by the united nations And i object to the claims the criticism of israeli policies and support for ceasefire even by jewish people such as myself as anti-semitic i've spent my adult life criticizing my own government's militaristic Anti-humanitarian policies and that is an essential form of patriotism So why should a clearly decreasing number of american jewish people fail to criticize government that is not even their own most racist and right wing In israel's history lastly You should know that opposition to reactionary pro-israel zinus My own grandmother who fled anti- jewish pogroms Over a hundred years ago as an anti zinus organizer in the 40s when israel was being established I remember her and honor her memory by speaking here about these issues. Please pass the ceasefire resolution without amendments. Thank you Good morning. Hi there. My name is henry cordial. I'm a cabrillo college nursing student and I live downtown here in santa Cruz Uh, i'm originally from st louis missouri and in 2017 in st louis More than 100 headstones at a jewish cemetery were vandalized Seeing this sickening act of hatred and anti-semitism. I felt compelled to help out even though i'm not jewish Um, I so I donated money to help in the recovery effort um I was reminded of this recently because I have seen videos online of palestinian cemeteries that have been completely destroyed by idf bulldozers This is just one small aspect to this entire thing, but it is an important aspect of the conflict So I asked myself, what can I do now and what is an appropriate response to Such hatred and destruction and I think the very least we can say is that a ceasefire would be part of that um, I also want to say just one last thing um Is that I I saw videos of this, um where I got left You can address. Oh unlimited. I think Sir, sir, excuse me. You can address us. Oh, I can't look that way. No, I would prefer you. Okay. Sorry. I was okay. Gotcha um Well, I was just going to say real quick that Uh, I my twitter feed is only pro palestinian stuff and I imagine I talked to one of my friends who just describes himself as a third generation Zionist that hit he said his twitter feed was only pro israeli stuff and I um Would happily show this to anyone This video of these graves being desecrated in palestine if anyone here or back here would like to see And I would happily see anything that's convincing from the other side as well. So thank you for john. Thank you very much Good morning Good morning. Can you hear me? Yes, we can welcome Thank you It was a cold six and a half hours out in the courtyard And I finally had to move to doom But I stayed with it because I think it's so important that your council hear a range of voices on this topic I'm a 40 year resident of the city and my heart is broken by what is happening in gaza I stand for a permanent end to the violence And therefore I oppose the resolution A permanent ceasefire Empowers hamas We all know the unbridled terror that will flow from that And the region will be further than ever from a permanent peace The resolution is divisive in our city our city has many opinions And there's no way that this resolution represents all the voices or the complexity of the voices And it shouldn't go forward for that reason alone Some speakers have said they don't see how the resolution is divisive They must not have been in the courtyard because there there were signs that say from the river to the sea And that means a new calisthen from the jordan to the mediterranean And it means no israel and it means no israelis And it's a racist possibly genocidal dog whistle And in this city, can you imagine us tolerating that if it was targeting black people or targeting asian people? We would reject it and we should reject it now I hope my community will show up as a unifier in these difficult times and not as a divider I hope that unity and support for all of the impacted communities is the outcome of any action the council might take The alternative resolution is a place to start But not approving this simplistic and unjust resolution is even better Thank you so much for your time Good morning My my Salam, good morning to this council. My name is nadia. I'm a 15-year resident of sanikers and a voter in sanikers city I Wrote a long thing to say But really everything has been said so beautifully tonight that I already would have said um It feels important almost to ask you to bear witness to what tonight has been. I'm sure from your position Um, you're tired. I'm tired too. I go to bed at nine but I Tonight has been such an incredible show of solidarity amongst each other and people and I actually respectfully disagree with with the last Community member just said last we were singing in harmonies that were eight pieces out there And everything we were saying was for a type of understanding that freedom cannot be won alone And so many people have spoken to their loneliness tonight That loneliness of looking through our screens at genocide unfolding and by ourselves and tonight we got to come out as a community and hold each other And also ask you to please witness so many of us asking you to see that we The smallest thing our city council our city could do is pass a ceasefire resolution It would show The people of gaza who have no hope that there is Hope the people of gaza who every day on instagram Just say how disappointed they are in all of us and i'm disappointed too, but I also know that we have the ability to genuinely make each other whole again through witnessing and The people of palestine don't need us, but we need to see ourselves free All together and palestine is showing us how and I ask you it's so late To please pass this ceasefire resolution as is Expersion online. Good morning Person online. Good morning We'll take the next person in line then Good morning, sir Thank you. Good morning. My name is westley summers. I am a phd student at uc santa cruz I am in solidarity with ucse faculty for justice in palestine I'm a registered voter in santa cruz And I support a ceasefire resolution without amendments Since october 7th the israeli government has murdered over 20 000 innocent palestinians In retaliation for hamas's attack and whatever you think about hamas There's absolutely no way to justify this level of violence After hearing multiple Military and government officials of israel state their intentions to ethnically cleanse the gaza strip And they greatly reduce their territory. There is no doubting that their actions amount to genocide and this is why south africa is taking israel To israel's government to the international court of justice charging them with genocide And I have every confidence that they will win un Has also ordered israel to ceasefire, which is real promptly ignored Meanwhile, the biden administration Continues to funnel our u.s citizen tax dollars my tax dollars your tax dollars Into the israeli genocidal war machine As people of a nation founded On the mass genocide of this land's indigenous people And as citizens of a mission town where that genocide took place and as citizen as citizens whose money Is being used to murder murder innocent people in palestine now. We have a great responsibility To act in solidarity with all oppressed people With all black and indigenous and people of color with all people being genocided and displaced To pass our own ceasefire resolution and add our voices to the many cities And countries across the world And organizations across the world We're also calling for a ceasefire. Thank you. Thank you That's person online. Good morning. Welcome to the council. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Good morning. Hello, we can hear you just fine. Please proceed. Hey, good morning. Good morning. Well, thank you very much for I think you can continue to speak. My name is alex seren and I am a registered reporter And I am linked in santa cruz Since 1991 Well, thank you. Mary gilly and council members for patients and endurance during this hearing So, uh, dear fellow Santa Cruz and santa cruzians I post this kind draft of this non-actionable one-sided devices resolution Here's why I skip some soviet union as a political refugee and as a jew I had experienced the anti-semitism firsthand And I see how the draft of this resolution is already dividing our santa cruz And would lead to rise and distrust and hatred in our community Just recently the jewish person had been killed In the pro-palestinian demonstration la and I'm afraid about safety of my daughter who is studying in uc la I'm working high-tech worldwide including middle east and I have close friends That my muslim colleagues some of them are palestinians and lebanese Who expressed disgust with the khamas ruling of gaza and abroad this middle east horrible situation No folks who call for this resolution mentioned that people of gaza are suffering because of the actions of khamas The release of hostages and surrender khamas can finish this war today While we must demand the peace we should do it in balanced and comprehensive way The existing resolution doesn't show understanding of the reality of the new east Not promotes unity in our community In opposite it's very divisive for a local community and may cause a long-term continuous issues in middle east I demand reconsidering this resolution and to arrive In balanced and beneficial way for our community Thank you very much. Thank you very much Good morning and welcome. Good morning Well known long-time former santa crs resident and ucsc dr. Holder Huey P newton once wrote israel was created by western imperialism and is maintained by western firepower He was the founder of the black panther party for self-defense in oakland california The racist systems that labeled dr. Newton and the black panther party as terrorists for the idea of mere resistance to oppression Are the same systems labeling the palestinians as terrorists since the nakaba of 1948 Long before october 7th Why do we in santa crs and in the bay area lack focus on the fundamental causes of violence and oppression ignoring history So if a ceasefire wasn't a local issue as members of the public here claim Then why are we seeing billboards stating hamas is your problem too on our roads? And why are we sending taxpayer money to fund the genocide while we continue to ignore the plight of unhoused santa crs residents? As a muslim south asian resident of the santa crs mountains for over a decade I say it is imperative to our safety to denounce that racism that affects marginalized groups like our middle eastern American community and that had and also that that had silenced people Like huep newton in the city by calling for a ceasefire to set a precedent for future generations The feelings of the oppressor are not more important than the lives of the oppressed I implore you to pass the resolution as is and to mirror the heroic actions of the san francisco city council Who passed their resolution during the time of this meeting? Thank you. Thank you Good line next person online. Good morning Hello, can you hear me? We can good morning. Welcome to the council meeting Hi, thank you for having me here today. Certainly I've been a resident of santa crs for about 10 years now Um, and I'm I'm really passionate about this community I just want to urge you to please please please pass this resolution It is desperately needed Um We won't we won't stop until The killing stops please Please take our words to heart Thank you Thank you Morning. Good morning. Apologies for my early start. Um My name is lawni. I've lived here and worked in santa crs since 2016 Currently I work as a library personnel Here in santa crs um I am here today to basically just state my full support for the city resolution calling for a ceasefire And I ask everyone here to reject the changes proposed on the resolution um, I Really feel like this is an important issue for us in the city as a whole um And I want to see I don't really want to repeat what everyone has already said tonight. It's pretty late I'm also past my bedtime Um, but yeah, thank you for your patience tonight. Thank you everyone for being here. I really love every single one of you Thank you Good morning Good morning person online. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, we can welcome Well, thank you. Uh, good morning to you folks. I'm sure you want to go to sleep Uh, a couple of comments I want to make here. My first of all, my name is gill stein I have an office in santa cruse and I've been a graduate of ucsc stevenson college And I think that this resolution Misses the point and first of all, I think it's an excuse basically to malign the state of israel the comments about anti zionism basically zionism is the aspiration of the jewish people to return to their ancestral homeland itself determination for jewish people and it seems to me that what the phrases of Occupation of 75 years first of all it basically denies the legitimacy of israel and secondly It denies the fact that jordan and egypt occupied gaza and the west bank for several years Uh in 1948 Until 1967 so that's one point. I want to make secondly the idea of genocide Genocide was the what hamas attempted to do on october 7th. That was their intent to kill as many jews as they could What's happening in gaza is unfortunate It's unfortunate, but it's part of war and that we cannot change the fact that hamas is hiding in hospitals In schools and mosques building tunnels under them making having weapons factories Under uh civilian areas. That's what's causing the damage. Unfortunately the people who aren't supporting this resolution ignored that If if we wanted peace if we wanted ceasefire hamas could have done that immediately by releasing the hot shoes And stopping their bombing of israel that has not happened and I think that this resolution needs to be defeated And so city needs to get back to doing the city's business Which is making it safe and prosperous for everybody. Thank you. Thank you Good morning. Good morning Okay Hi, my name is ellen kane. I came to santa cruz in 1976 right out of high school 3000 miles away in upstate new york I have loved santa cruz from when I arrived here and I still love this place. It is just an amazing community Thank you very much for staying up so late and having all our voices heard I feel very very passionate about this particular issue because having um grown up here from 18 till 65 Um, I attended a cabrio a number of times have degrees from there I'm an alumni from ucse and in fact my degree is in women's studies Which is now called feminist studies and what I learned in women's studies is how Isms are Is systematic oppression and I learned a lot about you know The whole concept of systematic oppression