[0:00] a
[0:05] [Music]
[1:50] [Applause]
[1:51] [Music]
[3:52] I'd like to call the city Caucus meeting
[3:54] to order for Monday June 10th
[3:57] 2024 we have one public public hearing
[4:00] this evening if the clerk would please
[4:01] read public hearing number one to extend
[4:04] the temporary moratorium on the
[4:06] submission and processing of building
[4:08] permits certificates of occupancy
[4:10] certificates of use and land use
[4:11] approvals for smoke shops vape shops
[4:13] hooka lounges and vape consumption
[4:16] businesses as the city council considers
[4:18] changes to the city code chapter 264
[4:21] thank you we have nine items for
[4:22] original consideration and one item for
[4:25] unanimous consent if the clerk could
[4:27] please read the item for unanimous
[4:28] consent
[4:30] under unanimous consent an ordin
[4:32] ordinance pursuant to section 101 of the
[4:35] second class cities law abandoning a
[4:37] portion of Amelia
[4:39] Street I need a motion to have this
[4:41] placed on the floor so move I need a
[4:43] second second second all in favor
[4:48] I since there's no objection to this
[4:50] motion it's going to be moved on uh may
[4:52] I have a motion to move on to the
[4:54] consent agenda
[4:56] so all in favor I thank you
[5:02] item number one item number one for
[5:04] original consideration an ordinance
[5:06] authorizing a supplemental bond for an
[5:08] increase in the cost of the construction
[5:10] reconstruction and installation of
[5:12] improvements at and in connection with
[5:15] the Rice Road water treatment plan Phase
[5:17] One by
[5:19] 5,964
[5:21] 73 discussed in committee without
[5:24] objection and on consent item number two for original
[5:27] consideration an ordinance author izing
[5:30] a supplemental bond for an increase in
[5:32] the cost of the construction
[5:34] reconstruction and installation of
[5:35] improvement at and in connection with
[5:38] the Rice Road water treatment plan phase
[5:40] two by
[5:43] $2,489 60 discussed in committee without
[5:47] objection on consent item number three for original
[5:51] consideration an ordinance extending the
[5:53] temporary moratorium on the submission
[5:55] and processing of building permits
[5:57] certificates of occupancy certificates
[5:59] of use and land use approval for smoke
[6:01] shop vape shops hooka lounges and vape
[6:04] consumption businesses as the city
[6:06] council considers changes to the
[6:08] connected city code chapter 264
[6:10] discussed in committee without objection
[6:12] on consent item number four item number
[6:14] four for original consideration a
[6:16] resolution calling for a public hearing
[6:17] for amendments to the SKC city code on
[6:20] proposed changes to the historic
[6:22] district ordinance and related historic
[6:23] district and zoning ordinances discuss
[6:26] in committee without objection on
[6:27] consent item number five item number
[6:30] five for original consideration a
[6:32] resolution transmitting to the SKC City
[6:34] Planning Commission proposed changes to
[6:36] the city of SKC historic commission
[6:37] ordinance and related historic district
[6:40] and zoning ordinances discuss in
[6:42] committee with objection and on consent
[6:44] item number six item number six for
[6:46] original consideration a resolution
[6:48] authorizing the sale of a vacant lot on
[6:50] aelia Street identified as sbl number
[6:54] 49.77
[6:55] d137 for
[6:57] $465 discussed in committee without
[7:00] objection on consent item number seven for original
[7:03] consideration a resolution authorizing
[7:05] the sale of a vacant lot on a milon
[7:07] street identified as number
[7:10] 49.77
[7:12] d138 for
[7:14] $465 discussed in committee with
[7:16] objection on consent item number eight for original
[7:20] consideration a resolution authorizing
[7:22] the sale of 10:30 Park Avenue for
[7:25] $127,500
[7:27] discussed in committee without objection
[7:29] and consent item number nine item number
[7:31] nine for original consideration a
[7:33] resolution recognizing juneth 2024
[7:36] discussed in committee with objection on
[7:37] consent this item will be presented on
[7:40] June
[7:41] 22nd if there's nothing more to come
[7:43] before the city council caucus I ask for
[7:45] motion to adjourn move by Miss Patrick
[7:47] second by Mr Farley all those in favor
[7:51] we are adjourned I'd like to call the
[7:53] city council meeting uh to order for
[7:55] Monday June 10th 2024
[7:59] and uh this evening we don't have anyone
[8:02] to do the invocation so I invite you all
[8:04] to rise take a moment to
[8:09] reflect and with the god um and and
[8:12] commune with the god of your
[8:13] understanding
[8:32] thank you I'd like to call on Chief
[8:34] Marino for the Pledge of
[8:40] Allegiance flag United States of America
[8:44] to the for it stands one nation God
[8:50] indivisible withy and justice for all
[8:54] thank you
[9:00] if the clerk could please complete the
[9:02] roll
[9:04] call Mr Toro Mr Farley here Mr manini
[9:10] here Mr
[9:11] muon Miss Patrick here Mr Williams M
[9:16] Porterfield
[9:19] here we have one public hearing this
[9:21] evening and just a reminder we've
[9:23] extended the public comment for the
[9:24] public hearing to 4 minutes and I
[9:27] respectfully ask that there's anyone
[9:28] that signs up only comment on the
[9:30] subject relative to the public hearing
[9:33] itself public hearing number one is to
[9:36] extend the temporary moratorium on the
[9:37] submission and processing of building
[9:39] permits certif certificates of occupancy
[9:42] certificates of use and land use
[9:44] approvals for smoke shops vape shops
[9:46] hookah lounges and vape consumption
[9:48] businesses as the city council considers
[9:50] changes to city code chapter
[9:54] 264 I have no one signs up for this
[9:57] public hearing so I declare the public hearing
[10:01] closed i' ask for approval of the
[10:03] minutes for May 28th
[10:05] 2024 mve by Mr Williams second by Mr
[10:09] Mancini all those in favor I if the
[10:13] clerk would please read any
[10:14] Communications and
[10:16] petitions Communications presented to
[10:18] the city council for Monday June 10th
[10:20] 2024 under official there were none
[10:22] under General there were none and under
[10:24] petitions there were
[10:26] none i' ask uh any city councilman
[10:29] members for committee
[10:31] reports any committee
[10:34] reports if not at this time we'll take
[10:36] any comments related to the legislative
[10:40] agenda I have no one signed up to speak
[10:42] so I declare the comment public comment
[10:44] on the leg legislative agenda
[10:49] closed I ask for approval of the
[10:52] legislative consent of the consent
[10:55] agenda second please second by Mr
[10:57] Williams all in favor
[11:00] this time we will ask I will ask for
[11:02] privil of privilege of the floor
[11:04] regarding um City
[11:07] business I do want to state that we have
[11:10] a number of people signed up we're at 40
[11:13] I think we're at 42 by now and so what
[11:16] I'm and I know that many of you are here
[11:17] to speak on a particular subject what
[11:20] has happened in the past is that people
[11:22] have come and wanted to speak on City
[11:26] business other than that particular
[11:27] topic so what I'm going to do is to ask
[11:30] individuals who are here to speak on a
[11:33] topic other than the conflict or the
[11:37] discussion regarding the resolution
[11:38] around Gaza if there's anyone here that
[11:41] other here to other than to speak on
[11:42] that I will give you opportunity to
[11:44] place you to the front of the agenda
[11:47] because I know that some of you would
[11:48] come before and left I've received
[11:50] emails regarding that so I want to give
[11:52] those individuals
[11:53] consideration uh is there anyone
[11:55] here okay Mr Serrano
[12:08] um so good evening my name is Ron Serano
[12:11] and I'm a longtime resident and property
[12:13] owner of the soon to be multiple
[12:14] business owners here in
[12:16] downtown I own a salon and I'm soon to
[12:19] be opening up the
[12:20] deli I have had several longstanding
[12:23] issues that have been repeatedly
[12:24] presented to you the city council and to
[12:27] other various appropriate parties the
[12:29] biggest thing that I present the issues
[12:31] offer to assist and resolve the issues
[12:34] and get nowhere I may be wasting my
[12:36] breath again tonight but I'm going to do
[12:39] it one more try first the downtown area
[12:43] is really filthy with trash all over the
[12:45] streets I've been told this is the
[12:47] general downtown problem but I've lived
[12:50] and visited much larger cities as
[12:52] Atlanta Fort laudale Austin Chicago and
[12:54] many European cities and nothing
[12:56] compares to the filth that we see in
[12:58] this connected streets I see more and
[13:01] more dog feces rotting
[13:03] Foods um vendors from the farmers market
[13:06] piling the the trash cans and they're
[13:09] overflowing it doesn't make it for a
[13:11] very presentable City when people are
[13:13] coming in from Union College parents
[13:15] everything else people coming in and
[13:17] patronizing our downtown businesses
[13:19] especially my salon people travel from
[13:21] hours just to come and see me and for
[13:24] them to have to witness our city looking
[13:25] like a trap sheep um I was told that you
[13:30] know from somebody that you know they
[13:32] weren't going to pay anybody to do it on
[13:34] a Sunday but the other day I noticed six
[13:37] employees pressure washing the staircase
[13:39] that's no longer in use so let's talk
[13:43] about where some of the funds are going
[13:45] and
[13:46] wasted um Also regarding state in
[13:49] Clinton the apartment building the
[13:50] parking needs to be addressed I am sure
[13:54] that you have the minutes from the city
[13:55] planning meeting where Redburn presented
[13:57] information for for approval before the
[14:00] building could be constructed Redbird
[14:02] said they would have designated
[14:04] parking well it's not the case so
[14:08] basically all the tenants Park on
[14:10] Barrett Street they Park on Clinton
[14:11] Street and they know that they can park
[14:13] for free after 4:00 in the public
[14:17] parking lot they stay overnight they
[14:20] some leave in the morning on the
[14:21] weekends I have documentation with um
[14:25] cars that are parked there for the
[14:27] entire weekend about 10% of that parking
[14:30] lot are are is usable for the public to
[14:34] patronize our local businesses so if you
[14:37] want our local businesses to stay here
[14:39] then we need to address the residential
[14:42] parking because this was not agreed upon
[14:46] that they needed to have designated
[14:47] parking they all have tabs on their cars
[14:51] so why if they don't have parking that
[14:54] they're using and I'm tired of them
[14:56] saying or people saying it's public
[14:58] parking they could park there once you
[15:00] live in a city you become a resident you
[15:02] become a tenant you not become the
[15:04] public and that's what we need to
[15:06] address this parking
[15:08] issue so I'm really hoping that um
[15:11] something could be really done uh with
[15:14] everything that's going on
[15:17] and lastly I'm just hoping that I can
[15:20] get some sort of commitment from
[15:22] somebody even if we get different
[15:25] meetings something that we can talk
[15:27] about with the parking and now there is
[15:29] going to be a dispensary on the corner
[15:31] of state and Clinton and again no
[15:35] parking setup so those are people that
[15:37] are going to be coming and going that's
[15:39] what the parking lots are there for
[15:40] they're not there for people to stay
[15:42] there for 10 hours thank you thank
[15:47] you okay so I know that um based on the
[15:52] list that some of you many of you have
[15:54] probably never been to our meeting
[15:55] before so I just want to go over a
[15:56] couple of things first of all there's a
[15:59] three minute time um you heard the timer
[16:01] just now for this gentleman when that timer goes off your time has
[16:05] expired if you're in the middle of a
[16:06] sentence please finish your sentence but
[16:08] we have a number of speakers tonight so
[16:10] we'd ask that you not continue beyond
[16:12] that I I have to ask you to um to leave
[16:16] the mic so um we I'm going to be doing
[16:19] you now in order since there's no one
[16:21] else to speak besides this and um we
[16:24] won't not will not be adding anyone else
[16:26] to the meeting now that the meeting's
[16:27] begun um and all your comments should be
[16:30] directed to me as the presiding officer
[16:33] and there will be no disparaging remarks
[16:36] towards the council towards other
[16:38] members of the of the audience if
[16:40] someone's saying something that you
[16:41] don't necessarily agree with there will
[16:43] be no booing we are here to listen to
[16:45] what every person has to
[16:47] say so um and this happened before so
[16:51] let me just say it I'm going to ask that
[16:53] you refrain from profane V vulgar and
[16:56] inflammatory language um disparaging any
[16:59] other individual whether it's racial
[17:02] ethnic or homophobic and no disruptive
[17:05] Outburst so with that I'm going to call
[17:09] the first person and we have a total of
[17:10] actually 38 there were some duplicates
[17:12] on here and the first person is j a
[17:15] miles
[17:44] [Music]
[17:55] I guess we're not in order by which time
[17:57] we signed up
[17:59] it's not
[18:10] possible we live in a global society and
[18:13] decisions that this body makes for our
[18:14] local community is intrinsically tied to
[18:17] the global Community even so the call
[18:19] for a ceasefire resolution has local
[18:21] Global and historical relevance Each of
[18:24] which is being recorded it is impossible
[18:27] for this not to be a local issue simply
[18:29] for the fact that hundreds I'm sorry
[18:31] we're now at over a thousand residents
[18:33] have come to you and said that it is an
[18:35] issue for them and they call for you to
[18:37] be leaders they ask that you stand on
[18:39] the side of Justice they ask that you
[18:41] advocate for the resources or Community
[18:42] needs we have an expectation that our
[18:45] elected officials are going to advocate
[18:46] for our needs at local state and federal
[18:49] levels funding that could have been
[18:50] spent right here in our city for
[18:53] infrastructure Education Health Care
[18:55] housing and more has been used to kill
[18:57] civilians in another country zionists
[19:00] and their supporters said that the city
[19:02] council should not be involved in quote
[19:04] international issues then we hear City
[19:07] Council Members parting the same talking
[19:09] points we shouldn't be involved in
[19:11] international issues some of you have
[19:13] said you are not taking aide you did you
[19:15] chose a side if international issues are
[19:18] a Hardline for any council member why
[19:20] not International Investment will you
[19:23] refuse your pension that is invested in
[19:24] Israeli bonds will you divest connected
[19:27] city worker pension plans from from
[19:28] Israeli bonds or are any of you fighting
[19:31] a ceasefire resolution in order to
[19:33] protect your own investment by accepting
[19:35] the genocide of a people for your own
[19:37] retirement sken County and the City of
[19:39] skinc are participating employers what
[19:42] happens to the Israeli bonds when the
[19:44] genocide can no longer be denied then
[19:47] the willingness of anyone who says that
[19:49] they stand Against Racism to be the tone
[19:52] police of black and brown folks to use
[19:53] white tears to delegitimize black and
[19:55] brown folks and centor themselves shows
[19:58] their lack of
[19:59] sincerity regarding support for
[20:01] marginalized people the symbolic black
[20:03] lives matter on J Street is to be a
[20:05] recognition of the city's commitment to
[20:07] end systemic and institutional racism if
[20:09] symbolic gestures mean nothing such as a
[20:12] resolution then we are very clear about
[20:14] what black lives matter on J Street
[20:15] means too to some of you on a personal
[20:18] note yesterday my six-year-old was at
[20:20] the park and he banged his head on a
[20:22] metal pipe at a playground it split his
[20:24] head open blood gushed over his face I
[20:27] rushed to him picked him up in my arms
[20:29] put him in the car and was lucky that
[20:31] the hospital was less than 5 minutes
[20:32] away his 12-year-old sister sitting in
[20:34] the car next to him both of them crying
[20:36] and hysterical as I rushed to the
[20:37] emergency room I carried him out of the
[20:39] car him still bleeding over me over
[20:42] himself rushed into the hospital praying
[20:44] that he's going to get efficient
[20:46] effective and quick medical attention
[20:48] this is just one moment One Moment In
[20:50] Time and I was absolutely hysterical and
[20:52] worried for the life of my child and
[20:54] this is something that anyone would have
[20:56] sympathy for the utter disregard for
[20:58] Humanity when you can sit idly by and
[21:01] accept that children are being murdered
[21:03] every single day because I know in my
