest of the meeting. Allow us present. Anna Devlin Gothier present counselor at a present Lynn Greysmer is present. Councillor hanecke present Bob Hina present council or Lord present Pam Rooney here+. Ryan. Present. Kathy Shane. Here. Andy Steinberg. Present. Jennifer Taub. Present. Councillor Walker. Here. There is no chat room for this meeting. If you have technical issues, you need to make sure that Athena, who is the clerk of the town council, and I both know. We will make adjustments if we have to and note that in the minutes. If you would like to make a comment as a councilor, you must use your raised hand function. There will be a two hour general public comment period at this meeting of immediately following the announcements. The order of the agenda is as it has been posted. I also want to note that while I don't identify, we do, yes, I do. We have press in the room. Just two quick announcements, actually three on March 18th, the council will meet in its regular town meeting room at town hall. At that time, we will have a public forum on the appropriations outside the annual budget, specifically the community preservation act project funding. We will also have a presentation and discussion of the proposed use of the remaining ARPA funds. On April 1st, the town council will also meet at 630 in the town room. There will be a public comment period during each of these meetings. And on the April 1st, we will focus on the regional school budget. In a very positive note, I want to mention that we will be breaking ground for the new elementary school at the Fort River site on Tuesday, March 26th at 330. We have no hearings tonight. So I ask that you all bear with me while we go through a couple of procedural things with regard to public comment. Anybody wishing to make public comment who is in the auditorium, if you have not signed up, please do so with Angela Mills. She's right back here. If you are in Zoom and you wish to make public comment, please raise your hand at this time. Athena, how many people have signed up for public comment in the room? We have more than 50 down here and there are more signing up in the back. Okay. And at this point, there are 88 people on Zoom, 20 of whom have raised their hands. We will recognize speakers in the order in which they signed up rotating between Zoom and in person. So as not to advantage or disadvantage a person who was not able to be present in the room. Our hope is to hear as many voices as possible this evening. Comments shall be on matters within the jurisdiction of the council and on our agenda and are protected by the First Amendment rights of the US Constitution. The council will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter raised during general public comment. Public comments are not reflective of the opinions of the town council. We ask that you make your comments in a peaceable manner and that you respect everyone's right to make offer their public comments attending the meeting. Given the size of the crowd this evening and the fact that I know that many of you have also been rightfully participating in demonstrations, that means when someone finishes speaking, please do not make comments, do not support, do not not support because that takes up the time that we have for public comment. Thank you. We have two hours for public comment. This is established by the town council's rules and the building closes at 1030. As publicized in advance of the meeting, speakers will have a maximum of two minutes to make comments and although I cannot buy rules of our procedure restrict you to one. I ask you in light of the number of people that have signed up to make public comment, to look seriously at your comments and see if you can reduce them to one minute. One minute, I cannot require you to do so. We will observe the limits and please note the clock up on the screen. We will recognize an individual wants to make public comment but per our rules, you may not yield your time to another individual. When you're called upon, please state your name, pronouns and where you live before beginning your comments. With that, I'm going to ask Athena to call on the first person and then after that we will go to Zoom. Athena is also going to try to queue other people up in the order so that again, we save as much time as we can. We're starting public comment at 640. Athena? Mike Offner, please make your way down and then Randy Stein, Lisa Pearlbinder, you'll be next but we're going to alternate between Zoom and in-person. Thank you. So please state your name and where you live before you begin your comment. My name is Mike Offner. I live in East Fire Resolution before the council is tyranny of the majority and highly divisible. The opponents are mostly Jewish but Jews being a tiny percentage of the Amherst population, the proponents have the larger total numbers. There are Jewish supporters of the resolution but that is no indication of unity. As a Jewish dad who is strongly in favor of a comprehensive ceasefire and who has studied Israel and the Middle East for decades, I offered to help fact check and slightly modify the resolution to make it a statement of unity. My offer was rejected and I was attacked and insulted because I am outspoken about Jewish hatred in the town of Amherst which makes me the wrong kind of Jew to be included in the group behind this resolution. Gallup polls indicate that many blacks oppose affirmative action. Clarence Thomas helped end affirmative action and Amy Coney Barrett helped end abortion rights. No one would ever cite that evidence as indicating unity for these outcomes. When a marginalized group is a tiny percentage of the population, it is easy for a bigoted majority to trample over the small number of dissenters to a resolution and they can always find some collaborators from within the marginalized group because it feels safer to stand with a threatening mob than to oppose it. The best outcome would be unity of all council members abstaining on this resolution. I also note I have indicated to Ms. Griezmer a concern about violation of the open meeting law because there's been an amended version of the resolution circulated right before the meeting not posted 48 hours beforehand. You need to complete your comments immediately. Time, Michael, thank you. Matea Kramer, please enter the room, state your, we will unmute you. Please state your name, where you live and go ahead with your comments. Can you hear me? Ken? My name is Matea Kramer, pronouns are she, her. I live in district one. I am Jewish and my Jewish family was shaped by anti-Semitism and remains traumatized today. Here in Amherst, Jewish residents fear anti-Semitism and Palestinian residents fear Islamophobia. We as a town will help break the local cycle of dehumanization by voting for a ceasefire. To vote for a ceasefire is to say that we, the people of Amherst, refuse to fund the killing of civilians with our federal tax dollars. To vote for a ceasefire is to affirm that no one life is more valuable than any other. That bombing Palestinian children is no less a crime than bombing the children of Crocker Farm School. A ceasefire can never be anti-Semitic. Killing is not a Jewish value. My Jewish education taught me never again, meaning no genocide ever again for any people. By standing in solidarity with my Palestinian neighbors, I make the world safer for Jewish people too. Instead of pushing more trauma onto the next generation, who will then push more trauma onto the generation after them, we can say the cycle stops here. We break the cycle by speaking out for one another, starting in our own neighborhoods in Amherst. Please vote for a ceasefire. Thank you to all our counselors for your service on behalf of the people of Amherst. Zina, next person. Randy Stein. And then Lisa Perlbinder and Hennia Lewin. Please go ahead. Thank you. My name is Randy Stein. I've lived in Amherst for 15 years. First of all, we say I'm very glad the members of the council are interested and willing to respond to events around the world, not just in the Middle East. And I also want to say I am in favor of a ceasefire, but not for the reasons that are in this resolution. I want to point out the one place that I have serious issues with. And that is the difference between the description of what happened on October 7th and what has happened since. The description in October 7th, at least the last version I've seen, simply says that lives were taken. And the description of what has happened since the bombing of Gaza mentions women and children. I want to remind everyone that women were butchered, raped, mutilated, also on October 7th. And frankly, unfortunately, many, many years before that, I lived in Israel for five years on a keyboard that now doesn't exist anymore on the northern part of Israel, Kibbutz Ben-Ara. And while I was there in 78, we were bombed and I was in a bomb shelter for three weeks. And several people in the Kibbutz were killed. I am for peace and I am for a resolution and a ceasefire could be the beginning. But I think ultimately if Palestinians and Israelis can find their way to create a state for each of these peoples in peace, that would be the resolution. What I could support is a resolution from this council with a commitment for the safety of all the people of Amherst. And therefore I very much appreciated the very last paragraph and the resolution. And I'd love to have that highlighted. Thank you. Thank you. Would Ronnie Parker please be unmuted and go ahead? Ronnie, can you please unmute? Hi, this is Ronnie Parker. Are you hearing me? We can. Okay. So I'm calling really because of the numbers around the children who are dead in Gaza. More than 10,000 are dead. UNICEF estimates that more than 17,000 are wondering about they've lost their families. These are our children. That's why I'm calling for a ceasefire. I think we have to stop this. We have to stop the shooting. We have to let aid through. We have to get them food. We have to get them medical care. This is only the children, mind you, but that's where I focus because adults are always fighting. We're always killing, but the children have nothing to do with this. They're totally dependent on us. Whatever the politics, this is not right. It's especially wrong because we are enabling it. What's the impact of little Amherst? I really don't care. It's up to us. We need to speak out because we don't accept this. I don't believe any of us really wants to be associated with this kind of killing and damage. So I'm speaking out loud today that we do not support this unbearable violence inflicted on the people of Gaza. We need to protect the life that is left. I am appealing to you not to be divided on this. Nothing is clearer than that. We must stop the killing. We must open the pathways for humanitarian assistance. And we need to do it now. Thank you. Oh, pass the resolution, please. Athena, please move. Yes. Lisa Probeinder. And then Hennia Lohan will be next and John Loeb afterwards. Good evening, town council members. Good evening, fellow citizens of Amherst, and good evening to those who have come to offer their support. I'll be brief. Israel's at war due to an unprovoked attack, a ceasefire broken by Hamas, and has the right to defend itself as a sovereign nation. A resolution calling for a ceasefire this evening will not bring about peace. In fact, of all the signs I've seen out tonight, not a single one of them called for peace. They called for a ceasefire. In the Hamas Charter, it says, Please stop. There shall be no legitimacy of the Zionist entity. Hamas believes that no part of the land of Palestine should be compromised or conceded irrespective of the causes, the circumstances, the pressures. Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea. Those of you who know geography can figure that one out. So, there are many, many citizens being killed. I know we all want peace. I hope. But Hamas senior leader Khaled Michelle stated October 19th that no nation is liberated without sacrifices. In all wars there are some civilian victims. We are not responsible for them. You got it. Please. Also vowed to repeat October 7th attacks time and again until Israel is annihilated. Ismail Hanayah, arguably the leader of Hamas, says we will not recognize Israel, Palestine must stretch from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Hamas official Hamad Al-Rageb said, he prayed for the annihilation and paralysis of the Jews who he describes as filthy animals, transform them into filthy, ugly animals, apes, pigs, because of the injustice and the evil they had brought about. Thank you. I come to my council for parking tickets, not for foreign policy. Thank you. Steven Brevek, please enter the room, state your name and where you live and unmute. Thank you. Go ahead. Hi, yes. My name is Steven Brevek. I go by he, him. I'm a psychologist here in Amherst. I'm also a resident of district two where I live with my wife and kids. And I'm here to support the resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza. I want to offer my perspective as a psychologist because what we're witnessing in Gaza is having a significant impact on our community. Individuals are presenting to my practice, experiencing symptoms of trauma, depression, substance abuse, anxiety related to this genocide. These symptoms have been worsened by the inaction that we've witnessed from leaders at the local and national level. We're hearing it tonight. Individuals affected are becoming disillusioned, distrusting, and disconnected from our idea of America and of our town here in Amherst. Major news outlets have been dehumanizing Palestinians on a daily basis, producing their lives to numbers and statistics while we name and mourn those loss on October 7th. And this comes at a cost. Research informs us that this type of media coverage can cause significant distress for affected populations, a loss of faith in humanity, identity threat, marginalization, a diminished sense of belonging, powerlessness, shame, and a sense of inferiority for Palestinian and Arab populations. It's happening here. I know it. I see it all the time. For those that think this is not a local issue, I beg to differ. I personally and professionally know individuals who think about this, talk about this, and suffer with this daily, long into the night, and it inhibits their ability to function. Unfortunately, this issue is very local. Nothing justifies genocide, and we're simply asking for it to stop. Your inaction is amplifying the suffering of our community members. So please vote yes on this resolution and prevent further harm to the people of the community. Thank you. Thank you. Stop. I'm warning you once, and if it goes twice, I'll warn again, and if we have to stop the meeting because you cannot abide by our rules, we will. Got it? Kenya Lohan? My name is Kenya Lohan. I live in Amherst. I'm a Holocaust survivor. I'm 84 years old, so I'm considered a child survivor and 1.5 million children were killed during the Holocaust. So I vote my life to my non-Jewish neighbors who took a risk and saved the Jewish child. Since October 7th, I feel again a Holocaust. And now living in Amherst, where I felt so wonderful for the last 25 years being involved in so many community activities, I feel all of a sudden again, like the unwanted Jew. I have wonderful friends from Egypt, from Turkey, and all of a sudden, we are not the friends anymore because of this kind of statements. This is divisive. Let's leave the foreign policy to our president and our vice president. And I think they're doing a very good job and hopefully they will get there.  