and then when I was only 22 actually before I went to ucse I went off to europe and spent three years there including 14 months in israel So I arrived at israel very naive. I wanted to go live on a kibbutz and learn hebrew. I speak hebrew. I still speak hebrew I'm not jewish I ended up meeting in israeli became his Havera his girlfriend and then we came back to the states and got married here because we can't marry in israel because i'm Not jewish Um after a couple years his father is dying and we had to I had to get divorced from the man I love because i'm not jewish his family would not accept him being married to a non jew So to me that's um that zionism is racism the whole concept of That these people are better than others. That's a racist concept. Okay now back to hamas Okay, so what I learned is a women's studies major is that every time there's oppression there's going to be resistance That's human nature to resist oppression So what hamas did was horrific and atrocious But everybody who is oppressed is going to resist that and the first thing I noticed when I was 22 years old And nobody was speaking this is 1981 when I arrived to israel is that it is an apartheid state I noticed immediately that if you were a jew you were given these rights and privileges And if you were a non jew you didn't receive them. So this oppression is going on for 75 years Um the genocide that's happening now is being done in the excuse of what hamas did But it is a systematic oppression that's been going on for decades and we have to stand up against it I feel very passionate about this. Please pass the ceasefire resolution Seven and a half hours into this and we will stay until every single voice has been heard You do know as I have indicated repeatedly You have two minutes to speak So if you've been here for the entire presentations You should tailor your presentation to stay within those two minutes. That would be helpful We'll take the next person online Good morning Good morning. Thank you mayor for taking everybody's calls I would like to urge you to vote no very strongly on resolution number 29 As someone said from the bottom of my heart hamas has broken every ceasefire There was a ceasefire on october 6th And they refused another ceasefire in december 23rd in exchange for the hostages Hamas does not care about the palestinian people. They steal all the humanitarian aid They shoot at palestinian families when they try to get the un Aid for their families people in this room are calling themselves palestinians and hamas as resistance fighters I'm shocked to see so many terrorists and sympathizers here in our community The constant naming of israel's actions as genocide is a cover-up for their internal anti-semitism and hate that there is one democratic state in the entire middle east that allows freedom of choice religion and love Unlike the arabic countries that consider women second-class citizens murder LGBTQ community members by throwing them off buildings and volunteer to kill jews as martyrs In 1948 there were 160 000 palestinians and now there are more than two million Is this really the definition of genocide if it is then many here need to go back to school The jews are the indigenous people of judei which is israel palestinian authority pays terrorists and their families to kill jews Hamas said october 7th will happen again and again until jews are gone Not one pro-hamas supporter here mentioned anything about the hostages if Hamas releases the hostages and put down their weapons There will be a ceasefire if israelis put down their weapons. There will be no more israelis Anti-semitism is anti-zionism Good morning and welcome First thing i'd like to say is thank you to the entire council for Staying and allowing all of us to speak. Thank you very much My name's arthur barnes. I was here last month and i'm in favor of the ceasefire And i wrote up a speech and i thought i might have something useful to say but everybody Before me has already said it all And i've been standing in line hoping i could come up with something to say that would be useful i'm sad i'm sad Because there are people of goodwill in this room who believe That what i observe as the slow motion annihilation of two million people is going to solve a problem That's about as far as i can go I hope That that's useful. Thank you. Thank you Good morning. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Good morning and welcome Thank you. Um, my name is asma. I'm a healthcare worker. I've been a pharmacist now for Over 10 years. I'm also the mom of two girls um I want to ask you um, when's the last time that the santa cruz city council had hours and hours and hours of public comment The vast majority of whom are calling for a ceasefire I think if you ask yourself that question your answer and your vote will become very clear There was a speaker a few minutes ago Who said that, you know, people who are calling this a genocide need to go back to school Um, I ask all the folks that oppose this resolution to actually open the resolution and read it If they do, um, they will see clearly that it is calling for all hostages to be released And it is calling for the very bare minimum Which is a ceasefire And the argument that a ceasefire is somehow not peaceful Is the opposite of A statement that someone would make who's actually educated And would see the definition if they looked it up in a dictionary or just googled it Um, I don't have much more to say the powerful speakers tonight have honestly Given you every reason Um that you needed uh to pass this resolution I hope that you'll look within your hearts and you'll find it in your moral compass tonight To vote this through and to vote for a ceasefire. It's the bare minimum that we can do Please listen to your constituents. That is your job And if our federal government And our state legislators were doing their job, we wouldn't have to be here tonight Standing in the cold calling in on zoom At hours into the night to ask you to do that. So please use your position of power To be our voice. Thank you. Thank you Good morning. Good morning Honorable members of the santa cruz city council I want to take a moment and thank you for sticking with us and not reducing our speaking time Thank you for that My name is basil oj. I'm a member of this community a voter and a concerned citizen I'm also a muslim and a father I stand before you today to urge you to pass item 29 the ceasefire resolution Without any changes The ongoing conflict has far reaching consequences Not only there in the middle east but here in our community The attacks on gaza are fueling anti-semitism and anti-muslim sentiments locally Impacting the very fabric of our diverse society Recently, I went to a hospital to visit a 21 year old stanford student Who was a victim of an anti-muslim hate crime Simply for wearing a t-shirt that said Damascus on it in arabic The perpetrator shouted foul language and told him to go back home Um, I felt compelled to visit the student as he is the same age as my son Some are saying a ceasefire resolution is divisive I stood outside this great hall for the last for the past seven hours I met chicanos blacks Jewish Asians mexicans Filipinos and muslims And I did not see a division I want my grandchildren And I am probably on the upper age limit here I want my grandchildren to know that I try to contribute to a world Where no child has to suffer and where the humanity United to protect the innocence I encourage you All of you council members to reflect on your own potential contribution What would you tell your grandchildren? Thank you Next person online. Good morning Good morning. Hi everyone I want to thank you council members for your time and consideration and listening to the people of Santa Cruz My name is Jojo Diaz And first and foremost, I'm a human that cares deeply about social justice issues As a mexican-american studying the field of critical race and ethnic studies It would be foolish to not stand in solidarity with Palestinians in juzza My heart is heavy for our martyrs in juzza And growing up I have learned and been taught to uphold the golden rule to treat others how I want to be treated And if my identity was being rapidly eradicated Displaced, forcibly removed, denocided, as is in juzza I would want someone to speak up about it to at the very least denounce it Over 30,000 people have been murdered in juzza And that is just another example of the u.s. Israeli war machine that we as citizens of the u.s. uphold In our complacency and tax dollars We do not have the time to wait until years later once the world writes in a textbook that the quote-unquote war in juzza was actually a genocide We have seen this narrative countless times before and with over 300 juzzans dying daily We have no time to waste in attempting to save lives There will be no Palestinians if we do not act in our capacity now As we put on our business attire as we get up in the morning as we eat our food clean ourselves and drink our water Hussins are dying and have been revoked of the very pillars of basic needs for humans ceasefire means to stop the indiscriminate bombing and killing of Palestinians through starvation illness bombings, etc permanently Calling first a ceasefire since precedent for solidarity struggles across the globe through sudan the kongo yem and armenia to alana Please take into consideration our calls for true peace in palestine israel a ceasefire I urge you all to pass item 29 as is and reject harmful amendments or substitute resolutions Thank you all for your time viva palestina Good morning Welcome Thank you so much for your time. Um, my name is betsy centeno and I am a phd student in the social psychology At uc santa cruz and i'm also a concerned Resident of the santa cruz county I'm here today to call on you to pass item 29 The ceasefire resolution on today's agenda and to reject harmful amendments As a person of central american Indigenous descent whose family has been affected for generations by settler colonialism Um, I stand in solidarity with the palestinian people We must end this genocide as I can no longer watch children and innocent lives die every single day I am in pain. They are in pain We are suffering They are suffering Santa cruz must call for a ceasefire to add our voice to the unified and strategic international campaign that seeks to end the violence for palestinians and israelis We must end this violence. We can no longer be silent or complicit You can no longer be silent or complicit Support a ceasefire as is and free palestine online Next person online Good morning Good morning last call Next person in line Here we go Good morning. I waited so long outside that my anxiety medication is out of my body now so Apologies, my my voice will be more shaky today because of that So first of all, I wanted to debunk a huge myth that a lot of zionists have been saying today And that is that hamas broke the ceasefire. That is completely Untrue the idf broke the ceasefire one hour into the ceasefire Which was not even a ceasefire because it kept shooting and killing people. So yeah, just you can google it It's it's online Um, but I just wanted to say that excuse me for a second. Yeah hate to have to do this for the 11th time What we're what we're going to do is hear from every single person for two minutes uninterrupted Please proceed Okay, uh, sorry. There's a little bit of a drag on y'all But I wanted to say that on december 12 members of the community asked the council to conduct a special meeting to call for a ceasefire Instead they went on vacation to celebrate the holidays with their families Since then at least 4,600 more palestinians have been killed by israel I went on your websites and saw that you're part of many health environmental and youth related commissions I don't if you don't pass the resolution as is I don't see how you can face your constituents and continue to pretend like you care about any of these topics I also don't see how you will continue to pretend to care about all people of color for that matter Um We are not we are not divided the majority of our community supports a ceasefire resolution as is There I also noticed today that there are not many latinos here today because most of us work in flexible hours We are 30 of santa cruz Latinos are some of the most pro palestinian group. So I want to remind y'all that we're missing that population here As you think about your next election Remember that the majority of the community supports a ceasefire. Thank you and for my community Divest boycott and sanction. Thank you Next person online. Good morning and welcome Is your last call Okay, we'll take the next person in line with us. Good morning, sir morning. Good morning Thank you so much for your service and your civic duties Really appreciate all of you. Thank you and I appreciate everyone that's here Um, and I just want to say I have a lot of love for every person in this building and I Would love um for us to lead with that even in this decision-making process Uh, my name is chris kogan. I am a new resident to santa cruz. I moved here three months ago I'm a consultant in renewable power And I you know did a calculation Um On the way here and what I found out is that you know since I moved here Center street has Filled with bodies You know center street approximately 230,000 square feet The street the sidewalks the parking spaces If you lined up an average size human child woman a man 23,000 of them all across center street It would be completely covered And I encourage you if this decision is hard For any of you or unclear. I encourage you to take a walk down center street and really let the gravity of that Hitch you and really what I want and encourage you to do Is to really lead with your heart and lead with love And acknowledge the atrocity that exists because if those bodies were on our street God knows that we would stop We would stop this immediately and Yeah, please support ceasefire Good morning Next person online. Good morning. Good morning We'll take the next person in line here Good morning. Welcome My name is Gabiella. My mom is Venezuelan Spanish and not Jewish and my dad is a white Ashkenazi Jew If we had a city council meeting during Nazi Germany, it would be divisive It would be divisive because people were able Filled with so much hatred that they were able to kill each other The reason why our city council meeting is quote unquote divisive is because it's really propaganda white supremacy is divisive That's why we're having this issue Anywho Um, I would like to address two points made by the council The first one is that the genocide resolution is the root of the divisiveness which to which I respond No, it's white supremacy is really propaganda. The last time I came here. I said the israeli Propaganda made it so that the american jewish population was called Neurodically self-hating jews is the point that they needed psychiatric treatment mental health treatment because they believed that Israel was wrong It is the same israeli propaganda that has convinced so many people here to have the courage and power to show up to a city council meeting To argue that more innocent civilians need to be bombed starved because of ridiculous evidence of terrorism Nobody in our community should ever feel empowered or safe to be racist hatred in any public space And the fact that we are allowing that in city council meetings is incredibly harmful and disrespectful to all people of color All jews and literally anybody that cares about arab muslim penn palestinian folks in our community I Totally understand why folks might be checked out of this meeting because it is ridiculous It is 12 56 a.m. And you've heard the eight hours of this you've heard people talk about how they've lost 70 family members Like how can you listen to that and be like done? We're done. We're having the ceasefire. It's done We've done it. We've listened to enough people Like as human beings if I heard one person tell me I have lost 70 70 family members In the past three months. I would not have the audacity to have another person speak This conversation would be over. It would not be what I am This is ridiculous The second point is one of the council members mentioned that cops will save us that cops will help anti-semitism and stop Islamophobia.  