[21:05] heart what it felt like for my son who I
[21:07] had the privilege to take home my son
[21:09] who is okay today but I could not sleep
[21:12] last night and that was just one day so
[21:14] I cannot nearly imagine what it feels
[21:16] like for the families in Palestine every
[21:18] single day to see the Bloodshed in the
[21:20] bodies and the limbs all over palese but
[21:23] we sit here arguing about whether or not
[21:25] we need to talk about it thank you
[21:33] Mindy
[21:34] Holland Mindy
[21:48] Holland Madame President esteemed
[21:51] council
[21:51] members Mr Mayor my name is Mindy
[21:54] Holland I live in the county of sken
[21:57] tonight I come to speak to you about
[22:00] Israel The ancestral homeland of the
[22:03] Jewish people and Zionism the movement
[22:06] for National self-determination and the
[22:08] Jewish people in that ancestral Homeland
[22:11] Abraham left his home to travel to the
[22:13] land of Israel not be to become a great
[22:16] religion but to become a great nation a
[22:18] people in that land and the Jews have
[22:20] lived there continuously for more than
[22:22] 3,000 years twice in Antiquity the
[22:25] Jewish people built Nations and
[22:26] exercised self-rule and self
[22:28] determination in the land of Israel for
[22:30] hundreds of years though some Jews
[22:32] remained most were exiled in 70 CE by
[22:35] the Romans the bond between the Jewish
[22:38] people in the land of Israel is historic
[22:40] and also deeply embedded in the Jewish
[22:42] culture literature and religion
[22:44] Jerusalem is mentioned 600 times in the
[22:46] Hebrew Bible and Israel Zion and
[22:48] Jerusalem are focal points of daily and
[22:51] holiday prayers the Jewish traditions
[22:53] and holidays are intimately tied to the
[22:55] land's agricultural cycles and our
[22:57] synagogues face to Jem given our
[22:59] people's history with and connection to
[23:01] the land of Israel many Jews understand
[23:04] themselves to be indigenous indigenous
[23:06] to the land of Israel Zionism is the
[23:09] movement for The Liberation and National
[23:11] self-determination of the Jewish people
[23:12] in our ancestral Homeland while we had a
[23:16] constant desire for return following our
[23:18] Exile from the Romans the modern
[23:20] political movement was born in the late
[23:21] 1800s to address two existential threats
[23:25] facing the Jewish Jewish people
[23:27] anti-Semitism and
[23:29] dissimilation those threats still exist
[23:31] but would be far worse if it was not for
[23:34] Israel Zionism is an inherit and
[23:36] Inseparable part of the Jewish identity
[23:38] for the vast majority of the Jews on
[23:40] Earth in the late 1940s when the British
[23:43] Empire the actual imperialistic
[23:45] colonizer of the land between the Jordan
[23:47] and the Mediterranean Sea planned to end
[23:49] its Colonial mandate and leave a un
[23:52] special committee rep recommended a
[23:54] partition to establish two separate
[23:56] nation states Israel Jewish and Arab so that each would have
[24:00] self-determination on November 29 1947
[24:03] the UN General Assembly voted in favor
[24:05] of the partition plan the Jewish side
[24:08] accepted the UN plan for the
[24:09] establishment of two states and Israel
[24:11] was born a recognition that Jews had a
[24:13] right to return to their long Exile and
[24:15] ceaseless persecution around the world I
[24:18] am a Zionist because I support the right
[24:21] of Jewish people to self-determination
[24:23] and nationhood as a means for Liberation
[24:26] and empowerment in our homeland thank
[24:28] you for the
[24:37] time Paula
[24:40] [Applause]
[24:43] mler Paula mner Paula
[24:57] mner m president esteemed council
[25:00] members and Mr Mayor my name is Paula
[25:02] mner I live in sken County I've come to
[25:06] speak to you about our Jewish Community
[25:10] those of us who have signed up to speak
[25:12] tonight wearing yellow ribbons are all
[25:14] residents of the city of sken and sken
[25:18] County the ribbons remind us all of the
[25:21] hostages who are now in their
[25:23] 247th day of being held captive in Gaza
[25:27] we are here to speak in one voice
[25:29] against a ceas fire resolution we plan
[25:33] to use our time largely to educate the
[25:35] council and the public about the Jewish
[25:38] people our connection to Israel
[25:41] anti-Semitism in general and the
[25:44] problematic words pictures and behaviors
[25:47] we've seen here in these Chambers and in
[25:49] our community so who are we scenc county
[25:54] is blessed to have three thriving
[25:56] synagogues a Jewish community Center and
[25:59] approximately 300 3,500 Jewish residents
[26:03] you members of the city council and Mr
[26:06] Mayor represent Jewish residents who are
[26:10] diverse in many ways including their
[26:12] religious practices so given that
[26:15] diversity of expression what makes a
[26:18] person Jewish Judaism is not only a set
[26:22] of beliefs about the origin and meaning
[26:24] of life and the values one should lead
[26:27] that life by in other words Judaism is
[26:30] not only a religion Judaism is also an
[26:34] ethnicity a nation a people and a
[26:37] culture people can be culturally Jewish
[26:40] without believing in any parts of the
[26:42] Jewish faith I am Jewish which means
[26:45] that I am a member of the Jewish people
[26:48] like any marginalized minority group we
[26:51] get to say who we are and what defines
[26:55] us I am here tonight to share with you
[26:58] that Jewish peoplehood is a core part of
[27:02] the Jewish identity of the local Jewish
[27:04] Community thank you for your
[27:13] time Holly
[27:15] LOF Holly
[27:19] LOF
[27:21] hello I'm Jewish I live in skincity and
[27:25] I support a ceasefire resolution it has
[27:28] been proposed that city council simply
[27:30] stop considering resolutions about
[27:32] international issues no we all know that
[27:35] resolutions like this have no actual Le
[27:37] legal effect but they are a means by
[27:40] which a community can express its
[27:42] political opinion and the residents of
[27:44] this city have every right to ask our
[27:47] representatives to speak on our behalf
[27:49] about an issue that matters to us this
[27:52] issue matters to us lots of folks here
[27:56] tonight live elsewhere maybe in the
[27:58] county but not in the city but work here
[28:01] or worship here or come here because
[28:04] let's face it our restaurants are better
[28:06] than theirs um and those folks can weigh
[28:09] in of course but their opinions should
[28:11] not weigh as much as those of us who
[28:13] live here and vote here and pay taxes
[28:16] here skincity is not nkuna it's not
[28:20] Glenville it's not Clifton Park skincity
[28:23] is a city of immigrants including lots
[28:25] of new immigrants and refugees who
[28:28] understandable sympathies lie with the
[28:30] people of Gaza skincity is a city of
[28:33] diverse faiths and increasingly a city
[28:36] with a significant Muslim population
[28:38] whose sympathies also understandably lie
[28:41] with the PE people of Gaza and crucially
[28:44] skincity is a young City our median age
[28:47] is in the low3s young people feel
[28:50] passionately about this issue in a way
[28:53] that we Boomers and Exar and Millennials
[28:56] dismiss at our consider durble moral
[28:59] Peril when young people feel
[29:01] passionately about an issue of peace and
[29:03] Justice history shows us they are rarely
[29:07] wrong as a Jew I am not threatened by or
[29:11] frightened of neighbors who criticize
[29:13] the state of Israel or question the
[29:15] project of Zionism or who support the
[29:17] people of Gaza or the cause of
[29:19] Palestinian Liberation or who demand
[29:22] that our tax dollars not be used to bomb
[29:25] civilians under any circumstances ever
[29:29] I am not threatened by calls for a
[29:31] ceasefire but that doesn't mean that I
[29:33] am not threatened Jews are not crazy to
[29:36] be scared right now smashed headstones
[29:39] and swasa graffiti and dudes bringing
[29:41] guns to our community centers not to
[29:44] mention the murders in Pittsburgh and
[29:47] actual Nazis in the halls of power these
[29:50] are legitimately
[29:52] threatening as a Jew I support a
[29:55] ceasefire resolution and I also ask as
[29:58] part of another discussion for another
[30:00] day for a resolution against
[30:03] anti-Semitism recognizing it as a unique
[30:06] form of bigotry with its own history and
[30:09] mechanisms a resolution written in
[30:11] consultation with Jewish leadership
[30:14] informed by local experience and local
[30:17] incidents a resolution I have no doubt
[30:20] will be supported by our neighbors of
[30:22] all faiths and our allies in the fight
[30:25] for peace and Justice thank you thank
[30:29] [Applause]
[30:40] um we having a little technical
[30:41] difficulty he needs to switch out the
[30:50] mic
[30:52] you are we
[30:55] done I guess we're done okay uh Stacy
[31:11] Farber hi thank you council members for
[31:14] agreeing to listen to my statement my
[31:17] name is Stacy Farber and I'm a resident
[31:19] of the city of
[31:20] sken I was also here on the first day of
[31:23] testimonies regarding the resolution and
[31:26] I listened intently to everyone one for
[31:29] those who spoke I want to convey I heard
[31:32] you I heard your pain and grief and my
[31:36] heart was with
[31:38] yours a little background on me my
[31:41] grandparents fled Austria following that
[31:44] country's Embrace of the Hitler Nazi
[31:46] regime and the followon persecution of
[31:49] Jews my father was born and occupied
[31:52] France I am first generation American on
[31:55] my father's side and I'm a proud Jew
[32:00] I have lived a safe life privileged in
[32:02] many ways albe punctuated by incidents
[32:05] of
[32:07] anti-Semitism why do I say this I want
[32:10] to
[32:11] ceasefire I want full surrender of Hamas
[32:14] for all it has done to Israel as well as
[32:17] the Palestinian people I want the
[32:20] release of the Israeli
[32:21] hostages I want Israel to stop bombing
[32:24] Gaza and I don't want us weapons to be
[32:27] used if they should
[32:29] continue I want the release of
[32:31] Palestinian detainees among them young
[32:34] women and children who have been in
[32:37] Israeli detention for weeks months years
[32:40] without due
[32:42] process I want the violence to end in
[32:44] the West Bank where extremists are
[32:47] violently pushing Palestinians off their
[32:49] generational lands and I want violence
[32:52] to end in Northern Israel where the land
[32:54] is on fire from Hezbollah Rockets and
[32:58] incendiary
[32:59] devices I want peace in the streets of
[33:02] East Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount I
[33:06] want a recognized Palestinian state with
[33:10] full rights like Israel that is peaceful
[33:14] and meets the needs of its people I want
[33:17] Israel to have a long secure positive
[33:21] future in which all its people enjoy
[33:24] equality and freedom of thought
[33:27] regardless of religion race or sex
[33:30] extremism should be addressed and
[33:32] assuaged no matter where it might exist
[33:35] Gaza Israel Russia the United
[33:40] States for all these Reasons I'm an
[33:43] active member of J Street a pro-israel
[33:46] pro Palestine pro peace and democracy
[33:50] National Organization that advocates for
[33:53] diplomacy first we Lobby our members of
[33:56] Congress and the White House
[33:58] Administration to effect change in US
[34:01] policy regarding Israel the Palestinian
[34:04] people and a Palestinian
[34:06] state representative Paul tono of the
[34:09] 20th District represents the city of
[34:11] skty and the surrounding
[34:15] area finally as children of ishmail and
[34:19] Isaac with a common father of Abraham I
[34:22] want all of us to see Humanity in each
[34:25] other and see neither as better or more
[34:28] privileged than the other we are cousins
[34:30] we are siblings and we should treat each
[34:33] other with love and respect thank
[34:41] you
[34:50] Andrew it's going to be difficult for
[34:52] you to hear me to call the next person
[34:54] so I understand the Applause but I need
[34:56] to be able to call this a week we have
[34:58] quite a few people and we'll be here for
[34:59] a
[35:00] while Andrew
[35:14] Gavin Madame President esteemed council
[35:17] members and Mr Mayor my name is Andrew
[35:21] gab I live in the county of SKC tonight
[35:24] I've come to speak to you about the the
[35:28] legitimacy of Israel as a state and its
[35:31] relationship with its
[35:33] neighbors Israel's origin story is to
[35:37] Pakistan the British denounced their
[35:39] intention to end their colonial mandate
[35:42] over what was then British India around
[35:44] the same time as Israel and a partition
[35:47] plan was created the primary goal was to
[35:50] give Muslims a majority in a new country
[35:52] and therefore
[35:54] self-determination there too were bloody
[35:56] conflicts Al along with mass migration
[35:59] much of which was forced yet the world
[36:02] has never questioned the the legitimacy
[36:05] of Pakistan and they should not question
[36:07] the legitimacy of
[36:09] Israel one of the key differences
[36:12] between Pakistan and Israel is that for
[36:14] Israel the leaders of the Arab states
[36:17] rejected the plan to divide the land and
[36:20] allow both populations
[36:23] self-determination they refus to see
[36:25] Jews as having a historical religious or
[36:28] legal claim to the land and refus to
[36:31] consider sharing the land so as has as
[36:35] has happened all over the world
[36:37] throughout time Wars ensued and the
[36:40] borders
[36:41] changed six Arab states have now made
[36:44] peace with Israel Israel is a modern
[36:47] country built by Pioneers now a leader
[36:51] in Industries like technology
[36:54] agriculture Water Reclamation and
[36:57] conservation
[36:58] fashion entertainment and Medicine
[37:01] especially mental health trauma
[37:03] treatment and injuries from Burns and
[37:06] explosives from their years of
[37:08] experience with terrorist attacks even
[37:11] during
[37:12] ceasefires thank you for your time thank
[37:16] [Applause]
[37:23] you Ann Deber
[37:40] Madam President Steve council members
[37:42] and Mr Mayor my name is Annie bber and I
[37:45] live in
[37:46] S I want to speak to you about Israel's
[37:49] relationship with MTH many Jews now
[37:52] recognize the the legitimate connection
[37:55] of Palestinians to this land with
[37:58] our own Hamas however has never today
[38:01] accepted the Jewish people's
[38:02] relationship to the land or recognized
[38:04] the state of isra Hamas a designated
[38:07] terrorist organization by the US EU and
[38:11] other states was founded in
[38:13] 1987 as an offsuit of the Muslim
[38:15] Brotherhood a movement dedicated to
[38:18] promoting islamist extremism worldwide
[38:22] their goals are outlined in their
[38:23] founding Charter which combines
[38:25] anti-semitic conspiracy theories and
[38:27] explicitly calls for the death of all
[38:29] Jews Nation worldwide they are
[38:32] responsible for decades of violent
[38:34] Terror attacks against Israeli civilians
[38:37] including suicide bombings stabbings and
[38:39] shootings they have governed Gaza since
[38:42] 2007 after they were elected and then
[38:45] violent and they violently ousted the
[38:48] Palestinian Authority Hamas its funding
[38:51] and support from Iran which regularly
[38:53] threatens Israel with Annihilation Hamas
[38:56] then leader isma Pia said in 2020 we
[39:01] cannot in exchange for money or projects
[39:03] give up Palestine and our weapons we
[39:06] will not give up the resistance we will
[39:08] not recognize Israel Palestine must
[39:11] stretch from The River To The Sea where
[39:13] recently gazi Hamad and hamas's official
[39:17] said the October 7th Massacre is just
[39:21] the first time and there will be a
[39:24] second a third a fourth because we have
[39:27] determination the resolve and the
[39:29] capabilities to fight the existence of
[39:32] Israel is
[39:33] illogical if Islam is a religion of
[39:36] Peace like Judaism Hamas extreme hatred
[39:39] of Jews and of Israel is not consistent
[39:41] with mainstream Islam every world
[39:44] religion has extremist who use a
[39:46] perversion of its teaching for power and
[39:49] control thank you for your time thank
[39:51] you
[39:57] Alan
[39:58] Goldman Alan
[40:12] Goldman Madame President esteemed
[40:15] council members and Mr Mayor my name is
[40:17] Alan Goldman I live in skincity County
[40:21] I've come to speak to you about
[40:24] anti-Semitism many people have a hard
[40:26] time recognizing Jew hatred because of
[40:29] specific content the language and
[40:31] behavior can change over time there are
[40:34] several well-recognized definitions of
[40:38] anti-Semitism but we think the easiest
[40:40] to use is the
[40:42] 3DS a set of criteria formulated by
[40:45] human rights Advocate Natan shansi in
[40:48] order to distinguish legitimate
[40:50] criticism of Israel from
[40:53] anti-Semitism the 3DS stand for d
[40:56] legitim
[40:57] ization demonization and double
[41:01] standards delegitimization refers to the
[41:04] denial of the Jewish people's right to
[41:07] self-determination for example claiming
[41:10] that the existence of the state of