Thank you. Thank you. We're going to go to the next person and you need to identify yourself by name, Roe, Frude, and Northampton. Please unmute. Hi, can you hear me? We can. Okay. I need to explain that I was unable to sign out of my work email. I am only speaking for myself, not for my workplace Grow Food, Northampton. Please take your name and where you live. My name is Elisa Klein. I use she, her pronouns. And I am a resident of Northampton but am a former resident of Amherst and still have many ties in the community. In terms of identifying myself for this evening's public comment though, what I think is most important is that I am a proud Jew and an Israeli American. I grew up in Israel and I served for two mandatory years in the Israeli army when I was 18 years old. I tell you this because this evening, you'll hear from a number of Jews and maybe some Israelis who will proudly self-identify as such because they think that that status gives them a kind of moral righteousness and extra clout to speak out against the ceasefire resolution. But I too am Jewish. I'm also Israeli, as I said with beloved family members living in Israel and I say, please vote yes and pass this resolution. You'll also hear from Jews this evening who lost ancestors in the Holocaust as if that victim status grants them moral authority in protesting the notion of ceasefire in Gaza. I too lost almost every member of my paternal ancestry in the genocide that was the Holocaust. And it's precisely because of this loss of so many family members in the Holocaust and precisely because of what I know and what I've seen as an Israeli and what I witnessed in my years in the Israeli army that compels me today to say we need a ceasefire now immediately in Gaza. That is the only moral stance we can take against that genocide that is being perpetrated by Israel and our US tax dollars. I'm calling. John Lowe. And then it will be Amad Asafani afterwards and Gabya Ahmed. Thank you. I'm John Lowe, but I live in Amherst. Beth Etta? Yes. Okay, thank you. I'm John Lowe, but I live in Amherst. And I think there's no one in this room and I feel really comfortable saying this who isn't for peace and a ceasefire. And what we have to differentiate is how does that ceasefire come about and who is the aggressor and who and what is the ultimate goal in mind? I think it was made very clear from something that Lisa Perlbiner said that Hamas has very little interest in a ceasefire per se. And when you talk about all of the people, Jews, Muslims, anyone else who were killed, it is horrendous. All that being said, I'm confused. Where was the town council when 600,000 people were killed in Syria? 26,000 children and 16,000 women. Where was this town council as the slaughter in Yemen is taking place? Where are all of our protesters? I don't see them having protests about that. No, no, it seems like Mr. Trump has been very successful. And I imagine in this room there aren't very many Trump supporters. Maybe a few. I happen not to be a Trump supporter, but he has been successful. He has opened up the woodwork and the racists and the anti-Semites have come crawling out and they've come crawling out very, very hard. I think we need to be very careful about what we do as a town in terms of are we going to support a resolution that is incomplete in its ultimate meaning? Do we understand history? I think not. Thank you. Barry, please enter the room. State your full name and where you live. My name is Barry Roth. I live in Northampton. I used to live in Amherst. I went to UMass. Can I begin? It would really help to get some facts on the record. I hear a lot of anti-Jewish, Israeli propaganda being presented as truth. I asked my counselor here in Northampton who voted for our measure if she could name three countries bordering Israel and she was unable to do so. Tragic is what is going on in Gaza and Israel. Any measure demanding a ceasefire only serves Hamas's propaganda and indoctrination program and will ultimately result in more suffering. To speak of Israel deliberately committing genocide is an abomination. The population of Gaza went from 70,000 in 1948 to today it's well over 2 million. They have the highest population growth in the world and the world is spending more money on providing them with things to build a good life than they are in providing money for Israel for armaments. What the Gazans choose and what Hamas in particular does choose it to do with that money is make missiles and indoctrinate their kids. The Gazans are smart people. It's up to us to see to it that the truth breaks through.  It's not the mistreatment. If you go, if the truth gets out there and you see there are more medical students, Palestinian medical students graduating from Israeli colleges than there are Jewish students graduating. This whole thing is the biggest lie ever. Joseph Goble said tell a big lie long enough everyone will believe it maybe even yourself with. This is all total propaganda. It's tragic for everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Ahmed Estahani. Please correct me if I missed an answer. Yes, my name is Ahmed Estahani. Thank you. I live in Greenfield. From my perspective, this resolution has brought out three categories of people. The first category are people who are thinking with their heart. You see the images and they feel love and compassion for those who they identify with.  The second category of people who are thinking with their heads. They're thinking this is a little bit more complicated. You know, there's a lot of moving parts. This isn't as simple as just passing a resolution. There's lots of things to consider. The third category of people for people who are here in spirit and they know that there's something else going on and they can feel it. What that is, they're not quite sure. They can feel it in their bones and I'm one of them. That this is something that is beyond just Israel-Palestine, beyond just this present conflict. So even though I'm supported by C-Spire, I do not believe that it will address the needs.  If you're out, figure out a way to find some kind of peaceful resolution to this. Thank you. I am Rodewald. Please enter the room. State your name and where you're at. And I'm going to go ahead. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Hello, my name is Ian Rodewald. I live in the first district of Amherst. I'm here tonight to speak in a professional capacity, a community capacity and a personal capacity. First, as a professional capacity, I work as a labor organizer for the Western Mass Area Labor Federation. We're a coalition of more than 60 public and private sector unions in Hampshire, Franklin, Hampton, and Berkshire counties representing 50,000 unionized workers. In mid-November, we passed a ceasefire resolution. More recently, in February, the national AFL-CIO representing 12 and a half million union workers across the country called for a ceasefire on February 8th. Second, I'm a member of the Amherst Disability Access Advisory Committee. And in our meeting on February 13th, the Disability Advisory Committee unanimously voted in support of the ceasefire resolution. Israel's ongoing siege and bombardment of the Gaza Strip has been a mass disabling event. Israel has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians now and injured more than 67,000 Palestinians in five months. With Israel's ongoing siege preventing medical aid from entering Gaza, surgeons, doctors, and other medical staff have to operate and perform surgeries on patients without anesthesia. Additionally, since October 7th, the World Health Organization has documented more than 350 attacks on healthcare institutions in the Gaza Strip, which have included 98 healthcare facilities, including 27 out of 36 hospitals and affected 90 ambulances, including 50 which sustained damage. And then finally, on a personal note, I lived in Ramallah in the West Bank for two years and taught there. And I have a dear family friend who had family that was sheltering in the St. Porforius Church in Gaza when Israel bombed it on October 19th and a member of their family was killed. And then a friend of mine sent me a video this morning of the Israeli army making- Stop, sir, thank you for your comments. Please go ahead. Rabia Ahmed. Good evening. My name is Rabia Ahmed and I'm a resident of District 2 here in Amherst. I have two children who attend Fort River and it's well overdue for you to call a ceasefire now and end the horrors in Gaza and acknowledge the humanity of brown and Muslim people as equal you would be. It is a scary time to be a Muslim in America. Growing up here, post 9-11, I was forced to hide my identity. My family was targeted by law enforcement. My father was called a terrorist. I was told your people did this by the senior workforce and during my college internship. Our phones were tapped and the home of my college-age cousins was raided by the FBI when neighbors reported them to suspicious people here. They were never charged. They're only crying when they're being brown and Muslim. Since October 7th, Islamophobia had run rampant once again. Over Thanksgiving weekend, three college students speaking Arabic and English were shot while out for a walk in New York, Vermont. Two of them were wearing fridges like this one. Hisham Erdogan is now paralyzed from the chest down. That is 200 miles from here. In October, Waze El Fahum of Palestinian boy was fatally stabbed one piece six times in his apartment by Heffanburg. He was six years old. I also have a six-year-old son. He was his class' love leader on Friday out for a river. As a mother, I fear for my kids. This town's love leaders. Because once again, they won't be targeted for being brown and Muslim. We moved to Western Massachusetts for work and chose Amherst as our home for what this community says it represents. Is it's commitment to social justice and human rights? And now we will see if that's actually true for Justin's campaign since then. Today, you have a choice. The choice of supporting a ceasefire resolution as written, which acknowledges that humanity and suffering of the children and people of Gaza, people like me who are brown and Muslim.  I shouldn't have to beg for argument. That's thank you. In person, after this next Zoom commentator, we'll have Uri Strauss, Tom Porter, Joe Snorrike, and Layla Mousheva. Kathy Axelson-Berry presents for the Rooms Patriot Navy where you live. Hi, I'm Kathy, our kitty Axelson-Berry, and I live in district two. And I'm a proponent of peace and of a long ceasefire. When I was first asked to sign this resolution back in January, I told the writer that I couldn't do so because of its violent tone and focus. It's not a peace resolution. It's a condemnation of Israel more than it is the support of a ceasefire. And this is not a genocide, it's a war, and it's part of a generation's long cycle of violence. I sent the writer an alternative resolution that focuses on long-term peace, but it was rejected. However, too many deaths have gone by since then. Even though this resolution is all about blame, Hamas has not given up the Israeli hostages, has not changed its messages, mission has not changed its own appalling tactics. And I'm really of two minds, but in the end I have to support it, sadly and with deep fear, because of the deeper messages that communicates, the way it encourages violence in the name of a ceasefire. Thank you. And I want to pause for a moment. People who aren't seen and are not hearing the people and they're speaking in the room. So I'm going to suggest that one of the counselors give their mic to them, okay? Thank you. That's very nice. Hi, my name is Louie Strauss. I use e-him pronouns. I live in South Amherst. I have two children at Parker Farm and I'm eating master lunch. I'm also Jewish and I'm the grandson of four Holocaust survivors. After the war, my mother's family moved to Israel and my mother grew up. I spent a couple of early settlements in West Bank. And both of my siblings and their families currently live in Israel as much of my extended family. I've been advocating for an Amity Israel's occupation of Palestine for more than 30 years. The current war is a continuation and intensification of what has always been as well as policy in subduing and subjugating the Palestinians. It's not to end Palestine's resistance, but to submitify it. This puts not only the Palestinians, but also Israel is like my family in danger. The only way out is to stop our violence, stop the starvation, and then turn to peace talks based on principles of international law and human rights. For this reason, I also should work for the first step on that, which is to resolution and support the ceasefire of the Palestinians. Recent surveys by the data for progress as the experts move have showed very strong support for the ceasefire in every US demographic role. Similarly, the dissent upon the Israelis by the mounting newspaper, they will only support for a ceasefire over the ceasefield. Here in town, more than eight views have signed a letter supporting the resolution and calling out their misguided notion that this support is in any way anti-season. The council should ask themselves, do I understand that my community in public opinion across the country at this moment stand against this? I urge the council to stand against this only Jewish and the community here in our resource and support the resolution. You still have static. And so again, we can continue our JCC system and get back to the state. Thank you, can you hear me? Thank you. Rabbi DeVore Jacobson, I'm a resident of Hadley and an active member of the Jewish community of Amherst. On October 16th, the town council voted unanimously to adopt a resolution condemning the October 7th savage Hamas attacks on Israel and its citizens. I was asked to consult on that document and felt privileged to be involved. Now we consider yet another resolution, one that condemns the overwhelming military force ordered by the Netanyahu government that has resulted in the deaths of over 30,000 Gazans, including so many children. It demands a ceasefire, anathema for some, including many in Israel and also here in the American Jewish community. And though my intention is not to add to the divisiveness and frustration, I do feel moved to come forward and forcefully advocate now for this resolution. To say that we are facing a humanitarian crisis feels like a tragic understatement given the nightmarish scenes that we see daily, almost an entire population displaced and facing horrific scarcity. To say nothing of living in constant fear, grief, and surrounded by death, this resolution does not attempt to offer any long-term solution to the more than a century-old conflict between Israel and Palestine. But it offers what town resolutions can offer, which is to promote civic engagement on issues that matter. And more than that, it allows us in the face of undeniable human catastrophe to express our outrage, pain, and deep sense of moral urgency. It is a reminder that all human life is precious and acknowledges the suffering and trauma of both Israelis and Palestinians without demonization of the other. Finally, it is motivated by the deep conviction that the path to peace- Your time is up. Thank you. Tom Porter. Good evening. I'm Tom Porter, Crocker Farm graduate, and I live in District 5. We don't do well always with dialogue and Amherst. We're pretty good at talking and not always with listening, but we're gonna get a lot better. Town council, I applaud you. You get to listen all night long. Thank you. You do a great job. Whatever we're paying you, it isn't enough. The job of the town council is to make life in Amherst peaceful, to make it great and beautiful and worthwhile. I think spending your time and your political capital and your civic