Good morning. I think they've missed the opportunity. Good morning No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no Hello, can you hear me? Hello? Yes, I can now I can hear you. Yes, please. Good morning It wasn't my call. Okay. Um, I'm for ceasefire, of course, definitely. I mean, there is no any No any questions. I mean, we are humans. We have to I don't understand Both sides. I do understand both sides and I do realize there is somebody else involved in this conflict which tried to keep this conflict up and But we have to be human because ceasefire will help to remove the things for both sides.  I haven't read yet that part, but for ceasefire Resolution, please kindly accept it. I vote for I'm I'm I'm done. Thank you Morning Hi, um, my name is Anna Orloff and I've lived in Santa Cruz for almost four years. Um, I'm calling on you this morning to pass item 29 And to Reject harmful amendments or substitute resolutions I want to emphasize that the Israeli government has expressed genocidal intent in its attack on the palestinian people A retired general of the IDF, Giora Ellen Wrote in an Israeli newspaper And I quote the state of israel has no choice but to turn gaza into a place that is Temporarily or permanently impossible to live in Um, 30,000 palestinian people have been killed including 10,000 children at this point And supporting an end to this violence is our moral obligation And we must do so by directly calling for a ceasefire and to exclude the word ceasefire from the resolution Would be failing to stand against genocide. Thank you Thank you I'm sorry next person online. We'll be right with you just just a couple minutes person online. Good morning Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can welcome Thank you Good morning. So the council members My name is Asa McCroskey. I'm a registered voter in Santa Cruz And having spent most of my life here. I deeply value our collective voice in this community I'm lending my voice in support of the passing by item 29 The immediate and permanent ceasefire resolution including the release of all hostages delivery of humanitarian aid restoration of tea infrastructure and respect of the international law I'm not going to be listing statistics But for perspective the number of murdered palestinians has already reached over half the entire population of Santa Cruz And this is appalling to me As someone has faced oppression. I recognize the interconnect Interconnectiveness of all struggles for liberation. I urge you to search within yourselves for empathy drawing from any experiences of oppression you may have encountered I imagine your journeys to these positions on the city council likely stemmed from a dream to effect change This unquestionably is one of the most significant opportunities to do so Each one of you possesses the power to truly impact millions of lives I hope this responsibility weighs on you in a way you can't ignore And if the roles are reversed if your families are facing this degree of devastation and violence Wouldn't you wish for global solidarity and urgent action to stop the suffering? I understand the repetition in today's please may create what feels like an echo chamber But I implore you to not become desensitized Instead, let it signify our unity in standing here repeatedly pleading for action We hold palestin and her people with us in every moment because none of us are free until we are all free Thank you for your time patients Thank you for your patience. Good morning Hello, my name is Yasmina Porter. I'm a retired professor here in Santa Cruz I'm also an interlite prayer practitioner and I'm really excited to see all the young people here. I was in bed at 10 30. I got a text to come down here I got out of bed. I love a lot of you guys up here and behind me And I have a complex position.  I didn't read it If there's any language in there that's like specifically anti Zionist I wouldn't want to see that because in my understanding and I could be wrong. There's not okay. Thank you, sandy Then I'm good um that That jews want to have a homeland everybody wants to have a homeland And we as americans want to have a homeland and many of us in this room. We don't want trump I mean a lot of people feel that what's going on with the israeli government and their leadership Is disgusting and a lot of jews agree with me on that And many people in the room. I had to listen to people Say self-hating jew behind me. I cried many times sitting here. I'm not a self-hating jew Although I am jewish. It is a part of my Interfaith background. I'm also proudly muslim and christian and I teach buddhism. I'm complex But I support resolution 29 Please don't hit on me at the high holidays. I love you all Thank you Next person online. Good morning. Next person online. Good morning. Good morning. Can you hear me? Okay? Yes, we can welcome All right. Hi, my name is emory and I have been on this zoom call for over Gosh seven hours now And I have overwhelmingly heard the santa cruz community use our voices to call for an immediate ceasefire Lifting of the siege ending of the occupation And ultimately a free palestine This is not a war. This is a genocide and we are calling you to stand on the right side I'm urging you santa cruz city council members to pass the ceasefire resolution as is Without any harmful proposed changes that dilute its purpose The world is overwhelmingly in support of the palestinian people as the un general assembly showed us with 153 countries voting for a ceasefire And the u.s. Being one of the measly eight countries against it Despite this outcome over 60 of americans have reported to be in support of a ceasefire The government is clearly not being representative of our demands and we are calling on you to help us change that To not raise our local voices to the higher levels of government Would be to not do your jobs as our elected officials We are watching you yes you and will not forget your course of action or inaction I would like to urge you to stand on the side of the right side of history As we witness it unfolding in real time before us with the words of palestinian storyteller and activist jnan madari If you've ever wondered what you'd have done in times of american slavery and how outspoken and how much risk and protection You'd have offered during the holocaust or how you'd have reacted to the internment camps in america And how deeply and how often you'd have protested for civil rights Take a look at whatever you're doing right now for gaza and know that's exactly what you'd have done in times before Thank you for your time. And as always free palestine Good morning. Good morning. Happy wednesday I am a registered voter who's been living in santa cruz for 14 years and i am So so honored to stand with my community and say Cease fire now It has been nearly 100 days of bombing In that time israel has made it abundantly clear repeatedly that their intent is nothing short of genocidal An idf spokesman stated the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy Israel's defense minister said we are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly I have seen such strength From from the palestinian people such endurance such utter resilience in the face of a tragedy. No human being should endure Imagine if it was you That corner store you frequent reduced to charred rubble the house you raise your family in gone your child's school Bombed to the ground your child's remains being carried around in a plastic bag because that's all they could find of them Does that make you uncomfortable? Because i'd be deeply disturbed if it didn't That is what palestine is going through right now Yes, october 7th was a horrific day where 1200 israeli citizens were killed And the response to that attack has been massively disproportionate Our tax dollars are being used to fuel the murder of 30,000 palestinians over 30 percent of raza's population And that number will keep growing if we don't have a ceasefire The people of raza deserve to live The children of raza deserve a future. Please Please do not deprive them of that. Thank you. Thank you Excellent online. Good morning. Welcome person online. Good morning and welcome We'll take the next person who's with us in chambers. Good morning. Good morning My name is destin silver. I'm a jewish student at uc santa cruz And a member of the uc ic jews against white supremacy My grandmother Carol ruth silver was a freedom rider during the civil rights movement In her legacy for fighting for what's right. I urge you to pass resolution 29 without the softening of language or demands through amendments Within these past three months and beyond israel has been committing a genocide with us tax dollars 30,000 palestinian people have been killed within three months 10,000 of whom were children More continue to die under rubble, but you've been hearing that information all night Because of the rate of the genocide there truly is no time for metaphors of the big bad war for the three little pigs While the siege on gaza continues nor can we afford the time to debate divisiveness of the ceasefire While refugee camps are under attack after palestinians are explicitly Directed to go there without exaggeration without metaphor over 10 thousand Palestinian children have been murdered by israeli bombs and will continue to be unless a ceasefire is enacted There is no justification for the violence inflicted upon children by the idf Not even the tearing down of propaganda posters here in the united states of america There's no time to halt this meeting to berate people for making noise over 12 times At least until there is a ceasefire Cease fire now And the occupation now free palestine now Thank you Next person online. Good morning and welcome Good morning I can barely hear you. I think you need to speak up quite a bit or turn up your microphone or something of that nature And I won't charge that against your time. So you can begin again thank you Well, I can bear I I really cannot hear none of us in the chambers can hear you I'm sorry. I'm gonna have to go on to the next person. We literally cannot hear you Good morning, sir Hello ceasefire now It has been inspiring to come out with community And to finally do Something anything about the endless or at least seemingly endless onslaught genocide Casualty in gaza in palestine It is possible to end this genocide. This ceasefire is the step It is the required action For ending this genocide. It is not easy This is a uniquely american problem We have been talking a lot about the tax dollars But more importantly, it is the resources that are fund that are Particularly fueling this genocide the bombs are american made the bullets are american made the tanks are american made People are profiting From this genocide and that makes it incredibly difficult to act but not impossible At the top levels of the political system. There is no action For ceasefire, but here here in grassroots organization. There is potential for ceasefire There is potential for peace for safety And for resolution Ceasefire now. Thank you The next person online. Good morning and welcome We'll take the next person who's with us. Good morning Hello, my name is skylar. I am a registered voter in the city of sanacus and I live in district two I'm calling on this council to please pass item 29 the ceasefire resolution on today's agenda as is and to reject harmful amendments or substitute resolutions We cannot deny that there is an ongoing genocide happening in palestine right now Many of us have been watching daily from our phones and hearing directly from reporters on the ground in gaza Who are living through relentless bombings and witnessing death every single day Tens of thousands of civilians including thousands of children have been killed in just the past few months and almost two million people Have been displaced in gaza The people of palestine deserve food water warmth Shelter safety and they deserve to be free They also deserve all of our strength and our commitment to their liberation Passing this resolution can be our first step in showing them and our community That we can that we have that commitment to justice and freedom Please pass this resolution today without amendments. Thank you Online good morning. Welcome. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can welcome Hi, i'm a proud american like all of you on the city council I'm tired of what's happening in gaza There's so much death and destruction there and I just wish we could all unite behind israel So they could destroy hamas more quickly to protect the innocent's lives of gossens The quicker that hamas can be destroyed the sooner that gossens who want peace can have a chance for that We need to call on hamas to stop using civilians as human shields A lot of ceasefire folks have pointed out. This is a global issue I agree Hamas's genocidal attack on israel is just a beachhead for their ambitions for a global islamic caliphate Instead of the ceasefire resolution as americans We must all unite behind israel as they fight for their survival of the west radical islam hates america Why? Look back to 9 11 Look at the young people on tiktok today. We're standing up in support of osama bin laden Fear of a global islamic caliphate is not an irrational one. It is a stated ambition of radical islamists As we look toward mlk day, we must speak out against the enslavement of blacks For those in the christian world who know about the decades long mass slaughter and enslavement of black christians in sudan Which they call the hidden holocaust Sudanese arabs sought to subjugate and enslave the black sudanese of the mostly christian south The onslaught cost the lives of 2.5 million black sudanese I so hope for peace in the middle east a two-state solution I hope that the ignorant young people who have been lied to by social media Can wake up and see that hamas and coordination with iran and cutter are waging war on western values I feel sad for the many hamas sympathizers here. You won't be spared if israel fails in excoriating hamas I actually don't think that it's within the purview of a local city council to pass foreign policy based resolutions But I do hope that everyone on the city council will separately join me and all patriotic americans In privately supporting israel and their war of fighting back against hamas and a global islamic caliphate. Thank you Good morning. Welcome Hello, my name is dice and I'm a registered voter in the city of sanikers I live in district 2 And work as a teacher in sanikers. I'm calling on you our mayor and our city council to pass item 29 The ceasefire resolution on today's agenda as is and reject harmful amendments or substitute resolutions I'm here today because I feel that it is my duty to stand up for what is right and call for an end To the violence and the genocide of the palestinian people As we all can see there are people here today from both opposing sides who feel very strongly about the issue at hand I think that every single person in this room can agree that we do not want to see any more violence We don't want to see any more murders. We don't want to see any more children dying According to the world health organization about 160 palestinian children are killed every day That's a child killed every 10 minutes If we were in gaza the preschool class that I taught last week at green acres would be wiped out within a matter of hours We play hide and seek in the sun while palestinian children dig through rubble looking for their parents and siblings It should not be divisive to say that palestinian children and all palestinians are human beings who deserve to live freely and safely The drafted sanikers resolution acknowledges the suffering of both palestinians and israelis Though the harm can't even begin to be compared Urges the release of all hostages calls for a permanent ceasefire by all parties And urges the immediate entry of humanitarian assistance to aid all of the suffering starving and dying people and children of gaza Why would anybody vote against this? I want to express extreme gratitude to council members bruner And brown for having the courage to listen to the overwhelming majority of sanikers citizens And for working with community members to draft a ceasefire resolution To the rest of you, please do the right thing and pass item 29 tonight Do not let our cries go unheard the city of sanikers stands behind you And we believe that you all have the strength and courage to stand on the right side of history If we didn't believe in you, we wouldn't be here tonight pass item 29 It's all of us or none of us from the river to the sea palestine will be free Next person online. Good morning Good morning We'll take the next person in line Welcome My name is mackayla. I'm a resident of sanikers county And i'm here out of love and compassion for my fellow humans The palestinian people who as we speak are being subjected to a genocide I'm calling on you to take a stand against this violence by passing the ceasefire resolution And rejecting any harmful amendments that weaken the intent of this resolution This matter is extremely urgent It is not an exaggeration to say that every moment that passes another loved one is lost Killed by bombs supplied by this country In just the past 96 days over 30,000 palestinian people have been murdered Over 12,000 of those precious lives being children That's over 133 children violently killed every day As politicians who have been elected to represent our community I urge you to use your power to do so When you hear a united voice begging you to change the current course Our government is supporting israel as they commit daily war crimes Breaking countless international laws in the process whether it be cutting off access to basic human necessities Or carpet bombing schools and hospitals entire neighborhoods and refugee camps The u.m. Just released a statement saying half of the gaussian population will starve to death at this rate On top of all that as of last week 198 historical sites have been destroyed israel is actively trying to eradicate palestine and its indigenous people from history Regardless of anyone's politics. It is an absolute fact that the erasure of human history is devastating to us all Please do the right thing Listen to the voices of your community and pass the ceasefire resolution Thank you to my community for showing up with such strength The beautiful display of unity that we have seen today is a testament to our determination to get the solution passed Know that the term that that determination will not waiver. We will not be silent until palestine is free Thank you for your time. Thank you Back to person online welcome Person online welcome test one two. Hello. Hello. Hello Test one two test test. Hello. Hello. We can hear you and welcome. Please proceed goodness quick history lesson Um, let's say there is an ethnic and religious population on their homeland for 2,500 to 3,000 years And then a couple of few decades ago an imperialistic Colonial power says, you know You'd be better run by a different ethnicity different religion. It's all good. It's going to be fine and then late last year that ethnic majority comes in loads of buildings shoots people and does Basically a genocide and I'm talking of course about Nagora Karaba and I ever ever was John. Sorry. I'm so tired right now If you pass this Uh resolution about uh Gaza I would like an amendment to also send a strongly worded finger wagging letter to Baku because they've gone from 100,000 Armenians to 50 in that ethnic homeland And that's not acceptable Also, not acceptable is the fact that is now what almost 130. This is not kind to the council It's not kind of staff. It's not kind of the public It's not kind of the poor Community tv person. I don't know why this has gone on so long and why we're giving up city business we were going to do the tree and Everybody here should call panetta because they're the one that can do this And also maybe we can have six hours of discussion why we don't have a swimming pool Thanks, and uh good night. I've been up for way too long. Bye Welcome welcome Good morning My name is Amanda Shamsul and i'm resident of santa Cruz county I ask the council passes item 29 for a ceasefire resolution without amendments As of now more than 85 percent of gaza has been displaced Let's sit with how unbelievable it is that humanity has allowed this to come this far Recently and in an Israeli ambassador in the uk claimed that there is no humanitarian crisis happening in gaza How is this through when yesterday a quadcopter not a many quadcopter drones Were firing shots near nasir hospital in communis in the southern gana strip when yesterday three palestinians were executed in tulkram city and west bank When the one when one of the bodies was after being executed rolled over by a military vehicle this happened yesterday How is this the truth when the ones surviving are currently living in tents when Having they're having to urinate in buckets All is this this is not enough to constitute as a crisis For the world leaders to step in for us to step in Things have not slowed down these past three months. Things are not slowing down right now Let us not let the media make us believe that a ceasefire will happen on its own If there is a question on why santa cruises commitment matters Then it is the same question of why the us matters at all in this I can tell you right now my family in malaysia is not being asked to vote on whether palestinian lives matter Because that is not their business and the reason it's the us's business is because we are funding it whether we like it or not Tax dollars that should be going to healthcare to education to unhoused people in the winter conditions But instead we are here talking about this because somehow our voice matters and it does So I urge our community leaders you all to make the choice be part of a collective voice that will hopefully Ideally influence the broader federal stance compelling the us to call for an immediate ceasefire in gaza Because somehow unfortunately the us's voice matters in this. Thank you and free palestine Next person online welcome and good morning Person online good morning We'll take the person whose voice Good morning and welcome Hello, my name is telma. I am a phd student at ucsc And I am standing here today after waiting in line like all of these people Nearly nine hours to implore this elected member the elected members of this body to do all that they can To pass item 29 in full What is happening in gaza is a genocide the zionists who control israel have openly admitted to that Repeatedly First to all of the zionists that have wasted our time this evening If israel really wanted to get their hostages back they would have already done so Israel cannot claim to have hostages that they intend to rescue if they themselves are prolonging their capture And in fact contributing to their murder If the iof are killing the same hostages they are making they are making so much noise about When we just witnessed israel target and kill a palestinian with acute With acute precision in a sovereign nation without any repercussion from the global Audience for the last three months We have all bore witness to mass murder at scales that continue to break horrific records of conflicts past We live in one of the wealthiest counties in the wealthiest state in the wealthiest country in the world You would then think that the residents of santa cruz are living in the lap of luxury when that is far from reality Residents of santa cruz are counting pennies forgoing medical care compromising on education only to hand their hard-earned dollars To a genocidal state that provides their settlers with subsidized housing free health care and Free and subsidized education All while more and more people in santa cruz end up on the streets living in tents Students fall further and further behind in their education as an educator. I experience firsthand how third and fourth year college students Are falling behind in their basic reading and writing I want to remind you today that our government has grossly neglected its people across all levels And I imploring you if your conscious does not remember We the people have seeded you in all of your given positions of power And we the people can take that privilege away Next person online. Good morning Good morning welcome Good morning to you Good morning. My name is katie. DiGiorno. I have lived in this community my entire life And the late city council member sally diGiorno is my great aunt In the past santa cruz city council have passed resolutions about apartheid president reagan's efforts to overthrow the sandanista government in nicaragua And condemning the russian invasion of ukraine Passing a ceasefire resolution would be morally consistent Our local issues of homelessness and climate resilience go underfunded because taxpayer money is instead Going to fund a genocide abroad and militarization of our own neighborhoods As in the case of the us-based surveillance company palantir Who has major military contracts with israel and until recently the santa cruz police department Israeli surveillance company elbit systems have installed 10 surveillance towers in santa cruz county under a contract with customs and border patrol Weapons manufacturer lockheed martin runs tests on trident missiles and other surface to air missiles in the santa cruz mountains Then we saw those weapons to israel The city government is our closest proximity to power We call on the city of santa cruz to lead the nation with its moral clarity and visionary leadership ceasefire now Next person online good morning Person online good morning.  