[41:11] Israel is a racist Endeavor using
[41:14] narratives to imply Jews sto the land
[41:17] that is Israel or that the Jewish people
[41:20] have no connection to their Homeland are
[41:22] assertions intended to deny Israel's
[41:25] right to exist and the right of Jewish
[41:28] people to self-determination in their
[41:30] Homeland
[41:32] demonization refers to the portrayal of
[41:35] certain groups as evil demonic or
[41:38] satanic this is usually seen as claims
[41:40] that Jews are conspiring to harm
[41:43] Humanity or blame Jews for why things go
[41:46] wrong it includes referring to the power
[41:49] of Jews as a collective such as the myth
[41:52] about the world Jewish conspiracy or of
[41:56] Jews controlling the media economy
[41:59] government or other societal
[42:02] institutions double standards refers to
[42:05] the application of different sets of
[42:07] principles in similar situations if a
[42:11] person criticizes Israel and only Israel
[42:14] on certain issues but chooses to ignore
[42:17] similar situations conducted by other
[42:20] countries they are performing a double
[42:22] standard against Israel Israel should
[42:25] most certainly be held account
[42:27] accountable for its actions but no more
[42:29] or less than other countries I believe
[42:33] that the project of asking the council
[42:35] to support a ceasefire resolution has
[42:38] crossed the line from legitimate
[42:39] criticism of the state of Israel into
[42:43] anti-Semitism the activist group that
[42:45] you've been hearing from over the last
[42:47] weeks and months has not made any
[42:49] attempt to hide their Jew hatred and has
[42:52] been allowed to share their hate speech
[42:54] with impunity before this coun
[42:58] others will explore their statements in
[43:00] detail but I can attest to the fact that
[43:03] those offensive words spoken in its
[43:05] chamber have increased the isolation and
[43:08] apprehension felt by the Jewish
[43:10] residents of our city and county thank
[43:13] you for your time thank
[43:21] you Mary Matthews Mary Matthews
[43:38] Madame President esteemed council
[43:41] members and Mr Mayor my name is Mary
[43:44] Matthews and I am a 37-year resident of
[43:47] the city of
[43:48] skincity tonight I have come here to
[43:51] speak about the claim that Israel is a
[43:53] colonialist state from its Inception and
[43:57] a project of European
[44:00] imperialism the words colonialism
[44:02] colonizers and imperialists were said
[44:06] over a total of 10 times on March 25th
[44:09] April 8th April 22nd and May
[44:13] 13th these words invoke a reference to
[44:16] the time when European empir sent
[44:18] Europeans to far off lands to build
[44:20] colonies and settle there the
[44:23] colonialists were there to control local
[44:26] resources a process that involved
[44:28] marginalizing the indigenous
[44:31] populations time and time again
[44:33] activists have incorrectly called Jews
[44:36] in the Holy Land colonialist as if from
[44:40] Europe This is not at all based in
[44:43] factual history first the slogan denies
[44:46] that Jews have any historical ties to
[44:48] the land of Israel the reality is that
[44:52] there is an ancient Jewish history in
[44:54] the land of Israel and there is a well
[44:56] documented consistent presence of Jews
[44:59] in the area dating back thousands of
[45:01] years second slogans that cast Israel's
[45:06] as white European imperialist colonizers
[45:10] ignores and denies that over 50% of isra
[45:13] Israeli Jews are not white or european
[45:17] but are people of color includ including
[45:20] Mahi yemenite Indian and Ethiopian Jews
[45:24] moreover Jewish Israelis didn't come
[45:27] from a single home country as journalist
[45:30] javiv gur points out 90% of Israeli Jews
[45:34] came as refugees from nowhere else to go
[45:38] there is no other country we are coming
[45:41] from the state of Israel is not an
[45:43] example of colonization Zionism is not a
[45:46] European imperialist project and the
[45:49] Jewish people have nowhere to return
[45:51] home to except to their ancient
[45:54] historical Homeland the land of is
[45:57] Israel Jews were exterminated and
[46:00] expelled from Europe expelled from North
[46:03] Africa and expelled from the countries
[46:05] of the Middle East using words like
[46:08] colonialism colonizers imperialists is
[46:11] factually incorrect an example of Jew
[46:14] hatred because both legitimizes
[46:18] delegitimizes Israel and demonizes Jews
[46:21] by labeling us with the worst words in
[46:24] today's political discourse thank you
[46:27] for your time thank
[46:34] you Bruce
[46:36] Feldman Bruce
[46:52] Feldman Madame President esteemed
[46:54] council members and Mr Mayor
[46:57] my name is Bruce Feldman I live in sken
[47:00] county and tonight I have come to speak
[47:03] to you about hate
[47:05] speech like all bias discrimination and
[47:09] stereotyping we must ask the
[47:10] marginalized group to Define and express
[47:14] how speech harms them understanding how
[47:17] stereotypes and tropes have infused
[47:19] themselves into our psyches and how we
[47:22] hold Prejudice and bias against
[47:24] marginalized groups is learning process
[47:28] unfortunately we have found that folks
[47:30] ignore this framework when applied to
[47:33] anti-Semitism and the Jews despite the
[47:36] long history of violence hatred
[47:39] discrimination stereotyping and bias
[47:43] against our people spanning thousands of
[47:46] years so it is important to us in the
[47:49] Jewish Community to explain and express
[47:52] why certain phrases and terms are
[47:55] anti-semitic and how they they harm us
[47:58] right here in our
[48:00] community one of the most commonly used
[48:02] phrases quote River to the Sea close
[48:05] quote was said at least three times
[48:08] during public comment here in fact quote
[48:11] from The River To The Sea Palestine will
[48:13] be free close quote is one of the oldest
[48:17] and most common chants heard at Pro
[48:19] Palestinian protests today it refers to
[48:23] the Jordan River and the Mediterranean
[48:25] Sea encompassing the entire state of
[48:28] Israel the slogan first appeared in the
[48:30] 1960s with the Palestine Liberation
[48:33] Organization known as the PLO a militant
[48:36] group formed by Palestinians aimed at
[48:38] destroying Israel and replacing it with
[48:41] a Palestinian State Jews living in the
[48:45] land under such a scenario would face
[48:48] expulsion or
[48:49] violence in its quote rally toolkit
[48:53] close quote the pro Palestinian group in
[48:56] our
[48:57] lifetime includes this phrase along with
[49:00] SE several other slogans calling for the
[49:03] complete destruction of the state of
[49:05] Israel and any Jews living there because
[49:08] of the origins of this slogan and its
[49:11] association with calling for the
[49:12] destruction of Jews when I hear it I
[49:16] hear from the rivet to the Sea Palestine
[49:19] will be jew free or youen fry to use the
[49:23] Nazi term whether or not the people
[49:26] chant in this slogan know its history
[49:28] and origins or whether they know what
[49:30] river and what sea are irrelevant to the
[49:33] experience of the Jewish Community when
[49:36] we hear these words I and many people in
[49:40] the Jewish community of skincity
[49:41] experienced the slogan from the rivet to
[49:44] the Sea Palestine will be free as
[49:47] profoundly and deeply threatening as an
[49:51] example of Jew hatred thank you for your
[49:54] time
[50:02] gay Griffith gay
[50:09] Griffith
[50:22] no Madam
[50:24] president esteemed council member Mr
[50:27] Mayor my name is gay Griffith I live in
[50:30] sken County tonight I've come to speak
[50:32] to you about the use of the the terms
[50:36] genocide and ethnic
[50:38] cleansing being applied to Israel at
[50:41] City Council
[50:43] meetings genocide and ethnic cleansing
[50:46] were said over a whopping total of 52
[50:50] times during public comment and in
[50:53] today's Facebook post the activist group
[50:57] use the hashtag no pride in genocide
[51:00] implying both the false claim that
[51:02] Israel has committed genocide and the
[51:04] more locally hateful claim that the
[51:06] Jewish Community takes pride in murder
[51:08] of Palestinians John Spencer the chair
[51:11] of urban welfare studies at Modern War
[51:14] Institute of West Point Research Center
[51:16] dedicated to the study of war and Warf
[51:18] Warfare has said in fact Israel has
[51:21] implemented more measures to prevent
[51:23] civilian casualties in urban Warfare
[51:25] than any other military in the history
[51:27] of War genocide is a legal term and in
[51:30] no way do Israeli policies and actions
[51:32] meet this legal threshold the
[51:34] sensationalist use of the term genocide
[51:37] in relation to the Israeli Palestinian
[51:39] conflict is not only inaccurate and
[51:41] misleading but it serves to demonize the
[51:43] state of Israel and to diminish
[51:45] recognized acts of
[51:47] genocide in this war the suffering of
[51:50] the population in Gaza is heartbreaking
[51:53] and
[51:54] horrific but as detailed in a CNN
[51:57] article by Freda giddis the leap to
[52:01] Brand its military campaign as genocide
[52:04] the depth of Humanity's depravity is
[52:08] unconscionable this is not an unprovoked
[52:10] War like Russia's war against Ukraine
[52:13] it's not civil war between rival
[52:15] militias like the one in Sudan accusing
[52:19] Israel of genocide and putting the
[52:20] entire onus of stopping the war putting
[52:23] all the blame for the death on the
[52:24] Jewish state is even more astound ing
[52:26] because Hamas designated a terrorist
[52:29] organization by the US the European
[52:32] Union and many other countries is a
[52:34] group whose explicit goal according to
[52:37] its founding Charter is not just to
[52:39] destroy Israel but to kill
[52:43] Jews this is the Dem this is the
[52:46] definition of
[52:47] genocide I find it deeply concerning
[52:50] that Israel is often the only country in
[52:52] the world accused of contemp of
[52:55] contemporaneously engaging in genocide
[52:58] not only is this false as a matter of
[53:01] both law and fact but it also applies a
[53:04] singularly demonizing double standard to
[53:07] Israel and this war worse yet accusing
[53:11] Israel of genocide has the collateral
[53:13] effect diminishing real acts of genocide
[53:17] such as those that occurred in the
[53:19] Holocaust against Americans and in
[53:22] Rwanda thank you
[53:31] Laura
[53:32] soer Laura
[53:48] soer Madame President esteemed council
[53:52] members and mayor my name is Laura soer
[53:56] I live in SKC County tonight I've come
[54:00] to speak to you about the double
[54:02] standard involved in requesting that
[54:04] conected city council pass a resolution
[54:07] about this particular International
[54:09] matter but no others how many times has
[54:13] the city council weighed in on Foreign
[54:17] Affairs as council member m ver pointed
[54:22] out at last week's committee meeting it
[54:25] hasn't happened in his memory why choose
[54:28] this one to
[54:30] start the city council has been silent
[54:33] on the attrocities in Syria committed by
[54:36] the government of Bashir Assad which
[54:39] resulted in the deaths of over 100,000
[54:42] children and 400,000
[54:45] adults that is a far more bloody and
[54:48] destructive conflict than the events in
[54:52] Gaza the city council has been silent on
[54:55] the Russian inv of Ukraine a conflict
[54:58] which has cost so far the lives of over
[55:01] half a million again far more deadly War
[55:05] than the conflict in
[55:07] Gaza the city council has been silent on
[55:10] the ongoing crisis in
[55:12] Sudan where 2.3 million are refugees and
[55:16] nearly 7 million people currently
[55:18] require International Aid to prevent
[55:20] their
[55:21] starvation the city council has been
[55:24] silent about the 600,000 civilian
[55:26] massacred in the Tigra war in Ethiopia
[55:31] sorry about my
[55:33] pronunciation the city council has been
[55:35] silent about the
[55:37] 700,000
[55:40] rajia placed in Myanmar which the United
[55:44] Nations declared was a textbook example
[55:47] of ethnic
[55:49] cleansing the city council has been
[55:51] silent about Venezuela's escalating
[55:53] military threats to seize the ESO region
[55:57] from Guyana where
[56:00] 125,000 people
[56:02] 15.8% of the total population of Guyana
[56:06] live I could go on and about the wars
[56:09] the Slaughters the starvation and death
[56:12] and this Council has not taken official
[56:14] action to
[56:15] condemn the second Congo War genocide in
[56:18] Rwanda Massacre of the serbs and
[56:21] Kosovo the city council has been silent
[56:24] about the plight of the syrians and the
[56:25] UK ukrainians and the sudin and all the
[56:29] rest not because you are bad
[56:32] people not because you are
[56:35] hard-hearted but because these events
[56:38] are out of your
[56:40] mandate beyond your control and consist
[56:43] of details unknown to you you rightfully
[56:47] remained silent and you did the local
[56:49] work you were elected to
[56:52] do now you are being asked to weigh in
[56:55] on a war between between Israel and
[56:56] Hamas terrorists in Gaza even being
[56:59] asked to do so is a double standard
[57:02] motivated by Jew
[57:03] hatred please do not risk normalizing
[57:07] the double
[57:08] standard thanks for your time thank
[57:16] you
[57:18] Joshua Joshua Cooper Ginsburg
[57:29] good evening Madam president esteemed
[57:30] council members and Mr Mayor my name is
[57:32] Joshua Cooper Ginsburg I live in the
[57:34] city of skty and tonight I've come to
[57:36] speak to you about the false accusation
[57:39] that Israel is an apartheid state the
[57:41] word aparti was set over five times in
[57:43] meetings here on March 25th April 8th
[57:45] April 22nd and May 13th aparti is
[57:49] defined by the international criminal
[57:51] court as an institutionalized regime of
[57:53] systematic oppression and Domination by
[57:55] one IAL group over another apartheid
[57:58] laws in South Africa made it illegal for
[58:00] black people to marry live in the same
[58:02] areas or conduct business with white
[58:03] people black South Africans were barred
[58:05] from certain professions and educational
[58:07] opportunities could not participate in
[58:09] government and had to carry
[58:10] documentation compare opportunities I'm
[58:13] sorry compare that with the state of
[58:14] Israel whose 1 million Arab citizens are represented in all branches of
[58:19] government a government founded on the
[58:21] promise to uphold the full social and
[58:23] political equality of all of its
[58:25] citizens with without distinction of
[58:26] race Creed or sex within Israel the
[58:29] racial comparison to a part tide doesn't
[58:31] hold up for more than half of Israel's
[58:33] Jews are from a middle eastern and North
[58:36] African background known as MIM they are
[58:39] black and brown not white European
[58:42] moreover within Israel Palestinians and
[58:44] Arabs comprise about 20% of the
[58:46] population and enjoy full rights as
[58:48] Citizens Israel's legislator the
[58:51] legislature the
[58:52] keset includes representatives from four
[58:55] different Arab politic IC parties Arab
[58:57] citizens take part in every corner of
[58:59] Israeli Society Arab citizens serve as
[59:01] Supreme Court judges Governor government
[59:04] ministers Military Officers and Business
[59:06] Leaders while there are indeed economic
[59:09] disparities between the two communities
[59:10] Israel's government is addressing these
[59:12] issues by investing 10.3 billion over
[59:15] the next five years back into the
[59:16] community Israeli author Micah Goodman
[59:19] has made the case for why Israel with
[59:21] regard to Gaza and the West Bank is not
[59:23] an apartheid state Goodman argued that
[59:25] the struggles of the Palestinian
[59:26] national movement and the African
[59:28] National Congress are fundamentally
[59:29] different while black South Africans
[59:32] demanded to be equal citizens of their
[59:33] country the Palestinian national
[59:35] movement is demanding an independent
[59:37] state separate from or instead of Israel
[59:40] what is clear is that falsely accusing
[59:42] Israel of being an apartheid state is
[59:44] yet another Act of demonization and Del
[59:47] delegitimization another example of Jew
[59:50] hatred at work please recognize the
[59:52] divisive Jew hatred embedded in this
[59:54] embedded in asking for this resolution
[59:56] tion and show leadership by telling the
[59:58] whole city that such hate speech has no
[1:00:00] place in skincity thank you for your
[1:00:03] [Applause]
[1:00:09] time herb re herb Reich
[1:00:32] [Music]
[1:00:36] Madam president esteemed council members
[1:00:38] and Mr Mayor my name is Dr Herb R and I
[1:00:41] live in the county of scnc I come to you
[1:00:43] tonight to speak about the red hands
[1:00:46] seen on many ceasefire pins and on the
[1:00:48] LA least two graphics on on at least two
[1:00:51] Graphics put out by the anti-israel
[1:00:53] activists that you've been hearing from
[1:00:56] in this chamber advertising the press
[1:00:58] conference at City Hall on May 13th and