reputations on a symbolic exogenous statement is not the council's responsibility. You passed a humanitarian resolution in October. You're under pressure now, I know. The concept of a ceasefire seems irresistible. Who isn't for peace? We all are. We all are. People laughed before at the distinction between peace and ceasefire. The word peace doesn't appear on the posters. It doesn't appear in the resolution. Tonight's proposed resolution only inflames the situation. Please leave it there, let it be, or be prepared to amend it month after month from now on. As a member of the Jewish community of Amherst, and I'm specifically not a spokesperson, I'm just simply a member. I'm telling you unequivocally on the record, our synagogue has not voted, has not voted to support this resolution. This resolution accomplishes none of what it seems to say it's set out to do. It's a distraction. We can't afford for you to be distracted. It is not for this body to decide. Please abstain. Kathleen Anderson, please enter the room. State your name and where you live. Kathleen Anderson, I live in Amherst. I just want to say that I want to ask the council to support this resolution for a ceasefire. I am native of Minnesota, where one of my ancestors was a Jewish immigrant. I attended schools with a large Jewish population. I have a sense of care about the atrocity that happened during the World War II and what the Nazis did to the Jewish population. I am sensing as the Jewish soldier who spoke earlier that there needs to now be a ceasefire that what is happening is an atrocious reenactment of what the Jewish, what feels to me like what the Jewish people experienced during the Nazi period. So let's stop this. Let's start by at least advocating for a ceasefire and for peace. Thank you. Josna Regge, she hers district one. It's bewildering to me that in a town known for speaking out early and often on international issues, to council resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza would be at all controversial. Similarly, bewildering that anyone would suggest that it is inappropriate for our elected councillors to weigh in on an international issue. That one is not qualified to speak on the subject unless they have an advanced degree in history or political science. But a concern that goes beyond just the potholes in our roads is part of the DNA of this town. Our family has lived in Amherst since 1990 when our son was about to start kindergarten. We stayed because Amherst was diverse, tolerant and international. We wanted our son to grow up in this atmosphere. As an immigrant and a foreigner, I felt at home too. When Operation Desert Storm was launched in 1991 and military cargo planes roared overhead, our son became anxious. His artwork featured threatening bombers looking like something out of Star Wars. We tried to reassure him that the bombers kept coming. Then a young man, Gregory Levy, committed an act of self-immolation in protest right on the Amherst town common. There was an outpouring of grief. We took our son to a small peace vigil at the gates of Westover Air Force Base where we held hands and sang Give Peace a Chance. This was a turning point for him. His parents were doing something about this scary situation and he too was part of the solution. He did a new drawing this time of grounded bombers and soldiers coming home. This story defines our town for me. Children feel safer when they know that the grown-ups are working to make things better. Active citizens make healthy communities. Speaking out for peace is a good in itself. Today, dying babies and their helpless parents have become daily spectacles on our screens. Although we're an overeducated population here in Amherst, it doesn't require a constant need to call out stall. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Kathy, Kathal, Kearney, please enter the room. I'm sorry if I've mispronounced your name. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay, great, thank you. My name is Kahl Kearney, District Five. I'd like to make two points in support of this ceasefire resolution. First, this is not a politically divided question. This is simply about acknowledging that the lives of those trapped in Gaza have value, that Palestinian lives have value and worth. If we need evidence from our political and military leaders to confirm this, Vice President Harris is now calling for a ceasefire and the U.S. has started airdropping aid into Gaza in an acknowledgement that not enough is being done for civilians there. Any suggestion that this is a politically divisive vote is merely a distraction technique from those that don't believe Palestinian lives matter. Secondly, this is about voting yes for human rights. We are witnessing a man-made famine unfold before our very eyes. It is the most vulnerable in society that will die from this. Multiple of Gaza's basic human rights, as defined by the UN, have already been stripped from them. The right to food, the right to clean water, the right to housing, the right to education. And now, most painfully, the right to life. Too often it is easy to see numbers on our screens thinks, oh, that's terrible, and move on with your day. But I want to put the scale of this loss into context for our community. Think of the whole population of UMass Amherst, the students, the faculty, the staff. Think of their faces, their real lives, their stories, and their potential. Think of what they can contribute to engineering, science, math, literature, art, culture, finance, economics. And now imagine they are all just gone. How loud would our voices be if we recall to stand up and protect and stop that? How rapid would our resolution pass? This is your chance to give a voice to those that don't currently have one. Thank you. Next up, please. Layla Mashabbeck, she, her, I live in District 1. I'm a Palestinian-American resident, and I have two kids. Sammy, who's seven, and Omar, who's four. In October, just after the town council unanimously passed its resolution condemning Hamas, the Gazan Health Ministry released the names and ages of the 6,000 confirmed dead Palestinians, 3,000 children. I found 90 called Sammy, and 115 called Omar. That's more Palestinian children killed in under a month than the total number of Israelis killed in 10 years of conflict. That number has since increased fivefold. I'd like to remind the council that there are people in this room for whom those statistics are not numbers. They are friends and family and colleagues. They share our names and our fates, and we see our children's faces in their faces, and they are being starved and killed with our tax dollars. For some of us, our awareness of Palestinian suffering did not begin in October, but has characterized a generational trauma that runs through our families. Our people are called human animals by leaders as they are intentionally deprived of the most basic human needs, and this dehumanization is dismissed by members of our council as not a local issue. We have watched as mothers write their children's names on their limbs so they can be identified. We have watched as men, women, and children are round up, blindfolded, and held in military detention without charge under conditions that constitute torture. And our leaders veto permanencies fire resolutions in the Security Council in order to safeguard temporary ones. This resolution falls far short of acknowledging the injustice my people have faced. It simply offers a basic truth that human rights are for everyone equally, and that these rights can never be conditional. Failing to pass this resolution, as written, would make an official town statement that Palestinians are less deserving of these rights. Our community has come together around this resolution in massive numbers. I have seen awareness grow, and I can tell you that people are connecting the dots of collective liberation, and we are paying attention. Thank you for your comments. The next in-person speakers will be Vincent O'Connor, Jill Brevik, Julian Ramirez, and Jim Oldham after we take Zoom, folks. Rachel Bond, please enter the room, state your name, and where you live. Hi, can you hear me? We can. OK, hold on, Rachel. Hi, my name is Rachel Bond. My pronouns are she, her, and I am an Amherst resident. As a Jew in this community, I feel deeply saddened by this conflict and complicit in the amount of irreversible pain other Jews have caused to innocent lives. There are individuals who want us to believe that advocating for a ceasefire is somehow anti-Semitic, and it's dangerous or offensive for American and Israeli Jews. Many people, especially Jews, are afraid to take a stance because of the possibility of repercussions for their jobs and livelihood. A ceasefire statement by Amherst City Council would be very powerful, not in spite of its Jewish community, but because of it. I'm also a new parent of an eight-month-old girl. Since October 7, as mentioned previously, Israeli attacks have killed at least 10,000 children. Thousands more are missing. This level of extreme violence enacts upon the Gaza Strip in the months since the attack has been sustained by direct American support. A ceasefire is important because violence out of fear leads to more violence down the road. A ceasefire would allow for aid to be delivered for captives on both sides to be released and could help build a road towards political solutions. The process of local government taking an international stance on acts of violence, as this very committee did, after the attacks on October 7, 7th can send a powerful message about our collective values towards peace and diplomacy. Speaking as both a parent and a Jew, I urge you to back a ceasefire resolution in Amherst. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Vincent O'Connor. Are we discussing this resolution about this war? Because, like Vietnam, it is on our radios and televisions every day, unlike the conflicts in Syria, Sudan, and Congo. And its images are affecting the lives of most, if not all of us. I support this ceasefire resolution. But what can or should we do tomorrow? First, I believe we should activate and Amherst Refugee and Asylum Applicant Commission to welcome all refugees and asylum seekers, including Palestinians and Jews fleeing this conflict or seeking medical care in the United States. Second, tomorrow, President Biden needs to hear at the ballot box from those of us who consider his leadership a failure on this conflict. Jerry Levinsky, please enter the room and unmute. Thank you, members of the council. I do appreciate the opportunity to speak. My name is Jerry Levinsky. I live on Halleck Street and have spent the better part of 45 years living in Amherst. I've raised my son, Josh, who has lived here all of his life as well. I grew up in Springfield and Amherst was always a place that I desired to be because of the fact, among other reasons, that Amherst has a long history as has been noted by other speakers, of standing honorably and publicly in this region and across the country on important, vital issues of domestic and international importance. I grew up in a Jewish home. I went to Hebrew school. I was Bar Mitzvah and an Orthodox traditional synagogue and my father lost most of his family in the Holocaust. I say that to support those who have made the case, made the point that any insinuation, that those who are arguing against this resolution or somehow anti-Semitic are either misguided or seem to not understand fully what's at stake here. We have a situation in which a majority of the people in this country want a ceasefire and we have an administration that refuses to abide by the interests of the American people. It's important that this council make clear publicly that the Biden administration must move towards an immediate ceasefire. The Israeli government is committing genocide against Palestinians and Gaza. They have already killed tens of thousands of people in a matter of months, reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble. Thank you for your comments. And carry out hundreds of attacks on hospitals. We're finished, thank you. Jill Brevik. My name is Jill Brevik, district two, she, her. I'm urging you to vote yes on the resolution in support of a ceasefire and not abstain as an abstention as a no vote. I've seen the organizing group for this resolution conduct a thoughtful process, drafting a resolution including diverse perspectives, securing more than 700 individual resident signatures, supporting affinity groups to relate their expertise using data. We've helped individuals safely share their experiences while dealing with the deep harm they've endured during this process. All the while facing arguments that this is not a local issue worthy of the council's time beyond the privilege inherent in that statement, beyond the insensitivity to those mourning loved ones killed in Gaza, the insensitivity to all the affected individuals that you've heard over and over, all focus on the fact that we chose you based on your promises verbatim to shape your agenda around the issues important to residents, encourage active engagement and promote inclusion, safety and justice. We looked at your voting records on other global resolutions and who would imagine when we voted that any of you would claim that this isn't what you were elected to do. Abstaining all of a sudden against to the status quo sends one loud message. The victims of this crisis are less important to you, less human, less worthy of unconditional basic human rights. An overwhelming number of residents will see this for the discrimination that it is and we will vote accordingly. Now we ask you to listen to the voices that we have raised. This resolution supporters are Palestinian Arab Muslim the broader BIPOC community Jewish LGBTQ immigrants survivors of interpersonal violence, myself included and descendants of survivors of other genocides and global atrocities. Many of us with related experiences of marginalization, hate and violence did not have to come around on this. If you're working on coming around please remember that these are the residents you were elected to protect and respect and I urge you to be self-reflective amplify our message and do not abstain. Thank you. Quiet. Got that. Okay. Shalini Balmil, please come in the room and unmute. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Shalini Balmil, she heard district five. So I'm here in support of a resolution that clearly expresses the intentions and values of the Amherst community regarding the ongoing conflict. The resolution is a statement of our collective intention. So I hope the council and the community members come together to adopt a document that expresses our collective values and intentions for peace, justice and safety for all involved. It may seem that the resolution before as a simple ask receives fire a black and white situation that would end the suffering of Palestinian civilians. But as we all know the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a long and complex history and there's immense suffering for people as shared by many today here. These are not numbers. These are actual people who are friends, family and as a community we can come together to focus on what we agree about. So that's what I wanna emphasize is and that's what I'm hearing actually despite the differences is that we do all agree on the condemnation of all civilian casualties on supporting unhindered humanitarian aid delivery, unconditional release of all civilian hostages, safety and protection for Israelis against future attacks, a long-term peace settlement, ensuring lasting safety and security for both Palestinians and Israelis, urging the government to review its role in the region to based on human rights principles. So here are so many things that we do agree upon. What we can and must do, I do believe that by coming together and sending a message to the state national and international community that we want to see the end of conflict and address the root causes so that Israelis and Palestinians can live freely and safely. Right now the resolution seems a little imbalanced which I would encourage you to edit so it can say something that is really Thank you for your comments. Defend and Palestinians. Julian Ramirez. Julian Ramirez, he, him. I'm a Colombian resident of Amherst. I grew up in this country as an undocumented immigrant and I understand what it feels like to be overlooked and to be vilified by those in power. 