Hi, can you hear me? Yes, now we can hear you. Thank you for your forebearance. Thank you. Please proceed Hi, my name is ruby. I was at the meeting in person and Now on zoom just want to thank everyone who showed up And I think I wanted to respond to folks who are saying that a ceasefire is divisive I was outside tabling for hours and saw nothing but unity amongst a majority of the folks that showed up and um believe that the overwhelming Voice today has been to support the ceasefire And all the folks that mentioned it was divisive never even mentioned any detail or specific wording Or anything that was actually divisive. I Saw them literally physically dividing themselves from the unity that was president present amongst the group And I guess that is the only divisiveness that they don't want to be a part of Cease fire and calling for no more violence against Palestinian people So yes, I unequivocally Support the resolution as is for a ceasefire. Thank you. Thank you very much Good morning. Welcome. Good morning. Um, hello council. My name is craig walker Um, I rode my bike from uh from school yesterday to be here and happy to be here. Um, I'm a teacher in sand crews and um I am really happy to be here to to encourage you to adopt a ceasefire resolution with unambiguous language Calling for immediate ceasefire a permanent ceasefire As a teacher, um, I've been a teacher for a while I'm far from a perfect teacher. Um, and I I am grateful to have still a lot to learn as a teacher Um, and it took me a while to just realize that if I want an honest answer for my students I should just ask them straight up. Uh, you know, what would make me a more trustworthy teacher What would make me more fair? What would make you feel more supported and valued and um, overwhelmingly I hear from my students that um when Uh, I am made aware of harm being uh taking place in the community Um, I need to address it And that simple notion uh doing something Um when harm is occurring Um Is is their answer and I see no difference between that and um the situation we find ourselves in as a city Here and now and many other cities across our nation to acknowledge harm that is occurring on a massive scale to do something about that and I believe that we our small city of Santa Cruz can adopt this resolution to show our allyship for the people of Palestine and to Make a small change in the world. Thank you. Welcome and good morning version online Yeah, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Welcome. All right Awesome. Okay. Thanks. Um Hey council, my name is mel I'm a registered voter in district two and I've been living in Santa Cruz for eight years now I stand alongside the countless voices today urging you to pass item 29 the ceasefire resolution as is In the 1982 planetary city resolution the city of Santa Cruz resolved that to solve world problems And to live in peace all people must share global responsibility for international Cooperation and extend their citizenship responsibilities beyond state and nation As we speak before you today and call for a ceasefire. This is what we are doing Sharing the responsibility to speak in the name of justice freedom and the right for all people to live free from constant violence and bombing To live in Santa Cruz and know that my tax dollars are currently funding the killing of innocent Palestinians Is excruciatingly infuriating and absolutely heartbreaking It is important and appalling to see our governments on this genocide against palestinians This is why we call for a ceasefire continued violence will only breed more violence Constant bombing will never lead to lasting peace It will only lead to more deaths and atrocities and our hearts and our communities just can't bear it any longer As we call for a ceasefire We also call for the immediate release of all hostages and political prisoners immediate entry of humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and the restoration of food water electricity and medical supplies to the people in Gaza Please listen to us here as we show you how our hearts have been breaking As we try to mend them again by speaking up for people who are living under constant and daily state sanctioned violence May all people be safe free and liberated as that is what all people deserve May love reign over violence I pray for all those affected and urge you to pass item 29 a ceasefire resolution Palestinian people deserve to live it is crucial and urgent act in this moment and pass the ceasefire resolution Solidarity to all our people everywhere. Thank you. Thank you Welcome Oh, thank you council for listening to your community tonight My name is Zora skeleton and I'm a district three resident of Santa Cruz as well as a uc santa cruz student I am also a proud anti Zionist Jew and I stand in full support of the ceasefire resolution without amendments And Palestinian sovereignty from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea I know that I am safe as a Jewish person when we stand in solidarity with our Palestinian siblings Not when my identity is used to justify a genocide In 2018 I was lucky enough to visit Palestine while I as an American Jew was able to freely travel I saw how Palestinians were barred from walking down the streets of their childhood homes and schools From seeing their family and loved ones just yards away from selling goods to make necessary income I bring this up because there's nothing new going on in Palestine But today you should be grateful because the people of Santa Cruz have given you the opportunity to mitigate colonial violence By signing on to a ceasefire the bare minimum that can be done to make sure not one more innocent Palestinian is killed We know Santa Cruz is a city that exists because of colonial violence We pay homage to an every day passing mission Santa Cruz just a few blocks away I know that leaders such as yourself attempt to right pass wrongs today by working with indigenous organizations and leaders Such as the almond mits and tribal band Why can we not make the same efforts to combat colonialism and genocide as it unfolds in front of our eyes? Are you as leaders only able to fight for indigenous populations after the colonizer has already taken power? I urge you to question why you cannot apply the same perspectives to Palestine as you do to Santa Cruz And how you could claim that this issue does not pertain here To pass a ceasefire would not be an allocation of Santa Cruz's resources to an unrelated issue In fact, it would be a step towards the opposite Taking our u.s. Dollars out of israel and investing in setting housing education health care Transportation everything we all know Santa Cruz desperately needs To reject this resolution would be to tell our palestinian and arab community members That you are not willing to risk your political safety to protect them and their families lives. Thank you very much Next person online. Good morning. Hello. Hi. Can you hear me? Yes, we can welcome Welcome. Good morning My name is uh, shiram endelevich and I live at foster city Um, I oppose the ceasefire resolution and agree with everything the people who opposed it said before me I would like to add another perspective Foster city is a very diverse community. There are israelis jewish americans palestinians iranians chinese japanese and much much more And after october 7th, there was a naturally a lot of tension between the israeli and jewish communities To the palestinian community But several weeks ago there was an attempt in our city council to pass the resolution here It was a very hard intensive and full of emotion meeting like this one And it caused a bigger mistrust between the communities something that i'm not sure if it will ever be fixed Now we live in the bay area. There are many people here from different backgrounds Where at home they are at war, but here they have to get along What will happen to the community if tomorrow you will be requested to do resolution? For example regarding china and taiwan india and kashmir Why not address the matter in a less invasive way? Also, I see that they have some some middle time left I'd like to concern. I'd like to address two issues that we raised earlier Concerning the genocide accusation I would like to quote from the hill today Use secretary of state anthony blinken on tuesday denounced israel being referred to the international court of justice For alleged genocide during its war in gaza calling the claim very less And the other thing is that hamas promised to perform the october 7th attacks Even more times And this is why israel continues to fight there. That's the that's the reason Thank you very much. Thank you very much Good morning Welcome. Hello council. Thank you for hearing us. My name is keenan lorenzato I'm a resident of santa cruz and a quaker And as a quaker, I do a lot of work with consensus all decisions in our community are made through consensus and thank goodness We don't have that at city council But I have heard a lot of unity in this room tonight and that's what I want to speak to I am concerned about our community and I want our community to come together And I'm concerned that we're going to miss this opportunity to unify I've heard unity around Hurt for our fellow humans Across the ocean. I've heard unity around condemning atrocities The murder of children the murder of innocence I've heard unity around recognition that this Item before us is not a silver bullet and will not solve problems in the middle east or israelan palisthen I've also heard unity that we want something better And it's that that I'm sticking to and it's that reason why I support approving the amendment as is I think it's a first step and I think our community has shown With the people here and all the voices in the room that we do want discussion around this We do want this to be part of the santa cruz community And we are showing up for a reason and I believe that that reason Starts with approving this item. Thank you Thank you Hello Good morning person online. Welcome Hi, can you hear me? Hi. Yes, we can hear you. Please proceed Hi, I'd like to start by saying thank you for continuing to listen to our voices as we get further to the night My name is leo massiel. I am a mexican-american and a student here at ucsc And i'm currently living within the santa cruz bounce I urge you just as most have done throughout the night to pass item 29 as is A ceasefire is the least we can do for the people who are being slaughtered As you sit here and debate if their lives are worth saving A ceasefire is the least we owe the palestinian people after our tax dollars have gone to funding their genocide I'm calling for full humanitarian aid into gaza an acknowledgement of 75 plus years of israeli occupation in palestinia land And return of all hostages and political prisoners I've seen the power and beauty and resistance that this movement has enacted Oppressed peoples black indigenous peoples of color around the world have recognized the genocide of palestinians Namely south africa the birthplace of apartheid I appreciate you all for writing this resolution. I wholeheartedly support its passing as is free palestine. Thank you Good morning. Welcome. Good morning. Welcome. Good morning I'm here in support of the palestinian children and israeli children And I have a question for all of you Just to ask yourselves Who or what is holding you back if you're not supporting the resolution already? to think about it because it's such an easy thing to To conclude if you think of the children That are suffering in the middle east sitting well in both in palestine and in israel Thank you. Thank you sir Take the next person online.  Yes. Now we can you have a very soft voice. So make sure you speak good and loud. Thank you I'm american and israeli And I'm so happy that the previous person asked won't help you back because Oh, how much I want to inspire How much I want the release of the 10 months boy And the 87 year old grandparent that are kept in the dungeon And the tunnels for more than almost 100 years So what helped me back is because it's going to help Hamas Not the gaza In the last in the past 20 years Hamas rules Gaza There were many seals fire In between a lot of money Went into Gaza from the humanitarian community So why guys are not so full? Why they don't have bomb shelters? Ask them where is the money? Follow the money When israel asked gas to live the combat zone At 1.7 million deep You call it cleansing If they say it's genocide This is double standard Israel don't try to help the palestinians Living in in 10th now it's war But it saves life I thought So So why I only hear About humanitarian health And no one's here. I mean not no one But most of you Don't talk about the hostages Why I if you are so focused I never heard about two-state solution We are Thank you very much. Good morning Welcome Good morning. My name is Jacob I'm a registered voter in Santa Cruz and a person of both Jewish and Armenian descent I grew up with stories of genocide and it is horrifying to see these repeated in our time UNICEF has reported that every single child in Gaza under age five is at risk for severe malnutrition There is no excuse for the mass starvation of children This nightmare is a direct result of the current campaign of violence by the state of israel As well as the denial of aid to the people of Gaza I urge this council to immediately pass item 29 in its original wording To call for a full unequivocal and permanent ceasefire Help protect the people of Gaza from any more harm and an end to state sanction famine Thank you. Thank you That's person online. Good morning. Welcome to the council meeting Hi. Good morning. Can you hear me? Yes, we can welcome Um, hi, I just want to first as others have said, um, thank all of you so much for For listening. Um, I am a History teacher and I greatly value the democratic process and I understand that it's Messy and really difficult and I appreciate all of you. Um My name is Mary Gardner. I'm a teacher and a resident of Santa Cruz and a voter Um, I'll make this quick because I think a lot of it's been said Just from my perspective, I grew up in New York City I was in eighth grade when, um, the planes hit the world trade center Um, my dad saw the buildings collapse from his school in the Bronx Um, the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan in response did not make us safer and when I protested those wars That didn't mean that I was Supporting al-qaeda or saying that I didn't care about the 14 firefighters from my neighborhood who were killed when they went to rescue people from the trade center Um, I'm also the daughter of a disabled American veteran who fought in vietnam war Um, vietnam war also didn't make us safer, but uh, I saw what it did to my dad Um, if war was made us safer, we wouldn't be fighting him anymore. Uh, and the only people who are Benefiting from this are the shareholders of like Raytheon. Um And just lastly as a history teacher, I just want to live in a world where like We can see mass death for what it is and condemn it and try to stop it and not get caught up in Misinformation and rhetoric and jargon. I support the ceasefire because it's the right thing to do Thank you so much for listening. Thank you very much. Good morning and welcome. Good morning. Um, my name is Tyree Richie I'm a or as an activist associated with black lives matter in Santa Cruz I've witnessed a continuous acts of police brutality and violence inflicted upon black and brown bodies in our country Joe biden who mentioned the talk That black and brown parents have with their children if faced with encounters with law enforcement and to remain peaceful and civil As the parents of tyree nickles listened to his words But the Memphis police force that took tyree nickles's life Received training from the israeli national police and military The police chief who oversaw the killing of tyree nickles was also trained by the israeli national police and military Who have been known for various human rights violations against palestinians? Hundreds of police departments in our country including california have traveled to israel for training Thousands of other departments have received training from israeli military in the united states as of 2023 One thousand two hundred thirty two people in united states were killed by the police As the by the administration continues to bypass our elected officials to send additional weapons To the same as israeli forces to inflict inflict violence upon palestinians I am puzzled and depressed as to why that same energy to remain civil and peaceful isn't exercise Despite overwhelming international support for a ceasefire to find resolution in this conflict In this moment in time we cannot stand silent as people die of starvation Inhumane conditions and violence for existing to live Our palestinian brothers and sisters should not be dehumanized and killed to justify revenge and genocide As a community that prides itself on being an international attraction We must stand with the world and not be afraid to hold biden and our elected government accountable and demand a ceasefire resolution Next person online. Good morning. Good morning.  