[1:01:00] what they've called tonight ceasefire
[1:01:02] speak out at the city council meeting
[1:01:04] these Graphics will remain posted on the
[1:01:06] organizer's Facebook page please let me
[1:01:09] tell you about the origin of the symbol
[1:01:10] the red hand it describes the gruesome
[1:01:13] mob killing of yosf abrahami and Vadim
[1:01:16] norik two Israelis who made a wrong turn
[1:01:18] into ramala a city in the West Bank in
[1:01:20] 2000 they were beaten stabbed had their
[1:01:24] eyes gouged out and were dis embowed by
[1:01:26] a mob inside the rala police station the
[1:01:30] photograph that ran alongside the news
[1:01:32] story of this event was one of the men
[1:01:34] who perpetrated the horrific act of
[1:01:36] violence as he waved to the cheering
[1:01:38] crowd below the police station here's
[1:01:40] the
[1:01:42] photo in
[1:01:53] pass it depicts aiz Sala one of the
[1:01:57] attackers waving his bloody stained
[1:01:58] hands from the police station's window
[1:02:01] in the picture Salah holds up his hands
[1:02:03] for a crowd below smiling with pride and
[1:02:05] excitement salah's hands were covered in
[1:02:07] the blood of a Jew a Jew like me a Jew
[1:02:10] that he had just disemboweled the crowd
[1:02:12] clapped and cheered as one of the
[1:02:14] lifeless bodies was then thrown out of
[1:02:15] the window and stamped and beaten by the
[1:02:17] frenzied crowd the others were shot and
[1:02:20] set on fire and his head was beaten to a
[1:02:22] pulp this is the origin of the red hand
[1:02:24] as a symbol of pal in resistance when I
[1:02:27] see the red hand I experience it
[1:02:29] viscerally the way I would also
[1:02:31] experience the image of a burning cross
[1:02:32] on my front yard or a white hood or a
[1:02:35] swastika or a h it says to me as a Jew
[1:02:38] you are not safe here we are coming for
[1:02:40] Jews here we are ready to murder Jewish
[1:02:42] people here when I see the red hand my
[1:02:45] thoughts immediately go back to the rala
[1:02:46] murders I experience the red hand is a
[1:02:49] threat of more violence I experience the
[1:02:51] red hand as an example of Jew hatred in
[1:02:53] the most violent sorts and it is
[1:02:55] terrifying ing the inclusion of the red
[1:02:57] hand on advertisements organizing the
[1:02:59] ceasefire resolution activists show that
[1:03:02] the entire project of asking for the
[1:03:03] ceasefire cannot be disentangled from
[1:03:05] its origin and Jew hatred activists who
[1:03:08] are asking for this are willing to
[1:03:10] terrify the Jewish neighbors with the
[1:03:11] threat of violence please show your
[1:03:13] leadership by denouncing the Jews hatred
[1:03:16] and anti-semitic speech intertwined with
[1:03:18] the project of asking for this
[1:03:20] resolution such hate has no place in our
[1:03:22] city at all thank you for your time
[1:03:25] thank you
[1:03:31] Kim
[1:03:32] Mara Kim
[1:03:43] mosa Madame President esteemed council
[1:03:46] members and Mr Mayor my name is Kim Musa
[1:03:49] I live in the county of skincity and
[1:03:52] tonight I've come to speak to you about
[1:03:55] how the anti-israel activists have
[1:03:57] equated Zionism and racism on social
[1:04:00] media when they wrote quote if we manage
[1:04:03] to defeat Zionism we will be able to
[1:04:06] defeat racism
[1:04:08] everywhere thank you and a speaker at
[1:04:11] public comment here also used the term
[1:04:13] racist on May 13th the false claim that
[1:04:17] Zionism is racism is not new but the
[1:04:20] history of that claim must be understood
[1:04:22] in the context of broader broader geopol
[1:04:25] politics and the weakening of the Soviet
[1:04:27] Union in
[1:04:29] 1975 the UN passed resolution
[1:04:33] 3379 which essentially equated Zionism
[1:04:36] with racism in response to the deepening
[1:04:39] relationship between the US and Israel
[1:04:42] in the 1960s Soviet Russia began to
[1:04:45] spread propaganda about both Judaism and
[1:04:48] Zionism claiming that we are the cause
[1:04:51] of the world's evils in an attempt to
[1:04:53] gain power and influence with Arab
[1:04:56] states in addition to equating Zionism
[1:04:59] with racism the Soviet propaganda
[1:05:01] machine explicitly used the word
[1:05:04] Jew and the word Zionist
[1:05:07] interchangeably this kind of language
[1:05:10] delegitimizes Israel and demonizes
[1:05:13] Jewish people and is profoundly and
[1:05:15] unquestionably an example of Jew
[1:05:18] hatred when the resolution passed in the
[1:05:21] UN American citizens Jew and non-jew
[1:05:24] were beside themselves at the
[1:05:26] Ridiculousness of the resolution and
[1:05:28] flooded the streets decrying the United
[1:05:31] Nations in 1991 the resolution was
[1:05:34] repealed with even many Arab countries
[1:05:37] abstaining showing that the world does
[1:05:39] not in fact think that Zionism can be
[1:05:42] equated with
[1:05:44] racism I'm deeply upset and hurt to see
[1:05:47] that here in skincity activists and
[1:05:49] agitators are willing to write and post
[1:05:52] on social media that quote if we manage
[1:05:54] to defeat Zionism we will be able to
[1:05:57] defeat racism everywhere unquote I'm
[1:06:00] deeply upset that activists refer to
[1:06:03] Zionist as racist this
[1:06:07] accusation is baseless coming from a
[1:06:10] history of anti-American Cold War
[1:06:12] propaganda is an example of demonization
[1:06:15] and Jew hatred and has the potential to
[1:06:18] materially harm Jewish people in skty it
[1:06:22] is time for leadership incity to say
[1:06:25] that this this kind of hate speech has
[1:06:27] no place in our town thank you for your
[1:06:34] time Deborah Chapman ging Deborah
[1:06:38] Chapman
[1:06:52] ging Madam president esteemed Council
[1:06:55] members and Mr Mayor my name is Deborah
[1:06:58] trapman Goldstein and I live in the
[1:07:00] county of skincity tonight I've come to
[1:07:02] speak to you about the blood liel as a
[1:07:04] clear example of Jew hatred and the way
[1:07:07] that blood liel remains a lens that has
[1:07:09] been used to tell the story of the
[1:07:10] current conflict what is blood Bible it
[1:07:14] refers to a centuries old false
[1:07:16] allegation that Jews murder Jewish
[1:07:18] children to use their blood for ritual
[1:07:21] purposes such an as an ingredient in the
[1:07:23] baking of Passover matah unle and bread
[1:07:26] blood lials have frequently led to mob
[1:07:28] violence and have occasionally led to
[1:07:30] the decimation of entire Jewish
[1:07:32] communities I could give many examples
[1:07:35] of this historically but let me share
[1:07:37] one from close to home a blood liel
[1:07:40] occurred in massina New York in
[1:07:43] 1928 when a four-year-old girl went
[1:07:45] missing from her home a rumor spread
[1:07:47] that local Jews had kidnapped and killed
[1:07:49] her crowds gathered outside ms's police
[1:07:53] station where a state troop requested
[1:07:55] the town's Rabbi and asked him whether
[1:07:57] Jews offered human sacrifices or used
[1:08:00] blood in rituals the girl eventually was
[1:08:03] found alive and unharmed there is a long
[1:08:06] tradition of using blood lials and
[1:08:07] propaganda and cartoons designed to
[1:08:09] demonize and dehumanize the Jewish
[1:08:11] people Adolf Hitler and his followers
[1:08:13] frequently used the blood liel as
[1:08:15] propaganda more recently a 2003 TV
[1:08:19] series broadcast in Syria and Lebanon
[1:08:22] shows that the Jewish people is engaging
[1:08:23] in a Conspiracy to Rule the world and
[1:08:26] presents Jews as a people who murder
[1:08:28] Christian children and drain their blood
[1:08:30] to bake
[1:08:32] matah just this spring congresswoman
[1:08:35] Elon Omar described some of the Jewish
[1:08:37] students at Colombia University as being
[1:08:40] PR genocide ADL CEO Jonathan greenblat
[1:08:44] responded saying it's patently false in
[1:08:47] a blood liel to suggest that any Jewish
[1:08:50] students appr Pro genocide he like many
[1:08:53] in the Jewish Community experienced the false accusation of genocide and the
[1:08:57] implication that supporters of Israel
[1:08:59] are supporters of genocide as yet
[1:09:01] another example of blood liel an
[1:09:03] allegation of the Jewish people's intent
[1:09:05] to murder non-jewish
[1:09:07] children When leaders of a country or a
[1:09:10] community want to make the Jewish people
[1:09:11] seem particularly heinous or evil they
[1:09:14] often use language or images associated
[1:09:16] with or referencing the centuries old
[1:09:18] tradition of blood liel this is one of
[1:09:21] the three DS of anti-semitism
[1:09:24] demonization
[1:09:25] it is so common that people don't even
[1:09:28] realize that that is what they are
[1:09:30] seeing we fear that people are more
[1:09:33] likely to believe this kind of
[1:09:35] accusation about Jewish people because
[1:09:37] they've heard or seen it before this is
[1:09:40] a part of Jew hatred that is deeply
[1:09:43] embedded in our
[1:09:51] culture William Gilbert
[1:10:17] my name is William Gilbert I prefer
[1:10:20] Bill Madame
[1:10:23] President esteemed council member Mr
[1:10:27] Mayor I am a proud resident of the city
[1:10:29] of
[1:10:31] scenc tonight I've come to speak to you
[1:10:36] about uh the blood
[1:10:39] label we just did that one oh no this is
[1:10:43] the right one yeah oh I'm sorry I keep
[1:10:45] hearing blood liel and it keeps me going
[1:10:48] man so I can't even tell what I'm
[1:10:51] doing the blood liel and the other
[1:10:54] grotesque evidence of the organizers
[1:10:56] anti-Semitism showing in our
[1:10:59] community over 12 Gastly references to
[1:11:02] Israel killing children and babies were
[1:11:05] made during public comments at previous
[1:11:07] City Council meetings and then there's a
[1:11:10] social media one of the organizers of a
[1:11:13] group calling for a ceasefire resolution
[1:11:16] posts public memes on their Facebook
[1:11:19] account that depicts Jews and Israelis
[1:11:22] killing pal Palestinians especially
[1:11:26] Palestinian children I'm going to pass a
[1:11:30] copy of some examples to you along with
[1:11:34] another demonizing post of a
[1:11:39] picture of Jews in prayer with the words
[1:11:43] white supremacy is the root of Zionism
[1:11:49] lynching followed by four red to orange
[1:11:52] matad face
[1:11:54] emojis I have to issue a Content warning
[1:11:57] these pictures are deeply upsetting to
[1:11:59] look at they are profoundly anti-semitic
[1:12:02] some of them are also
[1:12:07] anti-American several of these memes are
[1:12:09] highly reminiscent of Nazi propaganda
[1:12:12] blood Lial cartoons denigrating Jewish
[1:12:16] people which help to create the
[1:12:18] conditions necessary to be able to
[1:12:20] perpetrate the Holocaust the murder of 6
[1:12:24] million Jew
[1:12:26] and I might add 6 million
[1:12:30] others the memes are problematic because
[1:12:32] they are not merely a commentary on the
[1:12:34] fact of dead children but they imagine a
[1:12:37] bloodthirsty Israel reving in the deaths
[1:12:41] of children that is the blood
[1:12:43] liel as for the other posts with the
[1:12:46] pictures of Jews praying I'm not sure I
[1:12:48] need to explain how incredibly offensive
[1:12:51] it is simply by associating all Jews
[1:12:56] with the most evil things in today's
[1:13:00] lexicon the fact that one of the leaders
[1:13:02] of the call for a ceasefire resolution
[1:13:05] proudly and publicly uses blood liel to
[1:13:09] denigrate Israel shows that the entire
[1:13:12] project of asking for the ceasefire
[1:13:15] resolution cannot be
[1:13:18] disentangled from or Origins and Jew
[1:13:21] hatred the activists who are asking for
[1:13:24] a ceasefire resolution are doing so
[1:13:27] because of their conscious or
[1:13:29] unconscious Jew hatred accepting their
[1:13:33] request would have the city council
[1:13:34] condone and perpetrate the hate speech
[1:13:37] of this group of activists which have
[1:13:40] made and continues to make the Jewish
[1:13:42] community of skty materially less
[1:13:47] safe please recognize the device of Jew
[1:13:51] hatred embedded in asking for this
[1:13:53] resolution and show leadership Ship by
[1:13:55] telling the whole city that such hate
[1:13:57] speech has no place in connecti thank
[1:14:01] you for your
[1:14:07] time Eileen
[1:14:10] handlan Eileen
[1:14:18] [Music]
[1:14:19] handlan thank you
[1:14:51] Madam president esteem council members
[1:14:56] Mr Mayor my name is s Handelman and I I
[1:15:00] live in SC
[1:15:02] County tonight I've come to speak to
[1:15:05] you about how the proposed cease fire
[1:15:10] resolution distributed at the June 3
[1:15:12] council meeting is anti-Semitic because
[1:15:16] what it fails to
[1:15:19] say while the draft ceased fire
[1:15:21] resolution mentions the violent attack
[1:15:23] by the armed body of on Israeli citizens
[1:15:27] there is no accounting for hamas's
[1:15:29] behavior before that attack or since
[1:15:33] October 8th and no mention of hamas's
[1:15:36] complicity in the suffering of people in
[1:15:39] Gaza by that Omission the proposed
[1:15:42] ceasefire resolution holds Israeli SI
[1:15:47] isra Israel solely responsible for the
[1:15:49] suffering of Palestinians in Gaza the
[1:15:53] loss of life and suffering in Gaza is
[1:15:56] horrific rarely reported however is
[1:15:59] hamas's role in their suffering and the
[1:16:01] lengths at which Israel has gone to
[1:16:04] protect civilians the Israeli military
[1:16:07] consistently issues warning before
[1:16:10] military engagement in an area telling
[1:16:12] people to leave and helping them to
[1:16:15] relocate text alerts public
[1:16:17] announcements and thousands of leaflets
[1:16:21] are dropped by the
[1:16:23] IDF Hamas on the other hand has
[1:16:26] discouraged civilians from leaving the
[1:16:29] areas and blocked the exit
[1:16:33] routes Hamas has taken billions of
[1:16:36] dollars of humanitarian Aid and has used
[1:16:38] it to build assets for war this includes
[1:16:42] hundreds of miles of tunnels throughout
[1:16:44] Gaza where Hamas Fighters hide in order
[1:16:48] to purposely put the civilian population
[1:16:52] In Harm's Way the tunnels are not
[1:16:55] offered to civilians for
[1:16:58] safety nor is Hamas making efforts to
[1:17:01] protect
[1:17:02] civilians to the contrary Hamas created
[1:17:06] military targets out of schools
[1:17:08] universities mosques and hospitals by
[1:17:12] purposefully building War rooms
[1:17:14] ammunition factories and weapon storage
[1:17:17] in tunnels underneath the ground even
[1:17:20] above ground Hamas soldiers hide among
[1:17:23] civilians terrorizing their own people
[1:17:25] instead of protecting them Hamas has
[1:17:28] been caught stealing the humanitarian
[1:17:31] Aid provided by the International
[1:17:34] Community Hamas fires Rockets from
[1:17:36] civilian locations like school
[1:17:39] campuses inside Gaza killing and
[1:17:42] injuring their own civilians deaths
[1:17:45] which are then included in the death
[1:17:47] toll reporting as if Israel has caused
[1:17:49] them a resolution holding Israel solely
[1:17:53] responsible for the suffering of
[1:17:54] Palestinians in Gaza is an example of
[1:17:58] demonization holding Israel to double
[1:18:00] standard please please show your
[1:18:02] leadership by denouncing this Jew hatred
[1:18:06] and anti-Semitism speech intertwined
[1:18:09] with the project of asking for a
[1:18:12] resolution such hate has no place in our
[1:18:15] city I thank you for your time thank you
[1:18:29] for the young ladies that are holding
[1:18:30] the signs the sign cannot impair the the
[1:18:32] view of the people behind you thank
[1:18:37] you I beg your pardon want to make sure
[1:18:40] you okay then then you need to go to the
[1:18:42] side because they cannot impair the vi
[1:18:44] the view of the people behind
[1:18:47] you Jeffrey handlan
[1:19:01] good evening Madame President esteemed
[1:19:03] council members and mayor McCarthy my
[1:19:05] name is Jeffrey Handelman and I live in
[1:19:07] sken County fourth generation uh area
[1:19:11] resident I'm here to speak to you about
[1:19:14] uh how the proposed ceasefire resolution
[1:19:16] distributed at the June 3rd council
[1:19:18] meeting is anti-Semitic because of what
[1:19:20] it says explicitly first the proposed
[1:19:23] resolution calls Upon Our leaders in
[1:19:25] Albany and Washington to demand an
[1:19:27] immediate and permanent ceasefire which
[1:19:29] treats Israel unlike any other country
[1:19:31] involved in a conflict it's a very
[1:19:33] definitive double standard as council
[1:19:36] member m verin pointed out last week's
[1:19:38] committee meeting this is something the
[1:19:39] city council has never done before in
[1:19:41] all of the suffering and conflicts
[1:19:43] around the world going on right now conc
[1:19:45] singling out the only Jewish State on
[1:19:47] the planet is holding them to a massive
[1:19:49] double standard a unilateral
[1:19:52] unnegotiable
[1:19:54] m in just the last week in Rafa 700
[1:19:57] tunnel entrances were found 50 leading
[1:19:59] across the Egyptian border some big
[1:20:02] enough to drive large vehicles through
[1:20:04] remember how the world discouraged
[1:20:05] Israel from entering Rafa these tunnels
[1:20:07] have been used to smuggle explosives