30,000 Palestinians have been killed. Gaza's closest starvation and our tax dollars are being used to aid and genocide. Many members of this community are angry or pissed and we're scared. That makes this a local issue. This mild resolution is a baseline. We should be doing everything we can to resist this kind of dehumanization that asks us to overlook basic human rights for anyone. You passed a resolution supporting the people of Ukraine, passed a resolution to support the people of Palestine. None of us want to stand here in audition for your support. The fact that this is even up for discussion exposes a racism that undermines what this town claims to stand for. You declare the importance of inclusivity and equity in your campaign statements. Pass this resolution and show people like us that our lives matter and our safety is important to this town. Pass this resolution as it is, as it has been endorsed by hundreds of members of this community and live up to your own Human Rights Day proclamation which says that each one of us everywhere and at all times is entitled to the full range of human rights and that it is every person's responsibility to uphold them. They bind us together as a global community. Thank you for your time. That's enough, thank you. And please, now. Stephen Lindhart, please enter the room, state your name and where you live. You need to unmute. Can you hear me? We can. Stephen Lindhart, he, him, Amherst resident for 42 years grew up Jewish in New York. I'm speaking in favor of the ceasefire. The idea that criticizing the current Israeli government is anti-Semitic has always struck me as shocking and disturbing. The current Israeli government, the national security secretary got famous by talking on television about his goal of assassinating the Israeli prime minister. The government of the Likud ministers is famous for supporting hate crimes against Jews in France through the French national front. This is not a question of the Israeli government is having the high ground on anti-Semitism. This is a government that cut off food, water, electricity and medicine, which serves absolutely no military purpose, does not help recover hostages. The bombing kills more hostages than it saves. A ceasefire would probably save more hostages than anything else. So I just wanna speak in favor of the ceasefire. Thank you. Thank you for your comment, Athena. Jim Oldham, and then Hind Mari, and then Lily Israel and Tom Roper. Jim, that blocks people's views, just put it down. Thank you. I'm Jim Oldham. I'm a resident of Amherst. I'm here in support of the resolution and I'm here to add my name to saying that Palestinian lives matter. On October 16th, this body passed a resolution unanimously that made clear on behalf of all of us in Amherst that Israeli lives matter. For five months since then, we've watched as people have been bombed, children and their parents have been killed and buried on a rubble that the weapons paid for by our government, our taxes has been used to murder 30,000 people, to displace practically the entire two million population of Gaza. And as things stand now, the imbalance of our American policy that speaks out about human rights when it suits us and ignores human rights, when it doesn't, is shown at the local level where we have a resolution that's been passed on behalf of all of us speaking out about Israeli lives, but we haven't said that Palestinian lives matter. This resolution would balance that. There have been suggestions that it's inappropriate, whereas the other resolution was done without public involvement or without the need for public demand. You did it on your own. I'll say the other thing I'm here to say is silence is complicity, a no vote and abstention and amendment to change the meaning of this. Any of that is complicity in those deaths that are continuing today and will continue tomorrow. We need to tell our government to stop and we need to, at the local level, raise our voices as a community. You did it for Israel. Please do it for the past. Thank you. Jeff and Marilyn Blasting, please unmute. You need to unmute. Are you able to unmute? Let's come back to them. I think you've skipped Jerry Levinsky who is in line first. Can we go to him first? Yes, thank you. Jerry Levinsky. I already get, I'm sorry. Thank you. I thought I had. So I'm going to go on to Ashwin Rabakumar and I apologize if I have not pronounced your name correctly. Please correct me. Thank you. Yes, hello. Can you hear me? We can. Great, hello. My name is Ashwin Rabakumar and I live in district two and I also teach at Amherst College. At this point, a permanent ceasefire is the bare minimum step to lasting justice in Palestine, Israel. As someone concerned with how we as a community relate to the rest of humanity, it is deeply important to me that my community stand on the right side of history. The unthinkable human toll in Gaza, 30,000 lives lost, 2 million people displaced, people's connections to place severed is extremely upsetting and disturbing. And it's what has brought so many of us out here today. To build a world in which we can all thrive, we must listen to our Palestinian community members to Jewish voices for peace saying in full voice, not in our name in the face of genocide and to the international community who has been absolutely clear on this issue. I just wanna say that we cannot have a peaceful community here in Amherst where everyone's lives matter without advocating for a ceasefire, the bare minimum step that we have massive international consensus about to pursue anything that looks like justice. We can't have justice without a ceasefire. Thinking forward also to the difficult challenges that climate change, that geopolitical instability, that a changing world imply for us, we need to come together to develop a muscle memory as a community for opening our hearts to the plight of those on the other side of the world and recognizing our shared humanity that all of our fates are intertwined. Please vote yes on this resolution, joining the great tradition of municipal actions for justice that have been part of what we do for a really long time from South Africa and the fight to end apartheid there to the war in Iraq, which we now uniformly recognize as a grave injustice, Amherst has as a municipality stood on the right side of history before. Let's do that again and let's make sure that we're building the type of community where everyone can thrive. Thank you. Please go ahead. Hi, Mari, please go ahead. Hi, my name is Henk Mari, Palestinian-American and Amherst resident since 87. Today, I urge you to do the right thing and vote yes on the proposed ceasefire for Gaza. On October 16th, this town council passed a unanimous resolution condemning Hamas for their attack on Israel, yet failed to condemn Israel's bombardment of Gaza. Despite you stating, and I quote, we support equal measures for justice, of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike. At the time of the resolution passing, Israel had already killed 2,800 innocent civilians in Palestine. Gaza has been under a brutal blockade for 17 years before October 7th. During that time, Israel had systematically bombed Gaza in 2008-9, 2012, 2014, 18, and 2021. Over the last five months alone, Israel has killed over 35,000 Palestinians. 70% of those are women and children. Leaving 70,000 who are injured and displacing about 2.1 million Palestinians in Gaza who have been 80% of them refugees on their own land. Israel had carried out one of the most vicious and discriminate military campaigns against civilians and only because of the support of our government and our tax money. I ask you, if 1,200 lives mattered, don't 35,000. Doesn't my life as a Palestinian and other Palestinian life matter? Thank you for your comment. Please affirm life and vote yes. Thank you, bye. Stop. Cut it out. I'm warning you. Lynn Pesco-Yang, please enter the room. Hello, can you hear me? I can, thank you. Lynn Pesco-Yang, she, they, district one. I'm Jewish and I support this resolution. The idea that my opinion as a diaspora Jew is at all relevant to whether families in Gaza should starve is deeply offensive. But I mention it anyway, because I know how this country works. It is thanks to an exhaustive 60 year propaganda campaign that crushed dissent from diaspora Jews like me and many in this room, that there now exists a contingent of the world population who believes Jewish safety depends on Israel. The logical conclusion being that calls for Palestinian freedom, such as today's resolution, must be anti-submitted. It is to these people I want to speak today. The idea that Jews cannot survive without committing genocide is absurd, but it is also crucially anti-Semitic. The assertion that Jewishness, a 3,000 year old state of being that has itself survived countless attempts at genocide depends on making martyrs and refugees of others is not just false, it is blood libel. Jewish safety simply does not depend on the genocide of other groups. To believe Jews can only survive on stolen land is to buy into the propaganda of European and American anti-Semites of the 20th century, the same propaganda that allowed the US government to turn away and Frank's family among thousands of other would-be refugees of the Holocaust. To my cousins in this room who still believe that their safety as Jews requires them to silence the grief and self-determination of Palestinians, I ask, is it worth it? Is the safety you feel you receive from the occupation of Palestine worth tying your love of your faith, your love of God to the suffering of innocent people? Is your identification with a military government abroad worth the perversion of Judaism into a doctrine of genocide? And I am sad and sorry for those of you who would say yes because your Jewishness is something I no longer recognize. Please support this resolution. Thank you. Thank you. I have to ask that you not do that. Thank you. Lily Israel is next and then Tom Roper, Nakhama Leaf, Ethan Markham, and Gary Tartakov. Lily Israel, please. Hi, my name is Lily Israel. I'm a resident of Amherst District One. I've lived in Amherst for 14 years and I'm also a small business owner in the area. I own an organic farm in Sunderland and I'm here today to speak in support of a ceasefire resolution. I'm Jewish. My grandfather was a Holocaust survivor. The only survivor in his family. And part of his survival was escaping to Palestine but his survival and our family's intergenerational trauma that has resulted from that event should not be the cause of violence for others. It does not keep us safe. It does not keep us safe to perpetuate the same kind of harms that were done to us, to others. And so I ask that you please vote in support of a resolution. I also wanna point out that some other speakers here have said that this ceasefire resolution does not contain the word peace. And maybe they didn't read it, but it says reaffirm our commitment to the safety of all members of our community and pledge to join with others seeking just and peaceful solutions. So the word peace isn't there. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. We're moving on to Michelle Miller. Please enter the room. Please unmute. All right. We can hear you. Okay, thank you. Good evening, counselors. My name is Michelle Miller. I use she, her pronouns and I live in district one. As someone who has been in your seat, I understand how difficult it can be to make decisions that are as important as this one is. Thank you for spending your time, energy and emotions on behalf of our community. In my time on the council, I initiated and helped to write both the Ukraine and Hamas resolutions. And while I agree there is no harm in the council discussing how it would like to handle issues like this in the future, I believe that taking positions about global issues that impact human lives matters. The challenge from my perspective with counselors considering issues like this is the possibility for cognitive dissonance to play a role in the decision. In an attempt to ease the discomfort of taking a stand, we might conclude certain things like that it is inappropriate, a waste of time or worse, totally inconsequential to waste or to weigh in on issues like this one. And perhaps there's an argument to be one that one of all or all of those things is true. There is no foolproof way to guarantee that the decision tonight will influence outcomes in Gaza. So before you vote, I ask you to consider this question. If the council's decision on this resolution tonight guaranteed an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages and the removal of obstacles to humanitarian aid, what would you decide? If the power was solely in your hands to wake up tomorrow morning to these circumstances, how would you vote? Thank you. Next, Tom Roper. I've been living in Amherst for 50 years, raised by children here. And I would like to speak in behalf of supporting this resolution and also to underline at first that all of the eloquent voices we have heard talking about the suffering that people experienced in Palestine and those people and other people experienced in Amherst. I'd like to shed a different light on all of these things. My family's all refugees and several of them died in concentration camps. I went to Therese and Staten, stood in the place where a relative of mine died. But what we have to do is achieve peace and something that people don't quite realize is that enemies are always in contact with each other. They're always negotiating with each other and we need to build on it. Let me tell you the story of my great-uncle, Court Bondi, who was a professor in Germany in Goettingen, was fired in 1933 with all the rest of the professors there and there's a plaque to him and other people in Goettingen now. He was then asked by the Nazis and the Zionists who were working together, Nazis and Zionists were working together to help Jewish kids get out of the country of Germany at that time. He started a school called Großpräsung. The people who were at it are still in contact with each other and they wanted to come to the United States. Then all of a sudden, I guess the Nazis changed their tune and they took him and 25 of his students to Buchenbach and you can imagine what the end of this story was, only it was different than that. Most people went to Buchenbach would just died there, right? However, a Virginia businessman named Tallinnan went to the State Department and asked them to help. The State Department then negotiated with the Nazis and got all of them out of Buchenbach including my great-uncle and they came to the United States and had prosperous lives here. Interesting case in my opinion of cooperation between people who were real enemies. Now- Thank you for your comment. I'm sorry, I'd let that go. Thank you. It's distracted. Crescenia vangora. Please enter the room, state your name. Because I know I mispronounced it. All right, hi, my