How can we allow the indiscriminate bombing of entire city blocks? These are war crimes We cannot just stand by while genocide plays out right in front of us if we have any conscious We must call for a ceasefire now Thank you Thank you Thank you.  Do you have a heart and a soul? There's somebody bigger than all of us up in here And that put us here to talk about love peace compassion empathy for all Ain't you ain't got no control over these people?     Good morning. I'm welcome Next person online. Good morning and welcome Thank you. My name is Leanne and I'm with the Alameda families and friends for a ceasefire We congratulate all the peace loving people and students in Santa Cruz That have organized for a ceasefire and push their city council to agendize a resolution As a city that recently took up this issue last week and resulted in a motion and tie vote for the Alameda city council To support house resolution 786 currently in congress that calls for a ceasefire We know that the outcome wasn't what we wanted But we were able to connect as a community over this commitment to life Falling for a ceasefire now shows your commitment to doing the right thing Similar to how this Santa Cruz body will vote tonight your stance on genocide ethnic cleansing The most basic calls for a ceasefire will be on record This election year ceasefire is an issue that is electrifying voters Nationally majority of voters want a ceasefire Overwhelmingly young people and people of color want a ceasefire Mayor City council members you do not want to be on the wrong side of history Unions places of worship community organizations and nonprofits have called for a ceasefire Cities not too far from Santa Cruz like Richmond Davis oakland and just today San Francisco their city councils have called for a ceasefire As the demands grow for a ceasefire and the moments get bigger council members You will need to grow a spine tonight Will you pass the resolution as is without amendments to join the billions around the world that are saying no to genocide? Or will you simply stand idle wait until thousands more get murdered with our taxpayer money? Wait till it becomes so unbearable Or wait when it becomes fashionable or comfortable to call for a ceasefire? We are watching your vote. Gaza is being murdered. This is the least you can do Good morning and welcome Night I have no name Tonight like many other nights. I am nobody Having no name. I cannot lend my voice to this desk of war Where you comfortably weigh whose lives are worth living And whose lives this empire deems to be meaningless Tonight I have no name and tonight Like so many others the night sky is lit by the path of bombs and the phosphorescence of sanctioned death The death tax dollars usher into the world Tonight I would like to speak to someone else not to this council of war, but to some dweller of the future Or better to those few listening in from the land of the not yet To some other nobody Who might stumble on a few archives? Who might study the broken paper trail of this genocide you have deemed worthy of debate? This inhabitant of the future who might ask what did they do? Where did they stand? And how did they grieve? I would like to tell them that I have seen I would like to tell them what I have seen I would like to tell them that I have seen wailing women Straddling their bodies over warships to stop them from leaving their ports That I have seen bodies lie across the highways to stop this war machine I have seen grief assemble to usher another world I have seen lamentations break the sky open Calling for a night where the clouds do not buzz under the roaring of war drones I have seen the living join the dead to say free palestine online Good morning and welcome Hi, thank you. My name is victoria nobles. I'm a registered voter of stanikers in district one I'm a parent educator activist and business owner in this community I support the ceasefire resolution as is and I urge the council to listen to the overwhelming number of community members Who also support the ceasefire resolution as is their calls for a ceasefire are supported by the global community By global organizations who have been watching in horror as more than 20,000 people have been bombed to death It is the very least that The um we can do as a community and if we need to keep this going all night and for many days we will Thank you Morning. Good morning. Welcome. Thanks. My name is Amy Krause and I teach in the feminist studies department at uc santa cruise I teach classes on law reproductive health and rights and concepts of justice And i'm here to first. I want to thank everyone who supported one another to stand up against the u.s Back to genocide of palestine palestinian people and the destruction of their life worlds I'm here in solidarity with the majority of people who are asking the council to pass the resolution without amendments And more than a thousand others who have expressed themselves in emails to the council And I ask for you to pass this resolution without amendments ceasefire now I have nobody else with their hands up yet. We'll we'll hear from every one of you then good morning Good morning. I'm gabriela. I'm a student at cabrio college um I was here last time and I spoke and I got to see all of the moving testimony um and a large large majority of people supporting uh a ceasefire and so it's kind of surprising to me that it hasn't been Uh passed yet. Actually, I would like if it was surprising. It's not surprising But it's quite disappointing that that wasn't passed right away because there are so many people here who are like Just passed the ceasefire Really similar to oakland and it hasn't happened and we're all here at 2 a.m And I would like to say like thank you to the public servants who are serving the public I'd like to say thank you to you guys for staying here until 2 a.m And I would also like to say thank you to everyone who is here who's not getting paid.  That's just really disappointing and you know, I I was going to use this time To say other things but everyone has already said what needs to be said and it just it feels really disrespectful when people are Are giving up so much of their time and and are are giving so much voluntarily when you guys Dedicate your jobs to serving the public and the public has made Clear what they want to happen. We are in solidarity with Palestine Santa Cruz supports Palestine. Please do your job and support us and supporting Palestine. Thank you Good morning, welcome welcome Good evening. My name is Forrest. I'm a student at UC Santa Cruz And I'm in speaking in favor of item 29 a ceasefire resolution Um And I would reject any amendments that would seek to water down or conditionalize our support for our palestinian siblings Having said that I would like to make several acknowledgments First that the violence being carried out by the IDF and by the united states government against the palestinian people in Gaza is a genocide And furthermore this violence did not start on october 7th. And in fact not even just 75 but like Oh like around a hundred years in the making since like the first dionist congress in like 1897 um But we're not we're not going to get into that I guess. Um, secondly, I'd like to You note that are a lot of our conceptions around decorum respectability and politeness Stem from white supremacy culture as has been illustrated and you know, I I've been in model the UN I had no did you do spare fingers and all that stuff? But you know I just think that like that shouldn't be like conditioned like people's respect, but you know Um, thirdly, I'd like to acknowledge the hard work of all of the organizers and everyone that gathered here today Thank you for taking time out of your day in support of humanity. Um, Like I I haven't felt very good About life in general for a really long time, but coming out and seeing like everyone coming to like out of their day and like Resoundly like supporting humanity and life has like Maybe changed my mind just a little bit Finally, I've been keeping a tally in of the of those in favor of item 29 So far we have a hundred and twenty three wonderful beautiful people voicing their support And it's been around 81 of all of those speaking that kind of overwhelming majority should show you where the people stand on this issue Please use your support position to listen to the overwhelming consensus on this issue. Thank you so much for your time Good morning. Hi My name is Marissa. I'm a resident here in Santa Cruz county And I'm here with the rest of this profoundly diverse crowd who took the time today and yesterday To ask you to pass item 29 as is um on December 17th 2023 The Auschwitz and Birkenau state museum in poland publicly denounced The genocidal remarks by the mayor of an israeli town Mayor Mayor who said that all of gaza should be ethnically cleansed of palestinians and turned into a museum Like the notorious nazi death camp and I quote The whole gaza strip needs to be empty flattened just like Auschwitz Matula mayor David Azuli said in a radio interview according to the times of israel He said and I quote let it be a museum for all the world to see what israel can do Let no one reside in gaza strip for all the world to see this you could all research and see this is fact In response the Auschwitz Birkenau state museum wrote and I quote David Azuli appears to wish to use the symbol of the largest cemetery in the world as some sort of sick hateful pseudo-artistic symbolic expression Calling for acts that seem to transgress any civil war time Moral and human laws that sound as a call for murder on the scale akin to Auschwitz Puts the whole honest world face to face with the madness that must be confronted and firmly rejected The museum added we do hope that israeli authorities will react to such shameful abuse I think that even just knowing that this happened knowing that the Auschwitz museum chose to denounce such things Uh, I call it trauma goggles if you can't see that this is wrong. So thank you very much My name is Stacy Marie Garcia and I have served the city of santa cruz for over 13 years and community engagement work Previously led the community engagement at the santa cruz museum of art and history Also sat in those seats serving on the city of santa cruz arts commission And was previously at the community foundation of santa cruz during covet and the fires I now work for an international human rights organization that is calling for in a permanent immediate ceasefire alongside Tons of other organizations that are calling for a ceasefire and i'm asking you to do that today I have never seen this amount of civic Participation in the city of santa cruz and I've been doing community engagement work here for the past 13 years So I want to be really proud of that and I want you all to really acknowledge that Um, I also want to really thank you for listening to our community's request for a ceasefire resolution and particularly Sandy and sonia for engaging members of the public in that process, which is so important I also want to thank you for taking the time to put this on the agenda today And this comes at a time when the vast majority of americans are calling for a ceasefire 80 percent of democrats yet only 11 percent of congress is supporting a ceasefire So as this is happening after daily relentless calls to our representatives We are calling every single day and it feels like many of our voices are completely being silenced However, it's clear that you all at the local level are listening For the majority and are taking action on this and we sincerely thank you for doing that We hope you'll continue to listen to the vast majority here in this room Many who are from marginalized backgrounds who are calling for a permanent immediate ceasefire Just so you know, our team has been counting 197 have been speaking in support of the ceasefire 46 have been opposed That is over 81 percent that you've heard from today that are in support of the ceasefire without amendment These people are bravely speaking up to ask you to pass the ceasefire resolution without harmful amendments And we're asking you to stand with us. I believe all of you want a world that is peaceful equitable and just We want that too, but we cannot get there first without ending the horrific violence that's happening in Gaza So I invite you to be brave with us to be our voice to use your power Which comes with a ton of responsibility and to take action by passing the ceasefire as is. Thank you My name is uh, joseph. I'm a graduate student in politics at ucsc I'm here in support of the resolution Council members understand as we sit here knowing full well that we'll be able to go home Palestinian men women and children alike are either stuck or dead under the rebel Council members understand that since the clock struck 12 o'clock A new day began and more than 10 Palestinian children have lost one or both of their lakes Council members understand as you eat your next meal drink your next sip of water is really using starvation as a weapon of war Council members understand as you step out of this meeting and breathe in the fresh air Israel is dropping right fast for us over the bodies of Palestinian men women and children Council members understand that when you visit the doctor next time and are giving anesthesia Pregnant guys and women are endearing c-sections without anesthesia Council members understand that when you go back to your home To your children nephews nieces Palestinian children have their names written on their bodies in case they are murdered by the idf Council members understand that when you make your next trip to your local church or synagogue or your next religion or other religious institution Israel has banned dozens of churches and mosques in the Gaza Strip Council members understand that Israel has been bragging about its genocidal project since october with no shame Genocide scholars and experts have concluded that Israel is committing a genocide This is not a controversial position Nor is it anti-semitic as some may want you to believe this has been Israel's plan since its inception Council members more than 30,000 murdered Palestinians later passing this resolution is the bare minimum you can do From the river to the sea Palestine will be free ceasefire now morning welcome morning Good morning. My name is Stephen Karen