[1:20:09] guns rockets and drones into Gaza amas
[1:20:12] has used the tunnels into and out of
[1:20:14] Gaza in order to train in Iran and other
[1:20:16] countries Rafa is one of the last
[1:20:18] strongholds of Hamas and is believed
[1:20:21] that many of its senior commanders incl
[1:20:23] including Hamas yaha sinoa are located
[1:20:26] there with its leadership still largely
[1:20:28] intact in Rafa Hamas could easily use
[1:20:31] Rafa as a base to reassert control over
[1:20:33] the Gaza Strip if the war were to end
[1:20:36] prematurely with the immediate ceasefire
[1:20:38] demonstr uh demanded by anti-israel
[1:20:40] activists Israel's stated Mission has
[1:20:43] been to eliminate hamas's military
[1:20:45] capabilities which is a reasonable goal
[1:20:47] since Hamas has broken ceasefire
[1:20:49] agreements time and time again after all
[1:20:51] there was a ceasefire agreement in place
[1:20:53] before October 7th and in the Years
[1:20:55] leading up to that vicious attack during
[1:20:57] that ceasefire hamash launched rockets
[1:21:00] and sent kites lit on fire to Israel to
[1:21:02] burn homes and crops calling for an
[1:21:04] immediate ceasefire in a resolution
[1:21:06] ignores that this situation is
[1:21:08] constantly in flux it's unfair to ask
[1:21:10] this city council to formulate a message
[1:21:12] telling other countries what they should
[1:21:13] do thank you very much for your time
[1:21:15] thank
[1:21:16] [Music]
[1:21:21] you
[1:21:22] swaan sellan
[1:21:34] good evening my name is San I'm a
[1:21:37] lifelong resident of skincity and I take
[1:21:39] no pleasure in coming here again for the
[1:21:41] fifth week but as a student of political
[1:21:43] science and as someone who's worked in
[1:21:45] the New York State Assembly for two
[1:21:46] years I have an issue with democracy as
[1:21:49] it's being threatened when essential
[1:21:51] local government isn't representing the
[1:21:53] will of the people or even whisper a
[1:21:55] word against genocide I am no longer
[1:21:58] going to appeal to your hearts even
[1:22:00] though since we were last here we've
[1:22:03] seen the heinous violence caused by the
[1:22:05] Zionist entity headless children tents
[1:22:08] with people in them burned alive and
[1:22:11] actual documented concentration camps
[1:22:14] that are torturing sexually abusing and
[1:22:17] killing
[1:22:18] Palestinians I can't appeal to your
[1:22:20] Humanity because when councilman Farley
[1:22:22] asked last week to consider his in
[1:22:24] councilman Williams ceasefire resolution
[1:22:26] he said he was assuming we're all for
[1:22:28] peace and a councilwoman then said well
[1:22:30] I'm not sure if we all are everyone
[1:22:33] you've heard from today can agree they
[1:22:34] want peace councilman Farley and
[1:22:36] Williams are not straying from their
[1:22:38] duties for coming forward with the
[1:22:40] ceasefire resolutions that this body
[1:22:42] thinks it's too good to consider they
[1:22:44] are doing the job that they swore in
[1:22:46] front of God and the American flag to
[1:22:49] represent the will of the people and
[1:22:51] their tax dollars we need more policy
[1:22:53] makers like you to those who say this
[1:22:56] resolution is a waste of time are saying
[1:22:58] that you think the Palestinian people
[1:23:00] and the 40,000 lost human lives are a
[1:23:03] waste of your time that the count that
[1:23:05] your counterparts in Albany wasted their
[1:23:07] time that working for your constituents
[1:23:10] is wasting your time you work for your
[1:23:14] constituents I also briefly before I
[1:23:16] conclude wanted to address safety
[1:23:18] because a councilwoman here claimed to
[1:23:20] feel unsafe the last time we were here
[1:23:22] I'm very sorry that you felt unsafe it
[1:23:25] is not a feeling that I would wish on
[1:23:26] anyone and it is just a fraction of the
[1:23:30] feeling of the Palestinian men women and
[1:23:33] children who don't know which bomb paid
[1:23:36] for by our taxpayer money is going to
[1:23:39] fall and kill them I did not consent to
[1:23:42] kill
[1:23:43] them this coalation for ceasefire do not
[1:23:46] come bearing weapons in fact what we're
[1:23:48] calling for is less weapons but this
[1:23:51] coal Coalition who has been here week
[1:23:53] after week is diverse including many
[1:23:56] black and brown faces advocating for the
[1:23:58] life and dignity of other Brown faces I
[1:24:02] wonder if that contributed to your
[1:24:04] stated feelings of unsafety
[1:24:08] councilwoman I'm here to assure you that
[1:24:11] the only thing that is unsafe is your
[1:24:13] elected seats if you're not representing
[1:24:15] the people actively begging you to do
[1:24:17] our part to end an active genocide of
[1:24:20] the Palestinian people you will not win
[1:24:22] the next time your name is on any ballot
[1:24:25] once again the young will not forget not
[1:24:28] cowardly silence not outright hate and
[1:24:31] certainly not palestin I want to thank
[1:24:34] again councilman Farley and Williams for
[1:24:37] representing us because I know how
[1:24:40] infuriating it must be to sit in this
[1:24:42] room hearing the apathy and hatred of
[1:24:44] your colleagues and their supporters but
[1:24:46] if they are not supporting your efforts
[1:24:47] to bring about a ceasefire resolution I
[1:24:49] will invoke the ever relevant words of
[1:24:51] Kendrick Lamar these are not your
[1:24:53] colleagues they are colonizers free
[1:24:56] Palestine
[1:25:01] thank Imam Jamal
[1:25:03] [Applause]
[1:25:08] Shaw good evening
[1:25:10] everyone uh before I get started I do
[1:25:13] want to hand overs well this is about a
[1:25:15] 100 more signatures we just collected
[1:25:17] yesterday um like I told you guys if we
[1:25:19] keep this going I mean we're going to
[1:25:21] have the whole city covered
[1:25:26] so I hear the chatter thank you so much
[1:25:29] um first of all we've heard a lot
[1:25:32] tonight lot of historical inaccuracies
[1:25:35] trying to paint pictures speaking about
[1:25:38] Pakistan speaking about
[1:25:40] Sudan it's unfortunate what's going on
[1:25:43] in the world what has happened in the
[1:25:44] world but we're here to talk about the
[1:25:45] ceasefire
[1:25:47] resolution I believe the resolution that
[1:25:49] was proposed by us at a time when there
[1:25:52] was no resolution from anyone
[1:25:55] else was not anti-semitic how do I know
[1:25:58] this I sat in front of Rabbi Matt Cutler
[1:26:01] and I said show me what's anti-semitic
[1:26:03] here I have
[1:26:05] witnesses he said don't say Israel say
[1:26:08] the government of
[1:26:09] Israel which is what I changed it to
[1:26:13] tonight we have people here from the
[1:26:16] other side that continuously say Israel
[1:26:19] so forgive me for that I apologize
[1:26:21] however what is unacceptable in any sort
[1:26:24] of resolution whether it be from any
[1:26:27] side is to minimize the suffering that's
[1:26:29] actually happening which is why the
[1:26:31] resolution that we proposed specifies
[1:26:34] the 1100 Israelis that were murdered on
[1:26:37] October 7th which is why it specifies
[1:26:40] now 12 actually 118 hostages that remain
[1:26:44] three were killed in the crossfire this
[1:26:46] past Saturday which is why it specifies
[1:26:49] the suffering of the Palestinian people
[1:26:51] because a resolution that's truly
[1:26:53] equitable for everyone will acknowledge
[1:26:56] everyone's pain it seems to me that
[1:26:58] there are people here who want to be
[1:27:01] heard which we've heard them which is
[1:27:03] why the resolution speaks to that pain
[1:27:05] but Palestinian pain is somehow
[1:27:07] anti-semitic that's what I'm getting
[1:27:09] from it the word Palestinian seems to be
[1:27:12] very problematic for some people they
[1:27:15] can't utter the phrase they cannot
[1:27:17] understand that the West Bank which is
[1:27:19] Palestinian land technically speaking
[1:27:21] according to United Nations according to
[1:27:23] the United States of America according
[1:27:25] to every major government in the world
[1:27:27] belongs to the Palestinians it happens
[1:27:29] to border the Jordan River Gaza borders
[1:27:32] the Mediterranean Sea these places are
[1:27:35] inhabited by Palestinians we want them
[1:27:38] to have the right to
[1:27:40] self-determination within those borders
[1:27:42] that's what from The River To The Sea
[1:27:44] means there
[1:27:47] is now in the chamber please I asked the
[1:27:51] beginning I'm going to simplify this a
[1:27:54] person that looks like
[1:27:56] me can never
[1:27:58] be viewed as a person who brings
[1:28:00] something forth that actually is
[1:28:04] Equitable and actually represents peace
[1:28:06] simply because I look like me I have my
[1:28:09] religion that's the perspective that
[1:28:11] you're hearing from the other side and
[1:28:13] that's the reality because I didn't
[1:28:15] stand here and defend Hamas that's not
[1:28:18] my job I don't care about them I care
[1:28:20] about the people the civilians and
[1:28:22] that's all I've been asking you guys to
[1:28:24] acknowledge and recognize it's not that
[1:28:27] difficult people are saying if you call
[1:28:29] for the release of Israeli hostages
[1:28:31] which is mentioned in our resolution
[1:28:33] very explicitly you're somehow a Jew
[1:28:36] hater doesn't make any sense I
[1:28:39] respectfully ask you all to understand
[1:28:42] what the context of us being here is
[1:28:44] Cease Fire resolution we can have our
[1:28:46] history lessons in our debates at
[1:28:47] another time trust me I'm more than
[1:28:49] happy to have that thank you so much
[1:28:51] thank you
[1:28:57] Megan
[1:28:58] Levine Megan
[1:29:16] [Music]
[1:29:19] Levine good evening Madame President
[1:29:22] honorable members of the council Mr
[1:29:24] Mayor my name is Meg Levine I live in
[1:29:27] Nuna and work in skincity on early
[1:29:29] literacy initiatives that support the
[1:29:31] city's Children and Families I've
[1:29:34] addressed you previously and spoken
[1:29:36] against your passing a ceasefire
[1:29:39] resolution it is not that I don't want
[1:29:41] it the war to end I do as members of the
[1:29:45] council have acknowledged the council
[1:29:47] has no jurisdiction over International
[1:29:50] Affairs and we have experienced the
[1:29:53] difficulties that result when it wads
[1:29:55] into these
[1:29:57] issues first words matter words travel
[1:30:02] they are not restricted by city lines or
[1:30:04] election District
[1:30:06] boundaries second the terms of ceasefire
[1:30:10] resolutions are not typically found in
[1:30:12] City documents some have complex
[1:30:15] definitions in international law some
[1:30:18] bear the weight of history with
[1:30:19] different people understanding them in
[1:30:20] different ways some are ambiguous
[1:30:23] leading to confusion as to their intent
[1:30:26] and some are
[1:30:27] inflammatory third the words used by
[1:30:30] those advocating the resolution are
[1:30:32] borrowed from slogans and chants
[1:30:34] coursing through social media marches
[1:30:37] rallies and college campuses let's not
[1:30:40] contribute to this unproductive
[1:30:42] polarizing discourse we have however
[1:30:45] heard common concerns these months from
[1:30:48] all concerns of this room members of our
[1:30:51] community have expressed concerns about
[1:30:53] the ongoing horrific suffering endured
[1:30:56] by the people in Gaza and Israel
[1:30:59] Palestinians and Israelis due to hamas's
[1:31:03] terrorist attack on Israel and the
[1:31:05] resulting War we have heard voices of
[1:31:08] Anguish apprehension anger rage fear and
[1:31:11] sorrow we have heard support for the
[1:31:13] release of the hostages and the need for
[1:31:15] humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza
[1:31:18] within the council members have
[1:31:20] expressed a desire to respond to their
[1:31:22] constituents who have appeared here on
[1:31:24] these issues should the council decide
[1:31:27] to comment on the ongoing War let the
[1:31:31] words let the words of a statement not a
[1:31:35] resolution reflect our Common Ground
[1:31:37] speak to the humanity expressed here for
[1:31:40] a lasting peace and Security in the
[1:31:42] Middle East that all peoples be able to
[1:31:44] go to sleep without fear further urge
[1:31:47] folks to raise these concerns to our
[1:31:49] national leaders and international
[1:31:51] mediators as they work towards peace and
[1:31:54] Security in the Middle East please do
[1:31:56] not get tangled in the words that part
[1:31:57] of a larger inflammatory dialogue let
[1:32:00] the statement be silent on the
[1:32:02] strategies to achieve and Implement
[1:32:04] peace no one in this room has insight
[1:32:06] into diplomatic discussions and the
[1:32:08] everchanging conditions on the ground
[1:32:10] let this statement reflect your
[1:32:12] continuing encouragement that
[1:32:14] individuals engage and talk to one
[1:32:16] another their privilege of the floor has
[1:32:18] allowed us to express our views yet we
[1:32:21] have seen misinformation magnifi and
[1:32:24] hatred spread Madam president if we were
[1:32:27] to abandon the slogans take conscious
[1:32:30] steps to stop the spread of
[1:32:31] misinformation and hate in our community
[1:32:34] once again work hard over time to
[1:32:37] understand and engage the other those
[1:32:39] words and actions would be our own and
[1:32:41] would' be focused on our community this
[1:32:44] course of action would create the
[1:32:47] possibility of uniting us in concy that
[1:32:50] is my hope thank you thank you
[1:32:56] shamal
[1:32:58] Davis chamelle
[1:33:01] Davis chemal Davis third
[1:33:04] time
[1:33:07] no Gordon Zuckerman
[1:33:26] we'll just hold it
[1:33:29] okay Madame
[1:33:31] President Este steem council members and
[1:33:35] Mr
[1:33:36] Mayor I am Gordon Zuckerman I currently
[1:33:40] live in Nuna but over 82 years ago I was
[1:33:44] born here in SKC I am a proud product of
[1:33:48] the SKC City
[1:33:51] Schools I currently own a building on ER
[1:33:53] Boulevard where my office has been for
[1:33:56] many many
[1:33:58] years a number of council members and I
[1:34:01] have worked together on building the
[1:34:04] fabric of the safety nets here in SKC
[1:34:08] for those less
[1:34:10] fortunate and personally I think that
[1:34:13] we're spending a lot of time where we
[1:34:15] should be working to help those less
[1:34:19] fortunate but tonight I'm here to talk
[1:34:22] about anti-semitism
[1:34:24] the language in the proposed ceasefire
[1:34:27] resolution because it calls for the
[1:34:30] release of all
[1:34:33] hostages and political prisoners as if
[1:34:36] they were morally
[1:34:38] equivalent who are those political
[1:34:42] partners and
[1:34:44] prisoners well yeah had
[1:34:47] shirar was
[1:34:49] one serving four consecutive lives
[1:34:54] sentences for abducting and murdering
[1:34:58] two
[1:34:59] Israelis in
[1:35:01] 1989 so war was released in
[1:35:05] 2011 as part of the prisoner
[1:35:09] exchange of 1,000 Palestinian militant
[1:35:13] prisoners for one IDF
[1:35:18] Soldier soar later became Hamas leader
[1:35:24] Gaza and the architect of the October
[1:35:27] 7th
[1:35:34] massacres AAR
[1:35:38] shalena whose picture you've seen
[1:35:40] holding up the Blood Stained
[1:35:47] hands he was the one you heard that
[1:35:50] helped murder the two Palace two
[1:35:54] Israelis in
[1:35:56] the police
[1:35:59] station in the West
[1:36:02] Bank these political
[1:36:05] prisoners are often
[1:36:08] terrorists and violent
[1:36:12] combatants they were arrested for
[1:36:15] violent
[1:36:17] crimes even prisoners held for minor
[1:36:20] acts of violence are in no way the
[1:36:23] equivalent of the hostages
[1:36:26] themselves and by the way the hostages
[1:36:31] that were
[1:36:34] taken are from over
[1:36:37] 25 different countries many of them with
[1:36:42] dual passports and citizenship and many
[1:36:45] of them not they're from
[1:36:48] Thailand Argentina Germany and the US
[1:36:53] and as I said over 25
[1:36:55] countries the proposed ceas fire
[1:36:58] resolution calls for the Swift an
[1:37:02] unrestricted entry of
[1:37:05] humanitarian assistance into
[1:37:08] Gaza this sounds like a
[1:37:10] non-controversial
[1:37:12] statement but it's not I need you to
[1:37:14] summarize please sir I need you to
[1:37:17] summarize I beg
[1:37:21] pardon time all right all right I thank
[1:37:24] you for your time it was a pleasure
[1:37:28] talking to you thank
[1:37:33] you Amy
[1:37:36] pner Amy pner
[1:37:54] [Music]
[1:37:57] Madame President esteemed council
[1:37:59] members and Mr Mayor my name is Amy
[1:38:02] Posner I live in the city of SKC I am
[1:38:05] one of your
[1:38:07] constituents tonight I've come to speak
[1:38:09] to you about anti- cinematic language in
[1:38:11] the proposed ceasefire resolution
[1:38:14] because it calls for the release oh I
[1:38:16] that
[1:38:21] was okay
[1:38:24] hordon just read that one but I'm here
[1:38:27] also to talk about that because the
[1:38:29] proposed ceasefire resolution calls for
[1:38:32] the Swift and unrestricted entry of
[1:38:34] humanitarian assistance into Gaza this
[1:38:37] sounds like a non-controversial
[1:38:39] statement and I certainly would love to