name is Crescenia and I'm a student at UMass Amherst and I'm asking you to support the resolution for a ceasefire. Too many people in both Israel and Palestine have already died in this conflict and Palestinian civilians, many of them children are being killed and we cannot let this keep happening. We need an end to this war and what it comes down to is that we as a community need to take a stance. We need to take a stance against the murder of innocent people. As elected officials, that is your responsibility to speak out against this injustice and that is why I'm asking you to vote yes on a resolution for a ceasefire. Thank you and I see the rest of my time. Thank you. Nahama Alif and then we'll take Ethan Markham and Gary Tartakov. Great, hello, my name is Nahama Alif. I'm a district one resident. I've lived in Amherst for the past 12 years. I've worked for Amherst High School, did my student teaching master's internship at Amherst Middle School and even worked for the town council as just to say. My investment in the town of Amherst isn't new or unique to this issue. I also am a community organizer for several groups of Jews that are non-Zionists as a core tenant of our spiritual practice and I represent hundreds of people of the views that I have. Jews in the United States have been subject to a decades-long pro-Israeli propaganda campaign designed to play on our realistic fears of anti-Jewish violence in order to convince us that the state of Israel is the only solution that keeps Jews safe. To the Jews in this room whose fear for Jewish safety has perhaps led you to oppose the ceasefire measure I ask you to hear me. I agree that antisemitism is frightening and I have the same trauma in my body and I know that our ancestors have lived through the same pogroms and genocides but you have turned down the wrong path on this issue. The strong messaging that we have received in our lives that we were taught about Israel is not true. Israel does not make Jews in diaspora safe, it does not make Jews in Israel safe and the genocide of Palestinians doesn't make you or me or anyone safe and there is no amount of genocide that would be worth your safety. Around the world calls for a ceasefire are growing louder and more clear within the halls of the UN, nationwide governments and individuals of conscience. In the months and decades to come when we are asked and immersed what we did I hope that I can say that at the minimum my town counselors represented my voice and along with myself fellow Jews and non-Jews we had a clear conscience for ceasefire now.  Jeff Lee, please enter the room. Hello, it's actually Carol Gray, 815 Southeast Street. I have a PhD in political science, I'm an attorney and I have a diploma in international human rights law from American University in Cairo and I would say at the outset I was also a town meeting member for about a decade and I was very proud that our town took a stand on political issues. We urged town meeting passed resolution to urge the end of the Iraq war to urge diplomacy instead of war in Iran and to condemn the human rights atrocities in Darfur. I would hate to think that because we switched our form of government we as residents of Amherst are no longer able to take political positions when it matters most. This is really about being on the right side of history. Israel and Hamas have committed war crimes. We need to look at actions based on what they are and whether they violate the law, not by who's doing that. When Hamas took hostages that violated article 34 of the Geneva Convention. When Israel and Hamas collectively punish people when there've been mass killings, 30,000 now of civilians that violates article 33 of the Geneva Convention. When Israel had leaflets for people to leave the North to go to the South only to have more bombs in the South that's mass force of transfers. That violates article 49 of the Geneva Convention. Article 18 prohibits the attacks on hospitals. The genocide convention imposes a duty on all signatories including the United States to prevent and punish genocide. The US is funding Israel as you know and this really is about looking at the actions themselves what if Hamas were doing these killings and had killed 30,000, would you still hesitate? What if you just switched the parties here? And if you wouldn't hesitate for a second then you shouldn't hesitate now. We need to be on the right side of history. All of us as residents have a right to have our town on the right side of history, thank you. Thank you, Carol. Ethan Markham. Ethan Markham, he, him, Amherst resident. I'll be reading a letter signed by more than 100 Jewish Amherst residents. As Jewish residents of Amherst we urge the town council to vote in favor of the resolution and support of a ceasefire in Gaza. We believe it is crucial to uplift Palestinian voices and we share our perspective and solidarity with our Palestinian Muslim and Arab American neighbors who are impacted most acutely. As members of the people that have survived genocide in mass pogroms, we oppose attacking or mistreating innocent civilians of any faith, nationality or ethnicity. Among us are descendants of Holocaust survivors and people with family members currently living in the region. We call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza and end to the Israeli military siege of the Gaza Strip, the release of the hostages and detainees on both sides, the removal of obstacles to urgently needed humanitarian aid entering Gaza and an unconditional US military aid to the Israeli government. We reject the notion that the bombardment and annihilation of Gaza is in the name of Jewish safety. We know that a ceasefire will make everyone safer. We firmly believe the idea, we firmly reject the idea that calling for a ceasefire is anti-Semitic or fuels anti-Semitism. On the contrary, the resolution is community led and supported by a broad cross-section of our town. The 700 plus community sponsors include Jewish, Christian and Muslim faith leaders, people across political backgrounds and community sponsors of the previous council resolutions passed in support of Ukraine and after the Hamas attacks. We insist with Jews around the world that opposition to the Israeli government's violence enabled by the United States is not anti-Semitic. In fact, equating this opposition with anti-Semitism dilutes the reality of anti-Semitism. We join many other fellow Jewish Amherst residents in calling for the council to vote yes. Many Jews here, unlike the Jewish Federation of Western Mass, support a ceasefire. Also, the council shouldn't allow out of town groups to silence local voices. We view our support of the resolution as deeply embedded in Jewish values and we believe that having a civil debate and a vote on this measure rather than quashing dialogue will make Amherst a healthier place to live. Thank you for your comments. And make sure that if you did not get to submit everything that you use the general public comment feature as well as many of you have done. Thank you. Christina. Oh, I'm sorry. Marisol Pierce Boniface, please enter the room. Hello, everyone. Can you hear me? We can. Good evening, everyone. My name is Marisol Pierce Boniface and I'm a junior at Amherst Regional High School and activist and a member of Sunrise Amherst. I have met with numerous town counselors with fellow youth activists, including Mar who will speak. And I have ducked out of classes, conducted meetings in history department offices and we have poured our hearts out in our voices and our time for this cause. I'm currently in tech week for my high school's musical hiding out in a corner because of the crucial nature of this resolution and testimony. As someone who identifies as ethnically Jewish this polarization and genocide breaks my heart. There's quite a lot of misinformation regarding Jewish people and their feelings surrounding Gaza. And while I absolutely cannot speak for all Jewish communities many Jewish communities and organizations oppose the utter genocide in Gaza and condemn the Israeli government. Many condemn the utter violence and quite frankly genocide. Many counselors I've talked to are apprehensive of the word genocide such a strong extreme term. The reality is a situation in Gaza is strong it is extreme and it is heartbreaking. My whole family and I grieve the utter loss and destruction of Palestinian families and communities. I implore you to stand with justice to stand with due process and condemn the Israeli government just as we've condemned Hamas. Please vote yes on the ceasefire resolution tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Gary Tartakov and then we'll take Merrick Grubrium Art Keane and Shel Reinertson. I am Gary Michael Tartakov a Ukrainian Jew with close relatives living in Jerusalem. In his novel, Fema, the Israeli author, Amos Oz has his title character ask kind of worthless man like me have sunk so low as to make a distinction between the intolerable killing of children and the not so intolerable killing of children. The question of course is ordered is uttered in a novel but since it is our nation that is supplying the weapons doing most of the killing in Gaza today must we not ask that question of ourselves? Have we sunk so low as to make a distinction between the intolerable killing of Israelis and the not so intolerable killing of Palestinians? Prime Minister Netanyahu speaks or an Israeli war on Hamas but since the Israeli army cannot or will not tell the difference between Hamas and men identifying themselves as Jews speaking in Hebrew and carrying a white flag there's no more safety for the Israeli from the Israeli forces on the ground than there is from the aerial bombardment with the civilian population. A bombardment they say is aimed at men in tunnels beneath hospitals are targeted and vulnerable to aerial bombardment. By the latest reports I can find there have been three times as many civilian deaths and casualties in the Israeli attack on the people of Gaza and in the Russian attack on the Ukraine more Palestinian children murdered than all the deaths of Ukrainian civilians. The American government supplying Israel with over $3 billion a year in military hardware is now clearly the major obstacle to the government of Israel negotiating with Palestinians for their political independence and protection from Israel. Thank you. Deborah R. Please enter the room, state your full name and where you live. Hi, yeah, my name is Deborah Rosenstein. I live in South Deerfield. Can you hear me okay? We can. Okay, great, thanks. I'm a graduate of the master's program a master's program at UMass Amherst and have long connections to Amherst. I was not planning on speaking tonight but upon hearing so much of what's been going on I just wanted to share a few things and with a lot of appreciation for everyone who's already mentioned the weaponization of anti-Semitism. I'm Jewish all the way back on both sides of my family. I'm urging you to vote in favor of this resolution. The reason I wanted to speak is that ever since I was very small like a lot of other Jewish people probably at this meeting I learned about the Holocaust and I learned about people in my own family and my questions were never about the Nazis or about Hitler. My questions were always about who the onlookers were who the everyday people were during that genocide. I wanted to understand that and in this moment I wanna really second the person who was suggesting and asking you all to please not abstain on this vote. I want you to all think about yourselves in that role that's the role that we're all in right now with this genocide and to think about who you wanna be in the company of do you wanna be in the company of South Africa who has lived through apartheid and knows better than any of us what the definition of that is. And the other thing I wanted to say is to just bring into mind here what we're facing in terms of rising authoritarianism in this country and globally Netanyahu is the Trump of Israel. We need to put a stop to these things because it's coming home to roost for us as well. And I ask you all to do the right thing. Permanent ceasefire now. Thank you. Thank you. Marit Gubriam. My name is Marit Gubriam and I'm a sophomore at Amherst Regional High School. I live in Belcher Town. However, I have been going to the school district since first grade. In 2021, I was in the car with Majiddo, my grandpa listening to the news horrified to hear about the violence against Palestinians perpetrated by the state of Israel. His explanation of historical persecution urged critical thinking and condemnation. The sentiments of shock and horror have intensified leaving me baffled at the justification of such genocide or the ability to witness it without profound anguish. Being part Lebanese, the topic of Palestinian oppression, struggle and liberation was no stranger to my household. Growing up, I often overheard conversations between my mother and grandparents about it. And again, I remember the feeling of utter shock and horror when I listened about how Palestinian life, land and culture were under attack. Learning more and more about this genocide is an increasingly strange feeling. Having to explain to people why innocent Palestinian men, women and children should not be getting bombed, starved and tortured. It's a very gut wrenching feeling knowing that there are people that think the genocide of Palestinians is good and that the settler colonial state of Israel should not only continue what they've been doing but also leave Israel without the proper accountability for their utterly deplorable action. Finally, it is exhausting and disappointing seeing officials not do or say anything about it and go on funding this genocide. Empathy for Palestinian loss runs deep and I'm unable to fathom the heartbreak of seeing their land destroyed. To be silent is to be complicit. We cannot keep sitting and watching this cost of inaction. Please, I implore all of you to vote yes on the ceasefire resolution. Thank you. Thank you. Mohamed Salaman, please correct the pronunciation of your name. Thank you. My name is Mohamed Salaman. Ladies and gentlemen of Amherst Massachusetts Council. I'm a resident of this town. I urge you to consider the critical importance of advocating for a ceasefire in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Not just as a policy stance, but as a moral imperative. A ceasefire stands as the foundation towards peace, a beacon of hope for countless lives and ensured in the violence. The October 7th events underscores a long history of suffering, a cycle of perpetuated by decades of conflict and oppression, our commitment to learning from history, from the inedible scars of the Holocaust teaches us the dire consequences of inaction in the face of injustice. The tragedy that is occurring against the Palestinians and even the tragedy against the innocent lives lost on October 7th is a result of that silence. At this moment, children in the conflict zone are starving. They are dying. The question that arises, how can you vote against a ceasefire even when that... How can a vote against a ceasefire can even be considered silence and inaction in this context equates to complicity in a humanitarian crisis of an imaginable scale. A ceasefire is not merely a political maneuver. It is an urgent humanitarian necessity to save innocent lives and provide immediate relief to those in dire situations. I seize the rest of my time. Thank you. Art Keane. Art Keane, District 3, He-Him.  