I have lived and worked in Santa Cruz for the last 50 years What was the question? I'm sorry. I'm sorry mayor. Okay. I've lived and worked in Santa Cruz for the last 50 years How to acknowledge your stamina? Okay, seriously. I'm not just flattering you this very impressive and your composure Very very inspiring Well, we are respectfully requesting that you not support the resolution as it is written Our concern is that the ceasefire That's advocated would then allow Hamas to rearm recalculate Resume atrocities resume beheading resume raping women and resume their activities Such as that The Hamas leaders have publicly stated that we will do this again and again and again We would prefer a resolution that does address Hamas because if they were to surrender tomorrow Lay down their arms release the hostages then we would have a ceasefire So that is what we are advocating Thank you for your attention Thank you Good morning and welcome morning My name is Judy Yockel I Live and vote in the first district and I am president of the board of temple Bethel A number of people have asked why Many members of the Jewish community find this proposed resolution to be divisive I'll give you three reasons one Calling for a ceasefire Without conditions without negotiation and monitoring Would absolutely open Israel up To repeated genocidal attacks, which Hamas has vowed to continue to make until all Jews are dead in the Middle East to The resolution calls for the ceasefire to be immediate. It does not call for the release of hostages to be immediate Yes, it is true. It does not And no no wait hold on just second not taking this out of your time Thank you. Please proceed. Yeah um That is an imbalance and we believe release of the hostages needs to be the first step towards peace three The resolution does not condemn The utterly horrific attacks of october 7th And I'd like to point out that the san francisco resolution that was passed today Was not passed as is it was passed with significant amendments Including condemnation of the attacks of october 7th Google it if you don't believe me um So those are those are three reasons there are others I think Council members bruner and brown. I think you've been very well intentioned And I think you've tried to draft a resolution that you hope might please everyone But it does not And this resolution is not going to change things one iota in the middle east But it will severely harm Anger and alienate the majority of the local jewish community I ask that you not pass this resolution and if you feel you must pass a resolution I ask that it be limited to the jurisdiction. You are elected to govern Focusing on peace education and fighting Antisemitism and islamophobia in our local community That is something worthwhile that you can truly impact as a local city council. Thank you Good morning. Welcome Good morning. I really am impressed by all of you all sitting still. I have had to move my legs so many times So respect for sitting still We are not innocent or neutral as americans. We are directly involved in the genocide. That's clear The us uses our tax dollars to feed the war machine. Duh However, santa cruz is home to lockheed martin testing sites that makes us uniquely Part of the problem that makes us uniquely involved and we have to call for a ceasefire because our voice does actually matter It is within our jurisdiction to participate in national and international politics. So I thank you for hearing us today I beg you to pass the resolution as is without amendments It is historically illogical and offensive to include a denouncement of hamas without a denouncement an extreme explanation of the israeli apartheid state Obviously the events of october 7th were horrific. Obviously, however, it is so deeply blind to discuss hamas without a Without explaining the israeli state has imposed a 75 year brutal occupation displacement and enslavement of the palestinian people A call for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid is so fundamental so necessary because it is the first step There's no justification for the amendments. Thank you for listening to us and with my last 45 seconds I'd like to say that i'm just so happy for everyone that i've met today For the people that have smiled for the people that have talked to each other in the lines For those who passed out water and food for everyone that has had a great conversation with me today And for the people that are here no matter how tired you are to continue asking for the bare minimum a ceasefire resolution Thank you for drafting it with us. That is so meaningful and that is what democracy looks like I know that us screaming and clapping loud has been bothersome. I know that our snapping and clapping has been bothersome But democracy is loud. It is complicated democracy Sometimes is divisive, but you have to make a statement for the better of humanity. You have to protect humans And that means a ceasefire now. Thank you Hey Thank you for being here I am once again here to urge you of your moral obligation and supporting your community and calling for a ceasefire as is An opposed amendments or substitute resolutions Please use your power to end the genocide of our palestinian siblings The fact of the matter is that if this were happening, let's say new york Or if as many white people were experienced such atrocities I would not be standing here for a second time pleading for a ceasefire Please stand against the direct funding of this genocide show us your allies not just to palestine But to your own communities in santa cruz county being directly affected because palestinians also live here Please take a moment to reflect and connect that free in palestine is directly tied to us We have the power to do the right thing and stand on the right side of history You may feel that you do not have any jurisdiction over foreign policy But you do indeed have leverage and can influence national policy If you join the other cities that have already passed a ceasefire resolution and have called for the bloodshed to end Silence is not merely complacency. It is an endorsement of racism Do not be complicit with white supremacy Show us your humanity and compassion as we have stood here all night all day burying ours free palestine Just a moment. We have somebody who is called in online, so we'll toggle back and forth this we've been doing Thank you for your forbearance person online. Good morning and welcome I I would just like to add another voice For a ceasefire resolution Thank you Welcome. Thank you for waiting a moment. Thank you. My name is Daniela. I was born and raised here in santa cruz a couple of walks away Um, I am a Jew. I am an indigenous mexican and I want to say that I just really really hope that you Um are I know you're beat. We're tired as hell too We have to stand in the cold for hours and hours. Um, but I hope that you're able to like find some pride Um that this many people in our community believe that you can do the right thing tonight because we would not be here If we didn't have the hope and a belief that you all could be the real leaders We elected you to be and pass this ceasefire resolution as it stands unchanged I'm proud to be a part of a community of people that stand in solidarity with the most With most of the rest of the world and condemning the genocide of palestinian people I have never felt more held in santa cruz than here outside talking with people with my fellow jews or fellow mexicans like I've never been more held in my own community than being here tonight with these people And I like wish that you could have been out there with us talking and chatting and being in community Um, it was really beautiful Um, you have the incredible opportunity to tonight to stand with us and the rest of the world with integrity And be on the right side of history a side that the us does not have the tendency to be on And as our tax dollars continue to fund a genocide those of us here who have spoken in support of an unamended ceasefire resolution Understand that it is our responsibility to speak out against what our government is doing All we are asking is for you to show us That you hear us as the people who believed in you enough to put you in these seats And are willing to stand out in the cold for hours to support you And doing the right thing and to make sure that you get to be on the right side of history We're here for your souls As well as ours I strongly suggest that you pass the ceasefire Resolution with no amendments tonight. Otherwise, we will run this back Again and again. We will be here every day Thank you Good morning. Good morning. Welcome. Yeah. Hi. Um, my name is erics I've been living in Santa Cruz for the last 15 years And teaching in the county for the last 10 years Um, I'm a part of palestine solidarity central coast and i'm joining My fellow speakers to ask you to pass a ceasefire resolution as is without any further amendments I know a lot of people have mentioned the various cities that have adopted ceasefire resolutions If it helps locally, we also have several resolutions that have been passed Someone mentioned Monterey Bay central labor council which passed a ceasefire resolution Pajaro valley federation of teachers committee on political education has also passed a ceasefire resolution Um, both of those organizations represent many Workers that live in Santa Cruz your constituents So a lot of people have already taken action to get ceasefire resolutions passed Um, we're hoping that you know the city of Santa Cruz and the city of watsonville also passed one um I think the last thing I wanted to say was that as of me That's 206 people that have spoken in favor of a ceasefire resolution as is With only 48 speaking against so that's over 80 of the people that have spoken today Are in favor of a ceasefire resolution as is Yeah, thank you for your time and free palestine We have another person online person online. Good morning and welcome Hi, good morning. Um, my name is lila So I just want to thank everybody in this chamber for staying up so late to like Go through this resolution or to discuss this resolution Um, I just wanted to put my voice out to start to say that I'm in favor of The resolution and with no amendments no changes um, uh As of right now It's been about 90 days of war and almost 60 000 palestinians have been martyr Um, I don't know about you, but that's a lot of people within three or four months um I I just can't with a good conscience Say here Not give my voice out. Um, I don't know. That's yeah. Yeah, that's all I have to say Thank you Morning, welcome Sure, there's quite a bit of magic in this room tonight. There's quite a bit of hate also and ignorance You know, I was outside the supervisors building room at 830 I don't know if sandy brown heard my public comments. I was the third one to speak Technically, this is the seventh but actually the ninth time I've spoken today in a recorded room I Read the information about the ceasefire. I don't particularly have an opinion on that I spoke quite clearly about accountability for what's going on You know, there's no timer. That's okay You know the only difference between plant blood And human's blood is that we are iron based in plants or magnesium based I wrote down a bunch of things that would probably be censored In the funniest of ways But here it is 2 30 in the morning. It's not very often that uh I don't know whether to start my day or to end it I do know that I'm going to be in Palo Alto before seven o'clock Uh I don't know this could be censored During the civil war Garlic was used to treat gangrene During the revolutionary war And the civil war it was the russian fleet That kept the french and the english and helped america It's really surprising who our enemies actually are I could physically describe With a great deal of evidence Like six or seven of these journals things that are On par as grotesque As to what I understand has been going on the past 75 years in occupied palestine And those journals Are represent over 500 times that i've spoken publicly In this county about things that are pretty ugly So good morning and thank you and I really appreciate this opportunity It's a lot of magic in this room. Thank you, sir Good morning online Good morning. Welcome. Good morning. Um, I am a registered voter in the city of Santa Cruz I could appeal to emotion I could talk about history and I can provide statistics, but I don't think I would do so As effectively as most other people have spoken tonight And I also don't think that it is my responsibility to make you all feel as I feel But I would like to remind you that your responsibility Is to represent the public and I strongly urge you to listen to the overwhelming majority of speakers here tonight and Pass the resolution as is Thank you We have another person online. Good morning and welcome Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can welcome Hi I am a Jewish registered voter of Santa Cruz county and I urge you to pass the ceasefire as is it says in the Torah that Murder and killing is immoral being anti zianist is not anti Jewish. It's not anti semitic It is simply against genocide and murder You can pass the ceasefire Without being against Jews you are simply for human life and basic morality And as our representatives in Santa Cruz county I urge you to look at the people in front of you and see the overwhelming support of a ceasefire Thank you. Thank you Good morning. Welcome Good morning My name is Ellen stone and I'm a registered voter in the city of Santa Cruz living in district three The last time I stood here. I spoke with you all about my how my Jewish values compel me to not stand idly by as Palestinians continue to be killed Displaced starved and brutalized by the Israeli government and I am here again My values do not waver and the death toll the Palestinian people has risen to more than 30,000 people And I'm so happy to be supported by so many Jews my own community across the country and around the world Who are saying never again to the mass murder of any people? Never again for anyone I'm standing here again with all the love in my heart for my Palestinian siblings Some of which who have been here tonight To call on you all to pass item 29 the ceasefire resolution on today's agenda And to reject the harmful amendments or substitute resolutions Adding our voices to this united and strategic international campaign for a ceasefire Is a big act of bravery and love for our community not of hate It's saying to our community members and to our kin abroad We see you and we see your suffering Let's stand united in our humanity so that no more harm comes to anyone And my phone just died so It's a good time. So I