[1:38:42] see there be humanitarian um assistance
[1:38:46] into Gaza but it's not a
[1:38:48] non-controversial statement there are
[1:38:50] actually many players involved in the
[1:38:52] lack of sist efficient humanitarian
[1:38:54] assistance getting to civilians in Gaza
[1:38:58] Egypt has refused to deliver
[1:39:00] humanitarian Aid to the border crossing
[1:39:02] Hamas has been stealing the aid instead
[1:39:04] of Distributing it privateers and
[1:39:07] Smugglers hide firearms in non-military
[1:39:10] transportation which then requires
[1:39:12] painstaking search of everything that
[1:39:14] travels above ground into
[1:39:16] Gaza I say to you that this glaring
[1:39:20] omission and the use of other specific
[1:39:22] phrases in the proposed
[1:39:23] ceasefire resolution does create a
[1:39:26] double standard and demonizes Israel
[1:39:30] some of what are what uh what our our
[1:39:34] um our citizens here tonight have said
[1:39:37] demonizes Israel if we add more context
[1:39:40] and consider the statements made by the
[1:39:42] anti-israel activists In This Very
[1:39:44] chamber at four previous public comments
[1:39:48] and virent anti-Semitism social media
[1:39:51] posts by the organizers and so if you
[1:39:54] say it's not anti-semitic but you're
[1:39:56] posting anti-semitic memes and you're
[1:39:58] posting pictures of violent people with
[1:40:00] their bloodstained hands and you're
[1:40:02] using that Blood Stained hand as a stamp
[1:40:05] on your flyer to encourage people to
[1:40:07] come and participate in your activism
[1:40:10] that is complicit in the
[1:40:14] violence so I say to you this entire
[1:40:17] exercise of asking city council to pass
[1:40:20] a ceasefire is an resolution is anti
[1:40:23] anetic put it all together I feel a very
[1:40:27] clear sense that this theater has put me
[1:40:30] definitely me I don't sleep well at
[1:40:32] night because of this kind of thing my
[1:40:35] family and other Jewish residents at
[1:40:38] Great harm anti-Semitism has
[1:40:41] consequences it's the canary and the
[1:40:43] coal mine for social ills many
[1:40:47] cases whether intended or not it
[1:40:49] prejudices people and it reinforces
[1:40:52] stereotypes and biases and I will say
[1:40:55] that anti-Semitism has been weaponized
[1:40:58] in this particular
[1:41:01] context and that the Jewish perspective
[1:41:05] of what anti-Semitism is matters we get
[1:41:09] to say what is anti-Semitism just like
[1:41:11] other people get to say what other
[1:41:13] prejudices are when they feel
[1:41:16] Prejudice please recognize that this is
[1:41:19] divisive it's Jew hatred and it's
[1:41:22] embedded in asking for this resolution
[1:41:25] please show leadership by telling the
[1:41:27] whole city that such hate speech has no
[1:41:29] place in skty I loves connecti and I
[1:41:33] hope that we can all find a way to live
[1:41:34] together in peace thank you
[1:41:37] [Applause]
[1:41:42] for David Posner David Posner
[1:42:01] Madame President esteemed members
[1:42:05] council members and Mr Mayor my name is
[1:42:08] David Posner I live and I'm a resident
[1:42:12] of the city of sken I work in sken
[1:42:16] County where I am the executive of the
[1:42:19] Jewish Community Center which works to
[1:42:22] make life better for the entire
[1:42:24] citizenry of the city and the
[1:42:27] county tonight I come to speak to you
[1:42:30] about a tax on council member Carmel
[1:42:33] Patrick at the council's committee
[1:42:36] meeting on June 3rd council member call
[1:42:40] Williams offered two statements for
[1:42:43] consideration each separately written by
[1:42:46] local pro-israel and pro Palestinian
[1:42:50] leaders when talking about the two
[1:42:53] statements Council me council member
[1:42:56] Patrick referenced that they will cause
[1:42:59] more
[1:43:00] divisiveness and that divisiveness has
[1:43:03] already happened I
[1:43:06] agree seeking this ceasefire resolution
[1:43:10] is divisive and in a way it has happened
[1:43:14] here it is anti-Semitic it is hurtful it
[1:43:18] is harmful for all the reasons that
[1:43:21] previous speakers have said the language
[1:43:24] being used by extremists in our
[1:43:26] community the words omitted and the
[1:43:29] words included in the proposed
[1:43:32] resolution the awful social media posts
[1:43:36] and the desecration of cemeteries while
[1:43:39] maybe not directly related have
[1:43:43] altogether made me feel
[1:43:45] unsafe this kind of divisiveness is
[1:43:49] dangerous our rabbis have told us of
[1:43:51] incidents of hate against Jewish middle
[1:43:54] school students here in our County they
[1:43:57] shared that an administrator told them
[1:44:00] incidents of hate are also increasing
[1:44:04] against Muslim Students and lb lgbtq
[1:44:08] plus kids they say it is not Muslim kids
[1:44:13] who are harassing Jewish kids or Jewish
[1:44:16] kids who are harassing Muslim kids it's
[1:44:19] other children who think it's now okay
[1:44:22] to harass both of them this entire
[1:44:25] exercise is more harmful than helpful
[1:44:28] because it will increase bigotry against
[1:44:31] both Muslims and Jews and the worst part
[1:44:35] we used to commune together we used to
[1:44:38] celebrate holidays together in the past
[1:44:42] where either of our communities faced
[1:44:45] atrocities like the Muslim
[1:44:48] ban and the Tree of Life Massacre regre
[1:44:53] belied with each other and considered
[1:44:55] each consoled each other but the
[1:44:57] extremism before this body has created a
[1:45:01] deep deep Division and I worry we won't
[1:45:04] have each other's backs for the next
[1:45:07] americanmade atrocity please show your
[1:45:10] leadership by denouncing the Jew hatred
[1:45:12] and anti-semitic speech intertwined with
[1:45:16] the project of asking for this
[1:45:18] resolution such hate has no place in our
[1:45:22] city thank you for your
[1:45:29] time Alison Matthews Alison Matthews
[1:45:45] okay hello um Madame President esteemed
[1:45:50] council members and Mr Mayor my name is
[1:45:52] Ali Matthews um and I am a resident of
[1:45:56] the city of sky for the last 33 years
[1:45:59] and tonight I've come to speak to you
[1:46:01] about how anti-Semitism is different
[1:46:04] from how others marginalized people
[1:46:07] experience
[1:46:08] discrimination silence usually doesn't
[1:46:10] end well for us so we've decided to
[1:46:12] speak out and call out what we are
[1:46:14] seeing and feeling with the hope that
[1:46:16] enough people understand why we are
[1:46:19] afraid anti-Semitism often starts with
[1:46:21] this societal internalization of
[1:46:24] stereotypes tropes and biases invented
[1:46:27] in previous
[1:46:28] generations AC accusations like the
[1:46:31] blood liel the myth about a world Jewish
[1:46:34] conspiracy and stereotypes about Jews
[1:46:36] and money are kept Alive by veiled or
[1:46:39] even blatant references in conversations
[1:46:42] and jokes left unchecked and
[1:46:44] unchallenged scapegoating begins people
[1:46:47] begin to use these negative stereotypes
[1:46:49] to blame Jews for bad things that they
[1:46:51] see or experience
[1:46:53] in the 14th century Jews were frequently
[1:46:56] used as scapegoats for the plague and
[1:46:58] accused of
[1:46:59] deliberately poisoning wells in 1930s
[1:47:03] Germany Jews were blamed for the
[1:47:04] downturn in the country's economy Jew
[1:47:07] hatred other often including includes
[1:47:10] accusations of whatever is culturally
[1:47:12] considered most despicable for example
[1:47:15] in 1950s America we were called
[1:47:18] socialists spies and traitors in 1960s
[1:47:21] Soviet Russia we were called capitalists
[1:47:24] spies and
[1:47:25] traitors when demonizing stereotypes and
[1:47:28] scapegoating are left unchallenged Jew
[1:47:31] hatred becomes active boycotts of Jewish
[1:47:33] businesses violence on Jewish property
[1:47:36] burning Jewish homes destroying crops
[1:47:39] looting Jewish stores vandalizing Jewish
[1:47:42] businesses and desecrating Jewish
[1:47:44] cemeteries which we saw in our own City
[1:47:48] if allowed to continue the Jew hatred
[1:47:50] can explode into physical violence
[1:47:52] harass harassment assault rape murder
[1:47:55] forced Exile and mass murder for example
[1:47:59] having been blamed for the plague whole
[1:48:01] populations of Jews were massacred in
[1:48:03] towns in France Spain Germany and
[1:48:06] Switzerland in just a few short years
[1:48:09] the Jew hatred we have experienced here
[1:48:11] at the City Council meetings makes life
[1:48:13] worse for the Jewish residents of
[1:48:15] skincity it increases the culture of
[1:48:18] hate it contributes to the division
[1:48:20] between communities and distrust between
[1:48:22] neighbors a ceasefire resolution will
[1:48:25] have no impact on Gaza choosing to stop
[1:48:28] the demonizing Del de legitimizing and
[1:48:32] double standards will have a huge impact
[1:48:34] on skincity please show your leadership
[1:48:37] by denouncing the Jew hatred and
[1:48:39] anti-semitic speech intertwined with the
[1:48:42] project of asking for this resolution
[1:48:45] such hate has no place in our city thank
[1:48:48] you for your time
[1:48:49] [Applause]
[1:48:54] Rabbi rafy Spitzer Rabbi
[1:49:02] Spitzer Madame
[1:49:04] President esteemed council members and
[1:49:07] Mr Mayor my name is Rabbi Rafi Spitzer I
[1:49:10] live in the county of SKC and tonight
[1:49:13] I've come to speak to
[1:49:16] you
[1:49:18] proudly and
[1:49:20] vulnerably about our fear
[1:49:23] of the 8 billion people in the world
[1:49:26] there are just 15.7 million Jews just.
[1:49:32] 2% of the worldwide population in
[1:49:35] America we are just 2.4% of the
[1:49:38] population in sken County we are about
[1:49:41] 2% of the population about 3,500 Jews
[1:49:45] out of the 160,000 people who live in
[1:49:48] this County there are so very few of us
[1:49:51] and we have been relatively quiet at
[1:49:54] these City Council
[1:49:56] meetings many Jewish people spoke
[1:49:59] against a ceasefire resolution on March
[1:50:01] 25th and we did not come to your
[1:50:03] meetings on April 8th or 22nd because we
[1:50:06] were celebrating Jewish holidays but
[1:50:09] make but make no mistake our absence and
[1:50:12] relative silence does not in any way
[1:50:14] indicate indifference to the anti-israel
[1:50:17] and Jew hating ceasefire resolution or
[1:50:19] to the activists Behavior we are
[1:50:22] disgusted by by their proud displays of
[1:50:24] Jew hatred both here and online it's
[1:50:28] hard to be here it's hard to hear their
[1:50:31] words to see their online rhetoric and
[1:50:34] their memes the activists deny Jewish
[1:50:38] peoplehood they deny Jewish
[1:50:41] history they minimize Jewish pain and
[1:50:45] Jewish death they demonize the Jewish
[1:50:48] people they apply a double standard in
[1:50:51] calling for a ceas fire resolution in
[1:50:53] this case but not in all the other world
[1:50:56] conflicts they even have the gall to say
[1:50:59] that our fear isn't legitimate but is
[1:51:01] only a tactic used to silence them while
[1:51:05] many of us hope for a negotiated end to
[1:51:08] this war and Pray for Peace we loathe
[1:51:11] the attempts to intimidate silence
[1:51:14] rewrite our history use tropes and
[1:51:16] stereotypes to fuel hate against Israel
[1:51:19] and the Jewish people here in connecti
[1:51:21] resolutions calling for a cease Fire
[1:51:23] have themselves become a term of art a
[1:51:25] dog whistle a code even a seemingly
[1:51:29] innocuous statement that can be held up
[1:51:31] as SKC supports a ceasefire is loaded
[1:51:35] with assumptions based on the Jew hating
[1:51:37] words and behavior of the activists it
[1:51:39] is a way of rallying people to the cause
[1:51:41] of delegitimizing the only Jewish
[1:51:43] country in the world
[1:51:46] please recognize the divisive Jew hatred
[1:51:49] embedded in asking for this resolution
[1:51:52] and show leadership by telling the whole
[1:51:55] city that such hate speech has no place
[1:51:58] in
[1:51:59] skincity thank you for your
[1:52:02] [Applause]
[1:52:08] time Rabbi Matt Cutler Rabbi
[1:52:17] Cutler I'm Rabbi Matt
[1:52:19] Cutler I live in the city of skincity
[1:52:22] and I I work in this city is connected
[1:52:23] my first request is to open a bathroom
[1:52:25] up here so I can go to the bathroom
[1:52:27] every once in a while during these
[1:52:28] meetings now tonight I speak to you
[1:52:30] about what legitimate criticism of
[1:52:33] Israel looks like Israel is an imperfect
[1:52:36] liberal democracy just like the United
[1:52:38] States Israel is a parliamentary
[1:52:40] democracy to form a government requires
[1:52:43] Coalition building and current coalition
[1:52:45] government has widely been criticized
[1:52:48] for giving outside voice to extremists
[1:52:51] legitimate criticism of Israel's
[1:52:53] policies can be made without
[1:52:56] delegitimizing or demonizing Israel we
[1:52:59] could hold Israel accountable without
[1:53:01] applying a double standard it takes care
[1:53:04] to consider how our words can use can
[1:53:08] cause harm by reinforcing stereotypes it
[1:53:11] takes
[1:53:13] self-examination to discover our
[1:53:15] internalized
[1:53:17] biases I hope that the city of connected
[1:53:22] Council
[1:53:23] and the rest of us have learned some
[1:53:25] history and context for the harm caused
[1:53:29] by some of the offensive remarks used by
[1:53:32] activists seeking a ceasefire
[1:53:34] resolution now I would like to thank
[1:53:37] council member Carl Williams along with
[1:53:40] council member deanii Farley for trying
[1:53:43] to get folks to come together to find
[1:53:46] Common Ground I thank you president
[1:53:49] Porterfield for encouraging a communal
[1:53:51] conversation
[1:53:53] which could have been a moment for
[1:53:55] recognition of mutual pain and led to a
[1:53:59] greater support and understanding
[1:54:01] instead of this ugly
[1:54:03] divisiveness I believe the city council
[1:54:06] should stop the harmful exercise in Jew
[1:54:09] hatred which is disrupting your meetings
[1:54:12] and preventing the normal functions of
[1:54:14] government the council needs to return
[1:54:17] to the work of taking care of the city
[1:54:20] itself although
[1:54:23] support the ongoing diplomatic efforts
[1:54:25] toward a peaceful resolution of this War
[1:54:28] I oppose a ceasefire resolution in SKC
[1:54:31] because of all the reasons you have
[1:54:34] already heard a resolution in SKC will
[1:54:38] not Advocate peace or Security in the
[1:54:40] Middle East and I particularly
[1:54:42] appreciate the words of council members
[1:54:44] Moon as well as council members Joe
[1:54:47] Mancini Carmel Patrick and dorine D
[1:54:49] vitro voicing a desire for the the city
[1:54:52] council to stay out of Foreign Affairs
[1:54:55] but this hate filled exercise has
[1:54:58] increased this strust between Muslims
[1:55:00] and Jewish communities and inflamed
[1:55:02] anti-Semitism and islamophobia here in
[1:55:05] skincity allowing this to continue any
[1:55:08] further is causing us a great deal of
[1:55:11] harm and it's not helping us at all
[1:55:14] let's make it stop thank you
[1:55:25] Robert
[1:55:26] Stern Robert
[1:55:31] Stern okay good
[1:55:34] evening uh like to say shalom to
[1:55:37] everyone and Salam
[1:55:39] alaykum my name is Bob Stern I'm a
[1:55:42] resident of the city of SKC for close to
[1:55:44] 40
[1:55:45] years I'm currently retired and I'm
[1:55:49] Jewish do I represent the Jewish
[1:55:51] community
[1:55:53] not really there's an old Jewish saying
[1:55:55] two Jews in a room three
[1:55:58] opinions so I'm not going to even
[1:56:01] attempt to to tell people that I'm
[1:56:03] representing all a diverse group of
[1:56:05] people like this uh but while I support
[1:56:08] the right of Israel to exist I don't
[1:56:10] support every action or policy of the
[1:56:12] government I do support um the right to
[1:56:15] defend themselves but I also hope as
[1:56:17] others have spoken that the killing of
[1:56:19] civilians will stop by both sides
[1:56:23] um and during my working years I worked
[1:56:25] on drafting I worked for the New York
[1:56:27] State Assembly like the other young
[1:56:28] woman who spoke I worked on drafting
[1:56:30] legislation and resolutions actually so
[1:56:34] I've had experience trying to do that
[1:56:36] it's a really difficult task and I'd
[1:56:38] like to say that um I I a lot of people
[1:56:42] had keep saying uh the social media
[1:56:45] content is abhorent and the resolution
[1:56:48] that the two members are trying to draft
[1:56:51] um is uh somehow Associated that I don't
[1:56:55] believe either one of you have made
[1:56:57] social media posts that are abhorent and
[1:56:59] if that occurs that's obviously should
[1:57:02] be criticized but if you're working in
[1:57:05] good faith to try to draft the
[1:57:07] resolution that would um address the
[1:57:10] concerns that people have brought to you
[1:57:12] without demonizing without hatred
[1:57:15] without uh blood liels or whatever else
[1:57:18] I'm assuming that's your goal and that's
[1:57:19] what you're trying to do um however
[1:57:22] I as I said that it's a difficult thing
[1:57:24] to do to try to draft something that