Among them are Palestinians, Israelis, American Muslims, American Jews and people embracing a wide variety of other identities. The intersectionality of the sponsors and their commitment to bridge different understandings, experiences and histories in the service of peace offers us an analogy for the kind of compassionate cooperation that is needed in Israel and Palestine. The framers of this very moderate resolution have taken great pains to strip away recriminations in recounting a long history of past harms and grievances to bring forward a focused call to end the burgeoning tragedy in Gaza. The language has been chosen with care to highlight the urgency of the situation and to underscore that repairing all of the past violence that plagues the region can only commence after the killing stops. The resolution calls for four things, stop the killing, end the siege of Gaza, release all hostages and release all humanitarian aid to end the growing famine. The British Medical Journal reports that we can expect an additional 86,000 Gaza deaths over the next six months as a consequence of starvation and lack of access to clean water, sanitation and medical supplies and services. That prediction is reduced to less than 12,000 excess deaths within immediate ceasefire. There are 7 million Jews and 7 million Palestinians living in this troubled land and the aspirations of one side to eliminate the other are delusional. It will either be endless killing and suffering and insecurity or coexistence. The path to peace begins with a ceasefire. I call on our town council to speak up in support of peace and humanity and endorse the resolution for the ceasefire that is in front of you. Thank you. Caden Moore, please enter the room. Please unmute and go ahead. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can. My name is Caden Moore. I have been a resident of district one since 2020. I am speaking tonight in support of the ceasefire resolution. Equating a critique of the unconditional military support for Israel with anti-Semitism is a false narrative that abdicates our moral duty to make sure everywhere is safe for Jewish people, not just Israel. We as a community are responsible for the belonging of our Jewish neighbors and that is not a responsibility we can outsource by funding Israel's military. We are also responsible for acknowledging the fear and pain of both our Jewish and Muslim neighbors. We can acknowledge that the actions of Hamas were violent and caused suffering as the town council has in its previous resolution condemning the attacks of October 7th and that Netanyahu's response has only caused more violence and suffering with an unconscionable number of Palestinian men, women, and children killed. I want all Israeli hostages freed and I want Palestinians to live in peace. These are not mutually exclusive goals. A ceasefire is the minimum first step in working towards both. To those that have said it is not the job of the council to endorse policy, I would point to the fact that Hamas has been a progressive leader on resolutions condemning apartheid in South Africa as well as the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Those positions were contentious at the time but they are now regarded as the right and wise view. History has not looked kindly upon public officials looking the other way in times of moral crisis. I urge the council to adopt the ceasefire resolution as written and join other cities in sending a clear message to state and federal officials that we stand for life, not death and destruction. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Asina. Next is Shel Reinertson and John Jessup. Hi, my name is Shel Reinertson and I live in Amherst, district one. I'm here today to urge you to pass the resolution into the court of a ceasefire in Gaza. As others have said, more than 30,000 Gaussans have been killed since October and nearly 2 million have been displaced from their homes. Mass destruction is being wrought on the people of Gaza by these rarely military. This is heavily funded by the US government. The US has sent billions of dollars to the Israeli government to fund this mass killing of Palestinians. The tax dollars of Amherst residents alone contribute over $250,000 every year to this funding. I am not okay with funding the deaths of tens of thousands of people and I am not okay with our town being complicit in the deaths of tens of thousands of people. A ceasefire resolution in our town will be a powerful tool to put pressure on our state and national government to stop funding the Israeli military siege on Gaza and to work for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. As a town, we have the opportunity to stand for justice and make a call for peace. And that is why I urge you to pass the resolution in support of a ceasefire in Gaza. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Julie Haddad. Lynn, that person wasn't on the register when we began. Do you want to take the people who've signed up? Yes, let's do that. So Julie, I'm sorry that we are going to move now to people who are only in the audience. Thank you. John Jessup. Hello, my name is John Jessup. I use the name pronouns. I live on Pomeroy Lane, right next to the Hadley line. It is a fundamental principle of our society that the voice of the people should be heard. That's why when this entire crisis started, I wrote a lengthy, angry letter to President Biden regarding my opposition to the continued bombing and oppression of the Palestinian people, the death of over 30,000 people, 11,000 children, countless people missing, folks crammed into a bombing area like fish in a barrel, unable to move, denied political agency. What I got back from Biden was an auto-generated form letter. We need to increase our voice. We need to speak as one regarding this great humanitarian issue, just as the council has spoken out against the Iraq war, against the apartheid in South Africa, against the war in Ukraine, against the terrorist actions of Hamas. You are no stranger to speaking out against injustice. Your voice, combined with the voices of cities and towns across the country will force our leaders to take notice of this issue and to take clear, definitive, decisive action to end the oppression and genocide of Palestinians that starts with a ceasefire. Thank you very much. Athena. Brooks Ballinger. And then it will be Fatima Anwar. I just want to note that we only have about 20 minutes left. So please be as brief with your comments as you can so that others have time to speak. Hi, I'm Brooks Ballinger on Amherst Resident and a retired child care teacher and union organizer. I support the Amherst for ceasefire resolution because I believe our town must speak out on this crisis. Some say we're not experts on the Middle East. That's true, but you don't need to be an expert to be horrified that thousands of innocent civilians, women and children are being killed, injured or starved. We didn't need to be experts to denounce a horrific attack by Hamas on October 7th and we don't need to be experts to call for a ceasefire in Gaza now. Amherst for ceasefire worked diligently to craft this resolution that described the crisis accurately but without hatred or recrimination. We worked hard to reach out to all people of Amherst for thoughts and ideas. The result is a resolution which has over 750 resident sponsors and the support of many local organizations and businesses. We're simply calling for a lasting ceasefire. We believe we've built not divided community in town, reaching across many religions, ethnicities, political beliefs and national origins. The resolution calls for military aid to be given only in accordance with US and international law. We're well aware that this is already required by US laws. The problem of course is that the US laws are not enforced. We want the laws enforced and aid to stop when they're violated. And I want to speak as an early childhood educator. I worked in this field because I love children and I see them as bright lights today and the vision of a better tomorrow. In Gaza today, there's an acronym, WCNSF, Wounded Child No Surviving Family. According to media reports, hundreds, perhaps thousands of Palestinian children are now WCNSF. The UN estimated that 17,000 children are unaccompanied or separated from their families. We need your comments and thank you. Fatima Anwar and then Mayreen Larity will be next. Please go ahead. Hi, my name is Fatima Anwar and I'm a professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UMass Amherst. I teach students at the undergraduate and graduate level and I also advise research of many PhD students. I also serve on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee of my department. The student population at UMass is diverse. Many of my students have come from all over the US and the world and they call Amherst their home. The university prides itself in its diverse student body and faculty and claims to strive for equity and inclusion for all. Today, I am here because I have seen the impact of the horrific war in Gaza on the help and performance of many of my students firsthand. Most of my students of color, especially black, brown, Arab Muslims and Jews are not able to perform well in their classes, exams, and research. They're heartbroken at how their pain is not acknowledged at the university level and also in the town of Amherst where they live. Where the ceasefire resolution is still pending despite witnessing the daily horrors in Gaza for the past five months. Many of my students are also afraid of speaking up about Gaza because of the fear of repercussions from university authorities and Islamophobic actions from their peers. We all are aware of M57 UMass students protested with the sit-in at the Whitmer administration building in October to protest the horrors in Gaza. It led to retaliation from the UMass administration and the town of Amherst, creating a significant impact to their studies and their careers. I as a person of color and someone who is visibly Muslim have moved to Western Mass and chosen to work at UMass because of the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The town of Amherst prides itself in. I hope the consulates today would take the first step to uphold their values of inclusion and support the ceasefire resolution and set up precedence for other institutions in Amherst like UMass to follow. Thank you. Thank you. Maireen Larrity and Benjamin Cho will be next. Maireen Larrity, Chiefer District 4. Can you hear me okay? Please move to the mic a little more. Thank you. I speak in favor of the resolution and specifically for the call for releasing Palestinian detainees as part of the resolution. The IDF now holds at least 3,400 West Bank Palestinians under administrative detention. Let me explain. In the U.S. a person detained but then not charged has a right to be released. But West Bank Palestinians living under military occupation have no such right. The Israeli Human Rights Organization, but Selama explains in administrative detention one is held without trial despite having committed no offense on the grounds that one plans to break the law in future. The person is detained without legal proceedings by order of the regional military commander based on evidence not revealed to the detainee nor their lawyer. Courts can renew detention for repeated six month periods. Some detainees are held for years. Since October 7th, the IDF has detained about 6,500 West Bank Palestinians and detainees now total 9,000. Prison authorities started treating detainees and prisoners more harshly. Less food, worse food, cold spaces without warm clothing or blankets, denial of medical treatment to the sick or injured. Detainees report that a special force called Katir in Israeli prisons has been forcefully entering prison cells almost daily with weapons and iron rods. Prisoners and detainees have been brutally beaten with iron rods for extended periods, many of whom have sustained fractures in various parts of their bodies as a result. In the name of justice, administrative detention should end as UN officials urge and all such detainees should be released. Thank you for your comment. Benjamin Cho and then Eva Pulse. Hello. Okay. I'm Benjamin Cho. I'm a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. During the so-called Cold War, American bombers bombed North Korea to the point where every city was nearly leveled, was nearly leveled. And near the end of the Korean War, bombers began to bomb rice fields and hydroelectric dams. Today Israel is bombing Palestinians and the infrastructure that is required for life and such. Ultimately, this war is another example of imperialist violence against the dark world. And the American empire is complicit in that. And we have heard calls that this town should not talk about international relations However, we must understand that a few miles north of here in the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the University of Massachusetts Amherst is complicit with working with the military industrial complex, which today fund and support Israel in their war against the Palestinian people. As such, I call for this council to go further than the ceasefire and call for hostile policies against the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Against the University of Massachusetts. Athena Dext. Eva Paus. Eva and then Nina Levinson. Eva Paus, she, her resident of Amherst, I urge the members of the town council to support the resolution as a first step to a permanency's file. I grew up in Germany with the moral imperative and never again that has informed my life as a parent, as a college instructor, as a citizen and as a long-term resident of Amherst. We cannot say we don't know. We know what's going on in Gaza. We know that tens of thousands of people, innocent Palestinians have been killed. We know that hundreds of thousands are on the verge of starvation. I want Amherst to continue to be a community that values every life and that stands up against mass killings of innocent civilians and genocide. Approving the ceasefire resolution will send a message to the president and I think probably more important to our representatives in Congress that we want US policies in Gaza to change now. Thank you. OK, next person, please. Nina Levison. I'm sorry, Levison. Hi, my name is Nina Levison. I'm an Amherst resident of Amherst. And speaking in front of you as a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors who came to Israel as orphans and knowing how that affected my family being here today, I urge you to say yes to the ceasefire resolution because I wouldn't want what happened to my family to happen to other families and it is happening right now in our name. I'd also just like to, I guess, reference the fact that we've heard so much support from Amherst today and I really urge you to vote with your constituency who has put their trust in you. And I guess I have a minute and 13 seconds. You could always give up and have someone else come up. Oh, I would love to do that. Thank you. OK. Thank you. Mike Weiler and then Miranda Groove. Mike Weiler, I live in Amherst. Many tonight have recounted the facts of this terrible human tragedy and many others have explained why people everywhere now stand at a moment of moral crisis. The question is what should we do? At times like this, there are always plenty of arguments for doing nothing. It's none of our business. We should leave the matter to those in authority. The issues are too complex for us to understand what we do won't matter anyway. I offer as rebuttal to these arguments the following from Mark Luther King.  