know you're all tired. I appreciate you all being here and I'm tired too This is the time I'd be asleep and dreaming and I hope you can all Dream with me the world to come if we were to pass the ceasefire resolution Thank you all so much We have to take a break Let let me just tell you which we can All right, good. I we we thought we had a problem with our recording and the computer information But but we don't so please Good morning. Welcome Hello, I am Palestinian and I am here today because I have been watching the brutal slaughtering of the Palestinian people for the last 95 days I demand a permanent ceasefire now Does Palestine not have the right to defend itself against over 75 years of occupation? Do the 30 000 martyrs not deserve justice? Do Palestinian people not deserve to live? The pro-genocide supporters are worried about the release of hostages Have you not taken a moment to think that those same hostages are being bombarded by your own israeli army? Thank you for allowing us our full two minutes. Please not only hear your constituents, but listen to what we are asking of you Please ceasefire now Thank you. Thank you Next person online welcome and good morning Person online. Good morning We're gonna go with you. Good morning. Welcome. Thank you. Good morning I'm here as a santa cruz resident voter And trained qualified and working historian Who has listened to hours of testimony to this council? What is it? eight nine hours eight hours now um hours of testimony to this council and horrified Frankly by the unverified and unsighted misinformation hyperbole Racism and lies that have been Blaviated at this council by the self-proclaimed peaceful Zionist present this evening There are simply too much misinformation to counter in two minutes Though i'm very willing and capable of responding to if the genocide there is present are genuinely interested in learning Call me While the very same violence Recorded and exposed by u.s. Military personnel in abu grave 10 years 20 years ago in iraq and roundly condemned by the world Thereafter is now being posted on tiktok twitter and instagram by the idea for daily without any condemnation The case of genocide that south africa will bring to the icj in the next week Is testimony enough of who has suffered from what is internationally recognized as apartheid and genocide And who has assessed as apartheid and justinized genocide under international law In a final note My own family and what is known as the west bank has been under attack by israeli settler's military and government Since the bell for declaration of 1917 And in the past three months they have not been able to leave their home safely for months In an area of historic palestine where the histrionic bogeyman of hamas does not exist What do our pro-genocide neighbors have to say about the 5 000 palestinians who have been arrested in the west bank since october 7th without charge A trial including 1 000 children and contravention of international law have to say For yaoi christ allas and motherfucking antonio graham she's sake Please pass this resolution as is without amendment today Merci beaucoup Thank you so much The matter let me make sure we don't have further folks do we have One more person online. We have person online. Good morning and welcome I keep getting called on but I lowered my hand a long time ago. I've already spoken ceasefire now. Thank you Last person online. Good morning and welcome Good morning. Yes, I would like to speak on Oh Yeah, please proceed welcome. I'm sorry Disconnected. Okay Anyone else wish to provide testimony? Who hasn't spoken It's your last opportunity. Okay I'm sorry Anyone who has not spoken People online have hands up now people have hands up Person online. Good morning and welcome. Do we have anyone else online? We'll take that person. Good morning and welcome. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can welcome Hi, my name is Anna. Santa Cruz has been my home for the past 12 years I care immensely about this community and I feel so proud of the overwhelming support and deep love that is being shown here tonight and support of palestine I'm often disheartened by the city's neutrality to our most marginalized people's suffering And tonight I'm desperately hoping that I am surprised I don't have anything to say tonight that hasn't already been so beautifully called into existence So I'd rather just sit in the pain for a moment We have watched whores beyond belief through our phones every day Their nervous systems on fire and hearts breaking I think of how we will never know the suffering of the palestinian people What they're actively living through right now I feel so grateful to be grieving with my community And I feel so heartbroken that palestinians don't even have that luxury of space or time to process and honor their own grief I think of the generations the palestinians to come It will be free from occupation and oppression and yet we'll still have to fight for peace in their own minds as they carry unspeakable generational trauma in their bodies I asked that you sit with yourselves tonight for a slow moment before making this decision I want you to feel the weight of this genocide to hear the screams of death and destruction ringing in your ears And I want you to ask yourself who you are This is a moment for you to genuinely check in with yourself about who you are and why you're here on this planet I'm calling on you to support the ceasefire No amendments I would like to invite you to be in community with us Palestine will be free I will be dreaming of all of trees blowing in the warm breeze I hope that cannot be lost for a free palestine. Thank you. Thank you With no further testimony being offered The public portion of this is now closed the matter is back before the council. Let me tell you how we proceed What will happen now is council members brown and bruner were the ones who Brought the resolution open the discussion We will give them an opportunity to speak then obviously council members can weigh in As a see fit what I would ask you to do if you'd be kind enough to do so Is to give us the respect that we have given you this evening with regard to allowing us to have our open public debate and Deliberations Without interruption that would be very helpful. So thank you for that and the matter is back before the council Which one of you would like to open? I'll move the resolution Of the city council of the city of santa cruz affirming santa cruz's commitment and support for ceasefire in peace Is there a second I second there's a motion and a second you may open on your motion Thank you. I'm gonna be real brief here I just want to make a few statements. Um, first I want to say I'm I'm I'm saddened that our Numerous discussions with so many people including many people who are here and stuck around and and really hung in there with the conversations That we had over the break That it did not result in a unifying resolution Particularly because we incorporated suggestions from all of the people And groups we engaged with You know and nobody in this process got the full verbiage and substance I think that they wanted but we really tried to reflect The different voices that we heard and to try to avoid some of the more The language that condemning sides and you know, we really thought that we wanted to focus on our You know how it's affected our community And I think if you actually read the language of the resolution In which we clearly see Now therefore be it resolved we call for the release of hostages So I'm just disappointed that there are people who have kind of critiqued it without necessarily even knowing what's in it or Kind of the the spirit in which it was it was brought And so, you know, I'm sad about that But I also feel really positive. I feel really good I'm grateful to have been part of this process talking to so many people in our community In this room and outside of this room over the break I appreciate the time you all took To share your perspectives and I learned I've learned a lot And I believe that we developed This resolution coming from a place of integrity and and I Have a lot of gratitude for my colleague councilmember bruner for For really diving into this with me and so many of you And I think that the resulting product does provide an ethical and balanced response to The over 1,000 calls we received In support of a ceasefire as well as the other perspectives that we heard. I'm proud to live in this community I'm glad to hear you many of you felt you were in community tonight. So whatever happens here You know, I feel good about having gone through this and it's not over There are many There's much more work to be done and I'm I'm here to work with you It would be appreciated if you would let us have our our deliberations Councilmember bruner, do you wish to open on this motion? Thank you. Um My brain is trying to think clearly Some of you have been here since five, but we started our city council meeting at 10 15 a.m Tuesday morning And so Many of us are sitting here barely awake Um, but um So let me um just say that um incredibly grateful for every single voice Uh I think over the holidays We had about 20 meetings with many different people I even had impromptu meetings and grocery stores and whatnot as I mentioned before and really Stand behind the thoughtful process that went into Creating this document that represents The voices and the the everything that was expressed tonight is represented in this document um, I want to think um Susan for her peaceful resolution Every resolved has been incorporated. I believe into um The document as well Including the recognition declaring January as peace month Initially, it was peace day And we tweaked it to include the entire month of January to encourage You know everyone coming together In this community and to foster really Understanding each other I saw some really disrespectful behavior tonight and some real bullying and intimidation that Really did not make some people feel Comfortable And that's exactly what we want to avoid We want the people of Santa Cruz To feel that they this is a safe place and um There are many different perspectives that were shared here tonight that are represented in this document and um, I thank you all for being part of that process and um For really Coming together I want to pull up some notes um I really really appreciate the collective concern for the well-being of members in our community To me that is the number one priority here And I want to really Express my commitment here in supporting peace And addressing the impact felt by members of our community and I hope that everyone Thinks about how some people spoke and they're scared and They're fearful and I think that understanding also needs to be um respected um So I stand to continue to advance the values of Santa Cruz and as a place that promotes inclusivity inclusivity and equality and um I hope that we can as a community continue to um Listen to each other and um Not create any reason for division this resolution is not a reason for division These feelings have existed before this resolution even existed so We can navigate this together Santa Cruz. Thank you um for everything and I hope my Colleagues i'm looking forward to um hearing what what they have to Say and thank you Thank you to the mayor to i'm sorry. Excuse me. Thank you mayor for um, very kind of me. Yes Thank you. Thank you for the debate or discussion Our councilmember Newsom is recognized. I'd like to make a substitute motion to consider a different resolution that was entered into the public record earlier this morning State the resolution Let me see if miss bush will bring that up on So that everybody can see what that is. It'll take us just a moment to do this We good miss bush Okay I think this I think this resolution of firms are are you moving this? Yes, I'm moving this is our second There's a motion and a second open on your motion I think this resolution affirms our community's values and it's something I support For the debate or discussion is there debate or discussion seen in here and uh Excuse me This matters back before the council now This is our opportunity to debate and discuss you've had yours for eight hours. This is now our opportunity You debate and discussion miss brunner on the substitute Thank you. I appreciate um this peaceful peace resolution that was Brought forward by one of the community members um, who we also met with and Um, it was incorporated into the document. I think For me and for all of the people that we met with through this process it's a portion of uh, what our santa cruz community Is is is asking for and If in that substitute motion um I think all of them are incorporated into the resolution that we've put forth um, and some additional Language that addresses our community. So We did take that into consideration with the draft. It's Thank you council member for the debate or discussion on the substitute motion seen in here and none the clerk will call the roll Council member newson. Aye Brown no Watkins. Aye Please continue the roll call no Calentary johnson. Aye Vice mayor golder. Aye, mary kealy. Aye the substitute motion has now passed what that does is replaces the motion in chief With the substitute motion. Is there a debate or Uh The council is back in session What is uh It transpiring now is that the substitute motion has passed which replaced them the Miss bush. Let's let's Let's proceed Let's get let's secure the chambers here. Let's get that door closed We will No officers. That's not what we're interested in at this point We're interested in securing the chambers Okay, miss bush Are we good? We're good. Thank you Are are are we underway miss bush? Miss bush, are we good to go now? We are good Where we are. Let me reset us where we are is that there was a an initial motion There was a substitute motion the substitute motion passed which replaces the main motion We will now need to vote on what now is the main motion Which is to say that's substitute motion. That is what we are voting on now We voted to replace it To replace your motion with the substitute motion That passed now. We need to vote on that motion in chief The clerk will call the roll Council member newstone Aye Council member brown is absent. Watkins Aye Brunner No Calentary Johnson Aye Vice mayor golder Aye Mayor Keely Aye Motion passes this award Mr. Kandadi is there for the business to come before the council this evening? No, there's none Seeing and hearing none The motion adjourned will be in order Council member Watkins moves council member Newsom seconds not debatable those in favor signify by saying aye Opposed motion carries and so ordered we stand adjourned