[1:57:26] would do that and I think that that's
[1:57:30] why I would agree that with a lot of
[1:57:32] people who say it's not something the
[1:57:34] council could do not because it's not
[1:57:36] right not because it's not just not
[1:57:39] because your attempts aren't
[1:57:40] good-hearted but it's just really
[1:57:42] difficult to do and I think that uh you
[1:57:46] could get bogged down as others have
[1:57:48] said about dealing with the other
[1:57:50] conflicts in the world that people may
[1:57:52] come to you with we have people who um
[1:57:56] represent or you have constituents who
[1:57:58] are from countries where there's other
[1:58:00] kinds of similar conflicts going on they
[1:58:02] may come to you ask now once you do this
[1:58:04] resolution asking for others and I think
[1:58:07] that um that would be a real the counter
[1:58:11] could get really bogged down trying to
[1:58:12] satisfy those needs um you have no
[1:58:15] obligation to do anything you aren't
[1:58:17] elected to to sort out uh complex
[1:58:20] disputes around the world just because
[1:58:22] someone asks you to do it it's not it's
[1:58:24] not part of your job you were elected to
[1:58:27] it is something you could do I'm not
[1:58:29] saying that it's out of I mean people
[1:58:30] have made good points here tonight about
[1:58:33] why they think the council should do
[1:58:34] that um but anyway nobody's really
[1:58:37] offered any other Solutions tonight I
[1:58:40] don't know that I have a solution but um
[1:58:43] I would think that the um if you decide
[1:58:46] you absolutely have to go on record with
[1:58:48] something that you might be able to
[1:58:50] limit it to asking the US government to
[1:58:52] support efforts to end armed conflicts
[1:58:54] and protect the rights of people around
[1:58:56] the world to live in peace something to
[1:58:58] that effect at least you will only have
[1:59:01] to do it once and then you won't have to
[1:59:02] do it again thank you for your time
[1:59:04] thank
[1:59:08] you Maxine George Maxine George
[1:59:25] no she's not going to speak okay um
[1:59:29] Valerie
[1:59:38] trano uh good evening City Council
[1:59:40] Members I'm here today in support for a
[1:59:43] call of a permanent ceasefire and an end
[1:59:46] to apartheid Israel's occupation of
[1:59:49] Palestine after listening to the
[1:59:51] committee meeting last week I wanted to
[1:59:53] thank councilman Farley Williams and
[1:59:57] president Porterfield for pushing for a
[1:59:59] Nuance discussion to be had as that's
[2:00:02] how you create change through hearing
[2:00:04] others lived experiences empathy active
[2:00:07] listening and critical
[2:00:11] thinking the statements from other
[2:00:13] members why are we even entertaining
[2:00:15] this
[2:00:17] is a callous way to think about this as
[2:00:21] there's SK residents who have family
[2:00:23] members who have died in Gaza and
[2:00:26] occupied West Bank or are worrying every
[2:00:28] day about their loved
[2:00:30] ones who've died in I mean every day
[2:00:33] about their loved ones safety who who
[2:00:36] live
[2:00:37] there I'd also like to point out the
[2:00:39] ways we are financially involved in this
[2:00:41] as our New York state and federal taxes
[2:00:44] are funding apartheid Israel's ethnic
[2:00:47] cleansing and genocide of Palestine Al
[2:00:51] also Alo for all of you on city council
[2:00:53] those who work for city of connecti and
[2:00:56] New York state employees who are members
[2:00:58] of the New York state and local
[2:00:59] retirement system your pension plan
[2:01:01] invests in Israel bonds and your
[2:01:03] retirement money is blood money in
[2:01:05] October 2023 Joseph deop bought an
[2:01:08] additional 20 million more in Israel
[2:01:11] bonds for the New York State Common
[2:01:12] retirement fund as a Civil Service
[2:01:15] employee myself I feel disgusted knowing
[2:01:17] that my pension is blood Money funding
[2:01:19] the deaths of 15,000 Palestinian
[2:01:21] children in just 247 days since October
[2:01:25] 7th I feel guilt-ridden knowing my
[2:01:27] federal taxes New York state taxes and
[2:01:29] my pension plan are all funding over
[2:01:32] 35,000 deaths of Palestinian men women
[2:01:34] and children it's important to
[2:01:36] acknowledge that we are financially
[2:01:38] complicit with aparte Israel's genocidal
[2:01:42] and ethnic cleansing actions and that
[2:01:45] does affect us as a SKC County
[2:01:47] especially those whose employers
[2:01:50] participate in night New York State
[2:01:52] local Retirement Systems pension
[2:01:54] plan I'd like to re share two quotes
[2:01:56] from mmud Darwish every word has the
[2:02:00] power to change the world and in silence
[2:02:03] we become
[2:02:04] accomplices it's also important to point
[2:02:06] out that this is not a Judaism versus
[2:02:08] Islam issue either as Israeli military
[2:02:11] have also been killing Christian and
[2:02:12] Jewish Palestinians as well there are
[2:02:15] Palestinian Jews Christians and Muslims
[2:02:17] and they've lived peacefully coexisting
[2:02:19] in Palestine before the creation of the
[2:02:21] state of is Israel I believe we will see
[2:02:24] a free Palestine within our lifetime
[2:02:25] where Jews Christians and Muslims will
[2:02:28] exist equally in peacefully amongst each
[2:02:30] other once again after those who
[2:02:32] committed atrocities are held
[2:02:34] accountable to conclude I'd like to
[2:02:36] remind everyone that we're all human
[2:02:37] beings who deserve basic human rights
[2:02:40] decency
[2:02:43] respect peace and to feel safe we need a
[2:02:46] permanent ceasefire as it's of the
[2:02:47] utmost importance and we are currently
[2:02:50] living in moments of history that will
[2:02:53] be analyzed in the future will you
[2:02:54] remain complicit with your silence thank
[2:03:03] you
[2:03:05] Baris Baris Amir
[2:03:13] FIS hello thank you all for giving me
[2:03:16] another opportunity to speak my name is
[2:03:18] Faris Amir I'm a Palestinian I was here
[2:03:20] a few weeks ago I spoke to all before
[2:03:23] I've lived in the West Bank I've gone to
[2:03:25] school in the West Bank I have family in
[2:03:27] the West Bank I've come to for I've come
[2:03:29] before you today to speak partly about
[2:03:32] my experiences in the West Bank and in
[2:03:34] the aparti that I have seen with my eyes
[2:03:38] where roads have been segregated by race
[2:03:41] where I've been been denied entry into
[2:03:43] Jerusalem because of my race where
[2:03:46] settler violence has burnt down the
[2:03:48] homes businesses and Farms of my family
[2:03:50] members in my Village
[2:03:52] we can talk about all the things we
[2:03:54] think it's like all all the ideas we
[2:03:57] have about the West Bank but I've been
[2:03:58] there and I'm telling you it isn't
[2:04:01] aparte but I didn't come here today just
[2:04:03] to talk about my past and my experiences
[2:04:05] what we came here today to talk about is
[2:04:07] this cifi
[2:04:09] resolution and I'd like to thank you for
[2:04:12] listening and hearing from me as a
[2:04:13] Palestinian because this is something
[2:04:15] that I'm not used to growing up that
[2:04:16] hasn't been the standard in my life as a
[2:04:19] Palestinian our voices are always
[2:04:21] marginalized
[2:04:22] ignored and just left on the side and I
[2:04:25] guess it took 37,000 dead Palestinians
[2:04:27] in Gaza to have our voices finally
[2:04:30] heard as a Palestinian all we've ever
[2:04:34] wanted was basic human rights the right
[2:04:37] to live freely and
[2:04:39] peace so let me ask you why is it that
[2:04:43] when the entire world calls for a
[2:04:44] ceasefire it's connected he wants to
[2:04:46] stay
[2:04:47] quiet why is it that the entire world
[2:04:49] has heard our voices connecti he turns a
[2:04:52] deaf ear over 100 American cities have
[2:04:55] called for a ceasefire 150 plus
[2:04:58] countries have called for a ceasefire
[2:05:01] today the UN Security Council adopted a
[2:05:04] ceasefire resolution proposed by the US
[2:05:07] so what are we waiting for what is
[2:05:09] connect waiting for we're asking for
[2:05:11] hostages to be released on both sides
[2:05:14] we're asking for CI civilian deaths to
[2:05:16] stop on both sides we're asking for
[2:05:20] peace and while the entire world again
[2:05:22] calls for a ceasefire we're just sitting
[2:05:25] here quietly not wanting to get
[2:05:27] involved show us that you're not okay
[2:05:30] with civilians dying on either side show
[2:05:33] us that you
[2:05:34] want hostages released on both sides
[2:05:37] peace on both sides that you're not okay
[2:05:39] with 15,000 children dying show us that
[2:05:42] our voices matter and that you care
[2:05:46] thank you
[2:05:51] [Applause]
[2:05:54] soib
[2:05:55] shakima soib
[2:06:06] shakima it is funny because this
[2:06:08] afternoon I was just chatting with a
[2:06:09] Jewish friend of mine in an effort to
[2:06:11] mobilize and fight for tenant stes here
[2:06:14] in the cap region that sounds like the
[2:06:15] most anti-Semitic thing to do I guess so
[2:06:19] what I understood from the other group
[2:06:22] um is that the ongoing genocide makes
[2:06:24] them feel safe some also lose sleep uh
[2:06:28] just for the simple fact that we keep
[2:06:29] fighting for Palestinians not to lose
[2:06:31] their lives what I also can highlight is
[2:06:34] that if you cannot openly and boldly
[2:06:36] come out and support a live streaming
[2:06:38] genocide you have to distract with
[2:06:41] misinformation and eloquently compiled
[2:06:43] lies that can be easily debunked by
[2:06:46] simple Act of reading reliable sources
[2:06:48] of historical facts also please if you
[2:06:51] check in our social media accounts
[2:06:53] please hit like subscribe and follow and
[2:06:56] donate if you
[2:06:57] can it was interesting when the Jewish
[2:06:59] lady came up earlier and spoke in
[2:07:01] support of a ceasefire resolution and an
[2:07:03] anti-Semitism resolution those in
[2:07:05] support of ceasefire clapped while those
[2:07:07] against the ceasefire refrained let that
[2:07:10] sink in this whole thing has been
[2:07:13] wrongfully referred to by some of the
[2:07:15] council members who played into the
[2:07:17] hands of the Zionist in this room as the
[2:07:19] Muslims versus Jews fight the the
[2:07:21] language of the resolution itself and
[2:07:23] the diverse and very inclusive group
[2:07:24] calling for the ceasefire are the
[2:07:26] evidence for what this really is those
[2:07:28] of us calling for a ceasefire and
[2:07:31] release of all hostages are calling for
[2:07:33] the saving and preservation of Life
[2:07:35] while those on the other side are
[2:07:37] clearly against it let me tell you about
[2:07:39] the Zionist in this room they just
[2:07:41] showed you how Supremacy takes an
[2:07:43] ideology Zionism to hijack a history and
[2:07:45] religion Judaism while canceling the
[2:07:47] history of others including those two
[2:07:50] large religions in the world laming
[2:07:51] Christianity and Islam man they even
[2:07:54] hijacked a slogan by the lgbtq activists
[2:07:57] calling for a ceasefire lamely no pride
[2:08:00] in genocide I Al I also wonder for those
[2:08:02] zionists who claim that we are
[2:08:04] anti-semitic while stripping all Jews
[2:08:07] calling for a ceasefire of their Jewish
[2:08:09] identity where and well will your
[2:08:11] Supremacy and self-entitlement end this
[2:08:13] cowardly Supremacy came in a form of a
[2:08:15] letter addressed to me personally asking
[2:08:18] me and my congregation to go back home
[2:08:21] boy I was born in Albany and we are here
[2:08:24] to stay let me tell you the terrifying
[2:08:26] real reality to those zionists in this
[2:08:28] room these City Council meetings have
[2:08:31] raised more awareness and brought more
[2:08:33] people together to fight against the
[2:08:35] genocide the truth will prevail hey Mr
[2:08:38] John sarcastically you asked if you
[2:08:40] should hand deliver the resolution to
[2:08:42] till aiv while three other council
[2:08:44] members tried to hide behind the it is
[2:08:46] not our problem excuse this is local we
[2:08:50] are funding the Gen genocide and we now
[2:08:53] are even directly involved in this
[2:08:54] genocide in addition to our taxes
[2:08:56] retirement funds and investment bonds we
[2:08:58] now have reports of our own boots on the
[2:09:01] ground let me tell the council members
[2:09:04] these meetings have exposed the
[2:09:06] hypocrisy of some of the politicians in
[2:09:08] this room thank
[2:09:15] you Matt oil
[2:09:24] uh good evening uh here to join the uh
[2:09:27] voices calling for a ceasefire
[2:09:29] resolution uh so between Gaza and the
[2:09:31] West Bank the casualty count in
[2:09:33] Palestine as of May 21st is
[2:09:35] approximately
[2:09:37] 37,500 killed including 15,000 children
[2:09:40] nearly 990,000 injured and about 10,000
[2:09:43] missing that's only what's been recorded
[2:09:45] I shiver when wondering about what the
[2:09:47] actual casualty numbers are but
[2:09:49] regardless of the difference between the
[2:09:50] official count and the real count the
[2:09:52] casualties have undoubtedly increased
[2:09:54] since May 21st as the Israeli regime
[2:09:57] drops bombs on refugees in Rafa who were
[2:09:59] initially told to go there specifically
[2:10:01] to escape
[2:10:03] bombardment uh so despite President
[2:10:06] Biden claiming that bombing Rafa would
[2:10:08] be a hard Red Line the US ruling class
[2:10:10] continues to provide unwavering support
[2:10:13] to the Israeli regime as it wages and
[2:10:15] escalates genocidal violence against the
[2:10:17] Palestinian people to say nothing of the
[2:10:19] risk of a wider Regional War as tensions
[2:10:22] escalate between Israel and
[2:10:24] Iran despite what many claim us
[2:10:26] involvement in this conflict has
[2:10:28] absolutely nothing to do with protecting
[2:10:30] the Jewish community and has everything
[2:10:32] to do with maintaining us imperialist
[2:10:34] interests in the Middle East the working
[2:10:37] class here and everywhere including here
[2:10:39] in sken has absolutely nothing to gain
[2:10:44] from this Bloodshed every bomb dropped
[2:10:46] is a waste is wasted money that could be
[2:10:49] invested in education housing Healthcare
[2:10:52] infrastructure Etc so long story short a
[2:10:55] ceasefire is a critical first step in
[2:10:58] towards ending this Bloodshed and I hope
[2:11:00] the city council will play a part in
[2:11:02] moving Us in that direction by passing a
[2:11:03] ceasefire resolution thank
[2:11:10] you Assad
[2:11:13] Ali Assad
[2:11:18] Ali hey everyone uh this is my second
[2:11:21] time over here and I'm as an I work as
[2:11:24] an engineer in Horizon and I've been in
[2:11:27] United States for past 14 years and I
[2:11:30] come here because I see these messages
[2:11:32] you know like and I come here to support
[2:11:35] Palestine people I have one question
[2:11:37] like and you know everybody was talking
[2:11:39] about you know like Hamas did this
[2:11:41] Pakistan did this we're not over here to
[2:11:43] discuss those issues it's a good
[2:11:45] platform to discuss it but we are over
[2:11:48] here my house is burning on fire What
[2:11:50] would I do oh my elder daughter put the
[2:11:53] switch on my little daughter did this my
[2:11:56] we are not here to find the who did what
[2:11:58] we can find it later on but my first
[2:12:00] action is to stop the fire to put the
[2:12:03] water on the fire and let everything
[2:12:05] calm down so I suggest like put a
[2:12:08] ceasefire stop the killings of small
[2:12:11] kids it's nothing hidden it's on social
[2:12:13] media you can see kids dying buried on
[2:12:16] under the buildings as a US Government
[2:12:19] they can put a stop sign to that they
[2:12:21] can put a genocide to that my English is
[2:12:23] not very good I honestly don't even
[2:12:26] understand like what genocide means but
[2:12:28] stop the killing of innocent people over
[2:12:31] there small kids they should not be
[2:12:33] killed in the first place and then when
[2:12:35] we can figure it out like who's right
[2:12:36] and who's wrong so since I have time I
[2:12:39] will put some light who's right and
[2:12:41] who's wrong a fellow human being over
[2:12:43] here said that Pakistan was developed in
[2:12:45] that country I am a Pakistani guy
[2:12:48] Pakistan had a two-nation theory with
[2:12:50] India and and that was like something
[2:12:52] Muslim needs their own land to practice
[2:12:55] the religion instead of getting harassed
[2:12:57] from you know other religions or they
[2:12:59] harass other people they they need
[2:13:01] separate land to practice their
[2:13:03] religion since childhood I've heard
[2:13:07] Hitler you know like he had had a war
[2:13:10] against Jewish people they came out of
[2:13:13] Europe they came out of Africa they came
[2:13:15] out of like Middle Eastern countries
[2:13:16] they're refugees did Palestine people
[2:13:19] came out of like somewhere and took that
[2:13:21] land they they belong the land belonged
[2:13:23] to them and now the issue is like okay
[2:13:26] Jewish people want to empower the Muslim
[2:13:28] people and the Muslim people want to
[2:13:30] empower the Jewish people right we
[2:13:32] should have that sense that okay this