We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. Non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. Cowardest asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? A person dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A person dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A person dies when he refuses to take a stand for that which is true. Of course, we're limited. We all know we're limited with what we can do, but we must do what we can. Thank you. Next person. Miranda Grew, then Kevin Noonan, Peter Blood, and Jeffrey Gold. Hi, good evening. My name is Miranda Grew. I use she, her pronouns. I live in Amherst. And I'm asking you to support the resolution for a ceasefire tonight. I also work at a community center in Amherst. And every day, I talk to people who are struggling to make ends meet in our town. People who have to choose between whether or not they're going to pay their heat bill or have food for the week. Families who are getting evicted. Last week, I got a voicemail from an Amherst resident crying because she was removed from her apartment and she had nowhere to go. I bring this up because local issues are global issues. We know our tax dollars disproportionately pay for war with $3.8 billion going to Israel every year. It's sickening to watch the US support Israel's genocide in Palestine, period. And it's especially sickening to see our government choosing to invest big, big money in war and genocide when we have people sleeping on the street. I say this for some local context, though I shouldn't have to, even if every person in Amherst and every person in the United States had their basic needs met, there's still no excuse for silence during this genocide. I love Amherst because at our best, I know everyone here cares about humanity. When I saw this resolution going forward, I felt really proud to live here. This resolution sends a message, as other people have said, to towns across the state, to the Biden administration, and to our global community, that there are whole communities and towns of people in the US that want to see a stop to this violence. The more I think about it, the more this just feels so extraordinarily simple. Why is calling for a ceasefire so controversial? Does our community want to stop Israel's violence in Palestine, yes or no? I implore you to support this resolution for a ceasefire, it's the least we can do. Thank you. Thank you. Next up. Kevin Noonan and then Peter Blood. Thank you. Kevin Noonan, District 3. Thank you for considering this tonight, although I gotta be honest. I'm a little saddened that we have to come here in such numbers to ask. It would seem to me that you should support this resolution offered by the three counselors, The Angelus, Hanuki, and sorry, I know who you are. I also wanted to say to the people in our community who have been personally touched by the attack on October 7th, Alicia, thank you. The people who are personally touched by the attack on October 7th, it was brutal and it was unnecessary. It was a war crime and the people who did it should be brought to justice. While they were preparing their attack, the Prime Minister of Israel was busy trying to dismantle the judiciary. And right now, a member of his cabinet is on an unauthorized visit to the United States and he has instructed his embassy not to cooperate with his own cabinet member because he's not speaking for the country. The place is in shambles. There hasn't been a cabinet meeting since the October 7th attack. And what I want you tonight to recognize, as I'm sure you can, there's humanity in the millions of people who are in Gaza. How many phone calls do we have to get from little children who are just about to be machine gunned? How many times do we have to see people getting bread machine gunned? What are we doing? Why is... Thank you very much. Thank you for your comments. Peter Blood, thank you. Peter Blood District 2. These are really difficult issues and I appreciate the struggles that I'm sure you all are thinking about this. A lot of people, I'm sure, in Palestine felt that what Hamas did on October 7th was justified because of the many years as many have lost their homes, many of them had been in occupation for many, many years and the people in Gaza, many of them had starved under the embargo and or been bombed in disproportionate things after rocket attacks. But I'm glad that you guys did not buy into that justification. You condemned what Hamas did. If you recognize, it did not justify killing civilians in Israel because of the horrible things that happened to Palestinians, you have to recognize also that it doesn't justify killing thousands and thousands and thousands of civilians to justify, justify because of what Hamas did or what Hamas might do in the future. I kind of like to crutch numbers. 30,000 doesn't celebrate very many people. But I compared that to the American population. If you compare that to the number of people in Gaza in the US, this is equivalent to five million people die. Can you imagine what it would be like if we lost five million Americans? How many of us would have family members that had died?  Thank you for your comments, Peter. Boy, that bit fast. Thanks. Jeffrey Gold and then Rudy Perkins. Jeff Gold live on Harkness Road. I'd like to go in a different direction this evening and ask you to engage with me in a little thought experiment.  They admired him for the difficult challenges he'd faced in his life, his courage and perseverance. But as you grew up, your admiration for this person becomes more complicated and you begin to see flaws and mistakes. You nevertheless love him very much. When this person faced difficult challenges, he lost some of his brilliance and he became more rigid. You slowly become aware that there's more than one story here. Others have been affected too. And then one day something really terrible happened. Thousands were murdered. The relative was deeply hurt and you were too. What happened was almost unthinkable. This uncle reacted with all his power and strength and started hurting people who had hurt him. He was living out the saying, hurt people, hurt people. This response was beyond the expected including killing children, bombing hospitals, decimating families, destroying homes. You can't help but feel the utter distress of all this tragedy because remember, it's too personal. It's so personal. And what makes it even worse, your family is torn apart by this. As Rabbi Kate Mizrahi recently wrote, I quote, I love Israel, but not more than Judaism itself, not more than humanity. Must I wade into these troubled waters? Say stop to this madness, wage peace somehow, even if its efforts aren't so perfect. Is it okay to remain silent? What would you do? What should you do? Thank you. Thank you. Next. We have reached two hours. There are 27 people left on the register. Okay. I am looking to the wishes of the council at this point. Normally at this point, we would cease public comment. And I would like to point out, this is the first time this proclamation, I mean, this resolution has come before the full council. We have not had an opportunity as a council to discuss this resolution either in private or in public. This is our opportunity. Okay. Anna.  I will speak for myself. I've, that's about 50 minutes-ish remaining of public comment. I would like to continue it if possible. You said this room closes at 10. 10.30. 10.30. I would give the council say about a half an hour to discuss and come to a conclusion on this resolution. Is that correct? That is correct. So I can pretty much guarantee that's unlikely for us to get to a vote on this resolution if we continue. So my question is if I would like to leave public comment open but I'd also like the opportunity if folks feel that their statement has been said to remove their name from the list if they so choose. But I would like to continue public comment at this point. I'd also be pro like a two minute break at some point just to stand up and stretch, but that's personal. I can do that. Is that a motion? Yes. I move to continue public comment and give folks the opportunity to remove their name from the ledger should they so choose. Is there a second? I second that. Okay. So the motion has been made and seconded. We need a majority to agree to this. And unless there's any other comment I'm going to begin the vote. The vote is whether or not to continue public comment asking people who feel that their issues have already been expressed to perhaps remove their name. I'm going to start with Pat D'Angeles. Aye. Anna DeLongothier. Aye. Councilor Atte. Aye. Lynn Griezmer is an aye reluctantly. Councilor Hanakie. Aye. Bob Hagner. Aye. Councilor Lord. Lord, aye. Pam Rooney. Yes. Councilor Ryan. Aye. Kathy Shane. Yes. Andy Steinberg. Yes. Jennifer Tubb. Yes. Alicia Walker. Yes. It's unanimous. Please continue Athena immediately. Thank you. If I could. I just want to mention if you need the restrooms throughout the door into this way and the emergency exits are where the red signs are. Thank you. Anna, Athena, go ahead.  Rudy Perkins and then Brooke Carrow. Rudy. Rudy Perkins. He, him, Jerry Lane, and Amherst. There are many reasons I support this. Guys are resolution. Please as you leave, could you keep your conversations out in the hall? Excuse me. Could you please not discuss things in the room if you want to go out in the hall? Thank you. This is respecting other people's right to speak. There are many reasons I support this. Guys, I ceasefire resolution and all of its provisions and I hope each of you votes in favor of it. But I want to focus my brief time on one of them and that's hostage release. One of the asserted Gaza war aims. Last November, a ceasefire, remember a ceasefire and negotiations between Hamas and the Israeli government through the offices of Qatar and the US got more than 100 hostages released. Most of them were Israeli and two of them also had American citizenship. By contrast, I've only seen reports of Israeli military raids bring, I think, three hostages. And sadly we know that the Israeli military accidentally killed three hostages as the IDF itself reported. Israel also concluded by early February that 31 hostages were already dead and having seen how much of Gaza has been leveled by Israeli bombing, I have to worry that some of those hostages were killed by Israel itself. The New York Times in fact quoted released hostage, Sahar Calderon, as saying many times I told myself that in the end I will die from Israel's missiles and not from Hamas. Moreover, during the recent Israeli commando raid on Rafa to free two hostages, reports are that over 60 Palestinians were killed, many of them children. So as you weigh this vote, please note the power of negotiated hostage release as a conjunction with ceasefires, including to release as many as six American citizens who are believed to still be held there. Thank you for your comments. Brooke Carroll, and then Shana Sharon Kearney. Please go ahead. Thank you, my name is Brooke Karuna Ananda. I go by she, her and I am in District Five. I'm here tonight as a Jewish resident of Amherst, a social worker and a mother, to ask for you to vote in favor of this resolution in support of a ceasefire in Gaza. During a time when our country could possibly stop the indiscriminate killing that we are all witnessing with our own eyes, we must stand on the side of justice, even in the face of criticism. We may not know everything there is to know about the history and the politics. We may not be able to fix the situation, but the least that we can do is to show that we do not support the continuing bombardment that has killed over 30,000 people over which 25,000 women and children, one of the highest escalations in history in five months. I am here because I want to be one of the Jewish people who show our Palestinian neighbors and friends that there are Jews who will speak for them and stand beside them. That also means not speaking over them in regards to their liberation. This resolution has the voices of people who have been affected on all sides and have the same goal. We as Jews who support Palestine show up not to save Palestinians, but to stand in solidarity because our liberation is tied to the liberation of all oppressed peoples. If the folks who say that they care about the hostages were really honest with themselves, they would admit that if the bombing and starvation continues in Gaza when the military is largely unable to know where the location of their hostages are, then it is consequently putting them at risk as well. In order for both the Palestinian people and the Israeli hostages to have a chance at surviving, we must have a ceasefire and allow aid immediately. Please vote with your conscience and show the Amherst values of life above all else, regardless of politics. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next. Sharon Kearney. Hi, Sharon Kearney, District 5. She heard, I speak as an Amherst resident, parent of three kids in Amherst public schools or daycare, friend of Palestinians, Muslims, Jews, and Arabs, and educator of many years, and an empathetic human being who cannot, will not look away from this ongoing tragedy. And I urge you to vote yes on the resolution of support of a ceasefire in Gaza as it is written. Please do not abstain. That is a no vote. I have many reasons, but I'd like to highlight two right now. My first point is this. This is very much a local issue. It's a local issue because hundreds of people and organizations in this town are telling you that this resolution matters to them. Your constituents have worked tirelessly to create, develop, and circulate this resolution, all while facing blatant racism, discrimination, and cruel double standards to which previous speakers have already spoken. We have asked you to speak as our elected representatives to amplify our voices to our state and ultimately federal government where real policy change can happen, to function as our democracy should, to tell them enough is enough, stop using our tax dollars to participate in genocide. You do not need a PhD in Middle Eastern studies to know that the continued suffering inflicted upon innocent children every day is simply wrong. Do not let this dangerous condescending narrative that you, that we are not educated enough to take a stance continues. This situation is about basic human rights as defined by a number of international organizations and it's about just plain sense and common humanity. But while we wait for our federal government to do the right thing, your voting yes on this resolution will create real change right here in Amherst.  Your vote will send a message that this community, this town is in fact what it purports to be a safe, welcoming, inclusive home for anyone. One where hatred based on skin color, religion, gender identity, et cetera is not tolerated. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Sorry, I let the clock go. I should not have. Next, I'm having a hard time reading this. Dr. Amy Major, I'm sorry. Okay. Thank you, counselors for extending the time so I have the opportunity to speak. I've worked in Amherst for 20 years. I'm a doctor of acupuncture in Chinese medicine. I am on the board of acupuncturists without borders. One of the biggest challenges is we are in Israel doing trauma work. We were in Gaza and we were threatened with being killed so we had to leave by Hamas. We were in the West Bank. We were threatened to be killed. We had to leave. One of the things that's missing in the concept of we know enough is the nuance of people being threatened with things like multiple children who were killed by Hamas when they went to a food truck to get food because they were told that the food was for the resistance fighters, not them. I'm not hearing the calling out of Hamas for a number of the atrocities in Gaza for which they are responsible. I am not a fan of the Netanyahu government but I am a fan of hostages being returned. I have some words from Gail Glickman who was raised in Amherst by her father Jack Glickman and she wrote to me last night, there was a ceasefire in place on October 6th which Hamas broke in a murderous rampage, mutilating and killing 1,400 men, women and children and babies including Jews, Muslims, foreign nationals, Bedouins, peace activists and young people at a peace festival.  And I would love to see the resolution include the hostages being returned as a requirement for a ceasefire pause and the language be changed because some of those in prisons in Gaza and in Jerusalem are there because they have killed Israelis including my son's best friend, Ilan Ghanelis who was murdered by a terrorist a year ago this week by a terrorist and we can do better. Thank you. Jennifer Cannon and then Aliana Olkin. My name is Jennifer Cannon, I live in District 3, she her pronouns, I am a mother, I am a grandmother, I raised all three of my daughters in this town and my grandchildren attended Fort River School. I myself went to Fort River School, Kindergarten through sixth grade. I had the immense pleasure of having Martha Faizon and Roger Wallace as my teachers at Fort River School. They were pillars and continue to be pillars in this community of racial justice, social justice and equity. They taught all of their children to respect life and to look beyond our differences. I bring this up because these mentors are here among us and have taught us what Amherst means. I went to UMass Amherst as a graduate, mentored by Sonia Nieto, John Bracey and so many others who are the backbone of this town. When I was in fourth grade, I had a paper route and I delivered newspapers to Chief Maya. As a young adult and undergraduate at the University of Massachusetts, my life was turned upside down when Gregory Levy emulated himself on the Amherst town common and I immediately overnight became a 24-7 vigilar on the town common, begging our town to recognize the need for peace and justice and an end to the bombing in Iraq at the time. Why am I telling you this? Chief Maya came to arrest me as a young woman, as an adult. And he said, he remembered me from elementary school and he said, do you wanna do this? And I said, absolutely. And I had support. We have supported our young people in this town for years to speak up and to speak out against injustice. Please do not let our children down. A no vote and an abstention is in favor of this genocide. Thank you. Thanks. Eliana Olken and then Jack Pearson. Eliana Olken, she, her, Springfield, Massachusetts. Please speak into the mic. Thanks. Council members and community members, my name is Eliana Olken and I'm a 16-year-old Springfield, Massachusetts public school student. I'm the only Jewish student in my school. And additionally, I'm a certified emergency medical responder. I've worked on ambulances in Israel, provided aid to and saved the lives of Jewish, Arab, Christian, Israelis, as well as a Gaza man visiting Israel. On the Israeli ambulance crew that I worked on, we saved lives regardless of backgrounds or any denominational factors. Hamas does the opposite. And it's been heartbreaking for me to see the names of people who I've helped on my ambulance list on the list of those who have been murdered by Hamas. To have saved a person's life only to have their lives viciously taken away is be horrible behind words. I remember a wonderful 19-year-old woman whom I helped on the ambulance shift. She was murdered by Hamas on October 7th. She was 19-year-old and left her entire family and many loved ones heartbroken. Do not allow this bill to further divide our community. We lost so many of our loved ones on October 7th and are still mourning those in our Jewish family held in Gaza. Let it be known, they were taken murdered, raped, and their bodies mutilated just for being Jewish and or Israeli. Hamas's goal is to wipe out the Jewish people and they have said many times. A ceasefire means nothing to Hamas but it means that Israeli hostages will not be freed and Jewish people around the globe will never be safe. Hamas is a terrorist group which puts civilians, gossips and Israelis in danger. Hamas is the issue. Supporting a ceasefire now is supporting Hamas in the anti-LGBTQIA plus anti-human rights and anti-Semitic regime which it has created. Supporting the resolution will do nothing for the war but will stoke a ready-burning fire of anti-Semitism in our community. And so I implore you, my dear community members and council members to stand up to answer- Thank you for your comment. Jack Pearson. For the best. Sayonah Plavin. And then Jacqueline Bricknell. Bricknell. My name is Sayonah Plavin. I, my pronouns are she, hers and I live in district five. I am a Midway and the great granddaughter of Jewish refugees. I grew up here. I went to this middle school and took the Holocaust class still offered today at Amherst High School. I remember crying, studying photos of bodies piled in mass graves and wondering as always as everyone always does what I would have done. Decades from now, the photos of the genocide in Gaza will be studied by students at Amherst High School. Those students, our children and grandchildren will know what we did or did not do. Please, I beg you. Let them know that this town and the members of this council did everything in their power to stop the suffering and support our grieving community members. As a midwife, I bear witness to the most intimate moments in people's lives. I see people at their strongest and most vulnerable as they birth their babies and support their partners. I see babies take their first breaths, look into their parents' eyes and feel what it is to be touched with love and care for the first time. Each person killed, starving or mourning in Gaza is someone else's whole world. We all deserve to be safe and protected to be touched with love and care, not bombs and bullets. This council voted to condemn the Hamas attacks and must also condemn the deaths of thousands of Palestinians. There is no justification for the mass suffering in death in Gaza. We cannot watch genocide in silence. Please, pass the resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza. Thank you. Jacqueline. Jacqueline Brickle. I do wanna remind people that we're looking for people to kind of seed their time, yeah. And then Carl Goldberg. Okay. My name is Jacqueline Brickle and I thank you for letting me speak. I wanna explain why the ceasefire, especially without a commitment from Hamas would be disastrous. Nobody has helped about how Hamas has stopped, but for, nobody has asked for Hamas to stop its aggression which has been, and they have been bombing Israelis continuously for years so that the southern towns of Israel have been forced to build underground shelters where children can play because they can't play outside because of the bombing. And Hamas has continuously done that and nobody's been protesting that. Hamas has pledged to destroy not only Israel but also Jewish people. They showed their attentions when they attacked on October 7th, they killed anyone they could.  The situation for the people of Gaza is horrific but Hamas has done nothing to help them except to complain that others should do more. The people of Gaza are in this position because what Hamas has done, it has never done anything to protect them. They need to be, the people of Gaza need to be free. They need to be free from Hamas. Thank you. Thank you. Carl Goldberg and then Eve Glazer. My name is Carl Goldberg and I am a first responder and a student from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. I urge you to reconsider the proposed ceasefire resolution between Israel and Hamas. This resolution while aiming for peace perpetuates the cycle of violence affecting Israelis and Palestinians alike. I must add that although I disagree with this resolution I must insist that this resolution is promoted by many good, honest, well-intentioned people and I have no issue with any of them. It is important to acknowledge that the situation in Gaza, while complex, is not a genocide. The Israeli government strives to minimize civilian casualties contrary to the portrayal of their actions. The crux of the matter lies at Hamas's consistent rejection of ceasefire attempts not only from the Biden administration in Israel but also from Arab countries like the Emirates, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. There have been 15 proposals for a two-state all of which have been denied by these people. Despite the best efforts of Israel there is no Palestinian state. This proposed resolution inadvertently supports Hamas's political agenda initiated on October 7th worsening the conflict. It does not aid Gaza civilians but instead empowers Hamas's military and political ambitions. The intention of Hamas is to allow as many Palestinian Gazans to die as possible so that the international community will pressure the State of Israel to bow to the ridiculous demands of Hamas. Given these considerations, I strongly encourage the council to vote against this resolution. A genuine pursuit of peace requires a more nuanced approach than a ceasefire that benefits one party's political and military aims over the welfare of all individuals involved, Israeli, Palestinian and other. Thank you very much for listening to me. Thank you. Eve Glazer and then Maya Gonzalez. Everyone, my name is Eve Glazer. I live in Northampton but I work at a prominent Jewish cultural institution in Amherst and I am here to read a letter on behalf of myself and 10 of my colleagues at this Jewish institution in Amherst supporting the ceasefire resolution. To the members of the Amherst Town Council, we, the undersigned workers at a Jewish cultural institution in Amherst, support the Amherst Town Council resolution in support of a ceasefire in Gaza. Our views are our own and do not represent those of our organization and we offer support out of a commitment to a local Jewish cultural life, a thriving Jewish cultural life, a Jewish future and the immediate and long-term safety of Palestinians and Israelis. Signed, me, Eve Glazer, Eva Gellman, Maya Gonzalez, Grisha Leifer, Caleb Schur, Margaret Frothingham, Margaret Schellinger, Sylvia Peterson, Sam Rivik and others at our institution. Thank you. Thank you. Maya Gonzalez and then Karadad Martinez. Hello, my name is Maya Gonzalez as you see their pronouns. I'm a resident of District Three here in Amherst. Today, I'd like to voice my support for the ceasefire resolution as a Holocaust historian who was trained here at UMass and at the Institute for Holocaust Genocide and Memory Studies, as well as a local Jewish cultural professional, again, in this town. I've dedicated my career to studying and teaching the memories of the Holocaust and other genocides in Rwanda, Turkey, Burma, Cambodia and all around the world. I've spent my life listening to and learning from genocide survivors. They've taught me to practice active empathy with victims of mass atrocities from the past and today and always. They have showed me that this is a humanitarian crisis and a mass atrocity that needs to be brought to an end. I'm also speaking as a Puerto Rican woman. I understand the violence that American imperialism inflicts inside and outside of the continental United States. You may not know that American tax dollars forcibly sterilized and traumatized thousands of Puerto Rican women and their descendants in the course of the 20th century. Now, we know that these same tax dollars are funding reproductive violence against tens of thousands of Palestinian women and murdering their children. We as American citizens with a voice represented by our federal government are responsible for speaking out against this injustice and stopping the use of our funds to inflict such violence against the Palestinian people. And finally, I speak as a Jew who is very active in this community in both religious and secular spaces. I'm proud to be in community here today with so many brave Jews who have honored our predecessors with their insistence on human rights for all minorities, no matter the risk. I'd like to voice my support for an immediate ceasefire. I'd like to say thank you and do so in my Mama Lushin. A shenum dank und befreit Palestina. Thank you. Thank you. Herodod Martinez and then Elliot Papadakos. Hi, I'm Caridad Martinez. I am Cuban and I live in New York and I have family in Amherst.  So she wrote a poem. Today, my body was a TV massacre. Today, my body was a TV massacre that had to fit into sound bites and word limits. Today, my body was a TV massacre that had to fit into sound bites and word limits, filled enough with statistics to counter measured response. And I perfected my English and I learned my UN resolutions. But still he asked me in Miss Zia-Dawis, don't you think that everything would be resolved?  Pause. I look inside of me for strength to be patient, but patience is not at the tip of my tongue. As the bombs drop over Gaza, patience has just escaped me. Pause. We teach life, sir. We Palestinians teach life after they have occupied the last sky. We teach life after they have built their settlements and our profiled walls. After the last skies, we teach life, sir. But my body was a TV massacre made to fit into sound bites and word limits. But they felt sorry. They felt sorry for the cattle over Gaza. So I give them UN resolutions and statistics and we condemn and we deplore and we reject. And these are two equal sides, occupied or unoccupied and a hundred dead, 200 dead and a thousand dead. I wish I could wail over their bodies. I wish I could just run barefoot in every refugee camp and hold every child, cover their ears so they wouldn't have to hear the sound of bombing for the rest of their life. No sound bite will fix this. We teach life, sir. We teach life, sir. We Palestinians wake up every morning to teach the rest of the world life, sir. Thank you. Next speaker. Elia Papadacos and then Natalia Ruiz. Hey, I'm Elia Papadacos. I use they them pronouns. I'm a resident of Peace Hampton. I've worked as an elementary school teacher just down the street in Amherst for as long as I've lived here in the valley. I'm also Jewish. I am Israeli-American and a descendant of a Holocaust survivor. As a kid, like so many of us you've heard from today, learning about the Holocaust that wiped out my grandmother's family, I would ask, why did no one do anything? How could they not know? Today, I'm urging the council to listen to your many constituents today, asking you with a collective voice to pass this ceasefire resolution because nothing can justify the sheer scale of the violence Israel is inflicting in Gaza that we are all watching be perpetrated with our tax dollars. This is a local issue. There's been some talk at this meeting about how the resolution is divisive, how it might harm the Jewish community, but there is nothing more harmful to a community than being complicit in trying to wipe out another people. It is the violence of the Israeli state and the purposeful conflation of it with the Jewish people as a moral cover that poses the greatest threat to the worldwide Jewish community. Our safety comes from fighting for each other. It is all of our responsibility to do so and pass this resolution. No one's safety comes from indiscriminate bombing. This violence is against Jewish tradition and it won't even succeed at the Israeli government's goal. You can't bomb Hamas out of existence and you can't bomb your way to bringing back the hostages. And for all this focus for us as Jews, I have to ask what about our Palestinian community? Well, we debate whether or not we should care about the children who are being