[2:13:35] land was belong to Palestine people not
[2:13:37] the refugees who came like 100 years ago
[2:13:39] and then now they want to empower the
[2:13:41] whole Palestine land it cannot happen
[2:13:44] that way you know like it should belong
[2:13:46] the land should belong to the people who
[2:13:48] lived there not the refugees who came
[2:13:50] from Europe Africa and other countries
[2:13:53] and and a lot of Jewish people know that
[2:13:55] too so so my my suggestion here is
[2:13:59] please put a stop sign for the killing
[2:14:02] of innocent people innocent kids who die
[2:14:05] every day over there and and and one
[2:14:07] last thing I will end up with is a lot
[2:14:09] of saying that Hamas did this Hamas did
[2:14:11] this someone comes in my home and and
[2:14:14] puts takes basic necessities out of my
[2:14:17] home I cannot get Electric City I cannot
[2:14:19] get water over there not think what
[2:14:21] would I do I would retaliate I would
[2:14:23] fight and and that's what Hamas does
[2:14:27] it's not one way thing like Hamas always
[2:14:29] does it because when the things are
[2:14:31] tighten up on that and these are the
[2:14:33] games that we should stop uh that's all
[2:14:35] I had thank you thank
[2:14:40] you Leila Leila I'm not going to try to
[2:14:44] say your last name because I'm really
[2:14:45] can't read it starts with a k
[2:14:51] leaa thank
[2:14:53] you I left my children in the tent to
[2:14:56] find them something to eat I hugged them
[2:14:58] as if I knew it would be the last time I
[2:15:00] ran back when I heard air strikes I
[2:15:02] found my six children burnt to a crisp I
[2:15:05] picked them up as piles of sand this is
[2:15:07] from a mother who last week lost her six
[2:15:11] children in an air strike from Israel
[2:15:15] and the army that they proudly claimed
[2:15:18] one of many that they have proudly
[2:15:19] claimed that our tax my tax dollars have
[2:15:23] funded I feel the need to clarify that
[2:15:26] I'm more a Semite than majority of this
[2:15:28] the people in this room as both sides of
[2:15:31] my family were from Palestine and are
[2:15:33] still waiting to return home I'm not
[2:15:36] anti myself I'm antiviolence I'm really
[2:15:39] struggling after nine months to
[2:15:41] understand how people want to continue
[2:15:44] killing innocent people I'm struggling
[2:15:46] to understand how someone could see a
[2:15:48] call for Freedom as their demise I'm
[2:15:51] struggling to figure out what hate
[2:15:53] speech we're using when we are using
[2:15:57] when we demand a stop to the genocide
[2:15:59] the only way I can make sense of this is
[2:16:01] that the same people who oppose a
[2:16:03] ceasefire are doing so because they
[2:16:06] don't consider my family and my people's
[2:16:08] lives valuable or worth saving we are
[2:16:11] lesser in their eyes we don't deserve
[2:16:14] freedom and safety our children don't
[2:16:16] deserve the same as their children it's
[2:16:18] okay if 200 days days ago or even 3 days
[2:16:22] ago you understood the story differently
[2:16:24] it's okay if you peel back the layers
[2:16:26] and you learned a little more and your
[2:16:27] opinion and your mind has changed that
[2:16:30] is okay what's not okay is to say my
[2:16:33] people don't deserve a
[2:16:35] ceasefire and to say we don't deserve
[2:16:37] Freedom just like everyone else in the
[2:16:39] world we teach our children violence
[2:16:42] doesn't solve anything how can we
[2:16:44] justify this when this city and the
[2:16:46] country continue to promote violence and
[2:16:48] cower at the word ceasefire I cannot
[2:16:51] comprehend this because where I stand
[2:16:53] anyone who opposes a ceasefire actively
[2:16:56] supports violence I said this before and
[2:16:59] I'm going to repeat myself when I spoke
[2:17:01] at Albany when I spoke at here prior we
[2:17:04] have to learn from our history this
[2:17:06] country already owes too many apologies
[2:17:08] around the world we have to stop
[2:17:10] repeating history and we all have to do
[2:17:13] better I'm going to appeal to your
[2:17:16] hearts I believe every elected official
[2:17:18] starts their career wanting to make a
[2:17:20] difference now is that time this is not
[2:17:23] a religious War this is not a religious
[2:17:25] issue this is a human caused problem
[2:17:29] nothing about this is complicated no
[2:17:32] child on Earth deserves to be bombed no
[2:17:34] human on earth deserves to be bombed
[2:17:37] nothing deserves to be
[2:17:42] [Applause]
[2:17:46] bombed Sean
[2:17:49] Young Sean
[2:18:08] Young so I've been sitting here with
[2:18:12] everyone and listening to what was been
[2:18:13] said and I've been taking a lot of notes
[2:18:17] and being prepared to kind of address
[2:18:20] each and every argument that I heard
[2:18:23] about why ceasefire resolution is not
[2:18:25] something that we should do collectively
[2:18:28] as a city I heard arguments that you
[2:18:31] know Israelis and Jews are rooted to the
[2:18:33] land I heard the definition of Judaism
[2:18:36] and legitimacy I heard the 3DS
[2:18:39] delegitimize demonize and double
[2:18:41] standard and just so many so many more
[2:18:44] um arguments or justifications about why
[2:18:48] a ceasefire resolution is speech and
[2:18:52] anti-semitic and uh rooted in something
[2:18:57] that I'm not even I'm not a part of or
[2:19:00] want to be about ever stood for since
[2:19:02] I've come disc connected he doing the
[2:19:03] work that I
[2:19:05] do we're calling for a ceasefire I I
[2:19:08] guess I want to personaliz this a little
[2:19:09] bit I think it's important to do so
[2:19:12] October 7th happened and it was a
[2:19:14] tragedy we all saw it we all witnessed
[2:19:16] it it was a tragedy to see it and hear
[2:19:18] about it every day after happened the
[2:19:20] bombing happened and the children were
[2:19:22] killed and the women were chilled and
[2:19:23] the other innocent civilians were
[2:19:25] chilled and I'm sure some homos Fighters
[2:19:27] were killed as well and all of the death
[2:19:28] in the gore and it's month after month and I'm watching our US
[2:19:35] military um Supply the weapons that are
[2:19:37] killing so many children 15,000 children
[2:19:40] are dead so many others are injured so
[2:19:43] many other casualties we're simply
[2:19:45] saying we want to ceasefire I'm not
[2:19:47] delegitimizing Israel's right to to
[2:19:50] exist I'm not hating Jewish people
[2:19:52] because I'm saying I want these bombings
[2:19:55] to stop and for children to be saved for
[2:19:57] both sides to exchange the hostages and for us to have peace in that country
[2:20:03] this is an issue that impacts people
[2:20:06] here in a city is SKC look at people
[2:20:09] behind me look at the people that have
[2:20:10] been here month after month talking to
[2:20:12] you this is certainly something that is
[2:20:14] impacting them and we're coming to you
[2:20:16] requesting a ceasefire because you can
[2:20:18] speak with a collective voice and a
[2:20:20] representation of the entire city and we
[2:20:23] think it matters to speak into the Ark
[2:20:25] of Justice to speak as many other
[2:20:27] communities have spoken to want the end
[2:20:30] to the devastation and the destruction
[2:20:32] it's right there for us to see we see it
[2:20:35] I heard all of the members of the Jewish
[2:20:38] Community who spoke and made all these
[2:20:41] uh arguments about why this is hateful
[2:20:43] and why it and SP it I'm not convinced
[2:20:47] that what I'm saying here as I stand
[2:20:48] here before all of you I'm not convinced
[2:20:51] that we're hating anyone we're just
[2:20:53] saying we want to see the children and
[2:20:55] the innocent people stop being killed
[2:20:57] that's it that's what we're here for
[2:21:00] period the rest of it is what I don't
[2:21:02] know where the rest of it is coming from
[2:21:04] We're want to see a ceasefire we want to
[2:21:06] see children to stop being killed we
[2:21:08] want to have a collective voice and a
[2:21:10] push into the Arc of Justice you are we
[2:21:12] represent Mar King on a regular basis he
[2:21:15] talked about the history he he talked
[2:21:18] about history and he talked about it end
[2:21:20] in to the Arc of Justice we B that by
[2:21:24] our Collective voice thank
[2:21:28] [Applause]
[2:21:33] you I have no one else signed up to
[2:21:36] speak so I declare the public comment of
[2:21:38] City business
[2:21:39] closed this time any miscellaneous
[2:21:42] business of the
[2:21:44] council miscellaneous business of the
[2:21:47] council Miss Patrick
[2:21:55] M Patrick are you going to be speaking I
[2:21:57] am yeah
[2:22:00] okay I can't hear
[2:22:02] you I was just asking them a
[2:22:07] question yes
[2:22:09] yeah thank
[2:22:11] you during our last Council committee
[2:22:14] meeting I said and I'm quoting from the
[2:22:16] transcript we have seen Damage Done in
[2:22:18] our community to a desecration of a sem
[2:22:20] AR in no way did I state or even imply
[2:22:24] that this crime was committed by Muslims
[2:22:25] or people of color however that evening
[2:22:28] I received an email from Imam Jamal in
[2:22:31] which he claimed that I had made
[2:22:32] explicit and appalling racist comments
[2:22:35] here are two quotes from the imam's
[2:22:37] email quote you referenced the
[2:22:39] desecration of a local Jewish cemetery
[2:22:41] as being tied to these calls for a
[2:22:43] ceasefire end of quote and quote a crime
[2:22:47] was committed in the desecration of
[2:22:48] those Graves and you thought it fitting
[2:22:50] to point the finger to us end of quote
[2:22:53] once again I never made those statements
[2:22:56] these are Fabrications and false
[2:22:58] accusations by the Imam which he also
[2:23:01] shared with other members of the city
[2:23:03] council subsequently on the all of us
[2:23:06] Facebook page this statement appeared
[2:23:09] quote we are we were witness to the
[2:23:11] racist xenophobic and islamophobic
[2:23:13] remarks of city council member Carmel
[2:23:15] Patrick end of quote I think it is plain
[2:23:19] to see that the all of us state
[2:23:20] statement which was signed by the Imam
[2:23:22] by Dr shakima by Jamaica miles and by
[2:23:24] Sha young was clearly built on the
[2:23:27] fabrication expressed in the imam's
[2:23:29] email to me and represents an escalation
[2:23:32] of hateful
[2:23:33] rhetoric these are slanderous remarks
[2:23:36] and they're dangerous but worse than
[2:23:39] that these are false accusations which
[2:23:41] malign my character and possibly Inspire
[2:23:44] someone to cause me and my family
[2:23:46] harm at the end of the May 13th council
[2:23:49] meeting I was verbally attacked and felt
[2:23:52] threatened in his email the Imam also
[2:23:54] stated that my claims of being afraid
[2:23:57] cemented my
[2:23:59] racism actually I was so shaken that for
[2:24:02] the first time since I've served on
[2:24:03] Council I asked one of the police
[2:24:05] officers who was present to escort me to
[2:24:08] my
[2:24:09] car do I need to remind people of the
[2:24:12] public officials who have been
[2:24:13] physically attacked by people who
[2:24:14] disagree with them the Imam by
[2:24:18] downplaying and subverting my feelings
[2:24:21] during this incident was choosing to
[2:24:22] misrepresent me in a dismissive and
[2:24:25] inappropriate
[2:24:26] fashion I get to say when I'm feeling
[2:24:30] afraid and fear of emotional
[2:24:34] terrorism fear of emotional terrorism
[2:24:37] does not brand me a racist I am not
[2:24:42] [Applause]
[2:24:46] a I am not a racist I have never been a
[2:24:50] racist I have spent all of my adult life
[2:24:54] working for social justice and my
[2:24:57] accusers are lying about me I will not
[2:25:01] be bullied into Silence by baseless
[2:25:04] accusations to summarize these
[2:25:06] accusations of racism and bigotry are
[2:25:09] deeply offensive and unfounded my
[2:25:12] comments were in no way intended to be
[2:25:15] racist or offensive but rather to
[2:25:17] highlight the broader implications of
[2:25:20] the resolutions being discussed and the
[2:25:23] divisive impact they could have on our
[2:25:25] community which I think we're
[2:25:27] seeing that's my job to represent the
[2:25:30] citizens of skincity and I take my job
[2:25:34] seriously I am open to constructive
[2:25:37] dialogue and finding common ground but I
[2:25:39] will not tolerate attempts to malign my
[2:25:43] character or undermine my position as an
[2:25:46] elected representative of this community
[2:25:49] if skincity presidents have legitimate
[2:25:51] concerns or grievances I am more than
[2:25:53] willing to discuss them in a respectful
[2:25:55] and constructive manner however if some
[2:25:58] people continue to attack and threaten I
[2:26:01] will not hesitate to take appropriate
[2:26:03] action to defend myself and my Integrity
[2:26:06] thank you
[2:26:07] [Applause]
[2:26:20] councilman Farley thank you so I would
[2:26:24] just like to start really quick with a a
[2:26:26] unifying statement I think we can all
[2:26:28] get behind and that is that this entire
[2:26:30] thing is Carl Williams
[2:26:35] fault councilman Williams um took the
[2:26:39] initiative to try to start um some
[2:26:41] dialogue which I was um felt compelled
[2:26:46] and honored to kind of take part in as
[2:26:48] well um and I just want to share a
[2:26:51] couple things this is obviously a very
[2:26:54] tense sensitive layered thing that we
[2:26:57] are trying to work through here in our
[2:26:59] official
[2:27:00] capacities um it would have been a lot
[2:27:03] easier for myself and my colleague to
[2:27:07] say that you know what let's not even um
[2:27:11] have any response whatsoever but we
[2:27:13] didn't feel that that was the right
[2:27:14] thing to
[2:27:15] do what I will tell you is that I I will
[2:27:18] hold on to some of what I heard in that
[2:27:21] conversation which have now through
[2:27:24] multiple other people's perspectives and
[2:27:26] point of views have kind of
[2:27:29] changed what I heard with people
[2:27:33] representing very different perspectives
[2:27:35] around this entire conflict there was
[2:27:37] some true
[2:27:39] alignment and some of the alignment was
[2:27:41] that people wanted
[2:27:47] peace people were talking about
[2:27:50] those gentlemen were talking about the
[2:27:53] different ways that um they understood
[2:27:55] this conflict to be um the history you
[2:27:58] know some of that was part of the
[2:28:00] conversation but the larger part of the
[2:28:01] conversation was what are we going to do
[2:28:03] now so what I want to tell everyone here
[2:28:06] is I appreciate you coming here and
[2:28:08] sharing your point of view and I think
[2:28:09] we all listen very
[2:28:11] intently however this isn't going to be
[2:28:14] just up to us I promise to do everything
[2:28:16] in my power to make sure that we are
[2:28:19] setting examples for peace and unity
[2:28:22] within our community but the reality is
[2:28:26] the larger question is what are you
[2:28:27] going to do now because when you leave
[2:28:30] here you go back to your respective
[2:28:31] Community there's going to be people
[2:28:33] saying yeah they said this they're all
[2:28:36] about this making General blanket
[2:28:38] statements and what it's going to take
[2:28:39] is courage from you that my colleague
[2:28:42] councilman uh Williams displayed you're
[2:28:45] going to have that same have to have the
[2:28:46] same courage to talk to those who are
[2:28:47] closest to you to say I heard some
[2:28:50] things I didn't like but if peace is
[2:28:52] what I'm about I'm willing to have a
[2:28:53] conversation with
[2:28:55] somebody I'm willing to reach out and
[2:28:57] talk to somebody and I think that if you
[2:29:00] do that in a constructive way then I
[2:29:03] think that what we all can end up doing
[2:29:05] is at least moving the needle whether
[2:29:08] whatever side of this conflict and there
[2:29:10] aren't there's multiple things and
[2:29:11] multiple truths can be true at the same
[2:29:13] time is that if we can just concentrate
[2:29:15] on the things that I keep hearing from
[2:29:19] people is that we want peace and we want
[2:29:21] people to feel safe but that's not going
[2:29:24] to be accomplished by anything that any
[2:29:26] action that we take solely that's going
[2:29:29] to take you that's going to take your
[2:29:31] neighbors that's going to take the
[2:29:32] people of your congregation to reach out
[2:29:34] to others and try to engage in a
[2:29:36] conversation and a dialogue that
[2:29:38] represents and in line with the things
[2:29:39] that you're so boldly coming here saying
[2:29:42] before us which is peace and Unity thank
[2:29:44] you
[2:29:53] May mayor
[2:29:55] McCarthy thank you Madame
[2:29:58] President clearly too much conflict and
[2:30:01] divisiveness in the world it goes beyond
[2:30:04] even the mid East and uh Mr Farley's
[2:30:08] pointed out that that one common thing
[2:30:10] is uh people do agree on peace uh it
[2:30:14] seems so simple but it's such an elusive
[2:30:17] and uh far-reaching goal far too many
[2:30:20] times so I appreciate your coming out I
[2:30:26] assume my colleagues here also
[2:30:28] appreciate it uh hopefully that again
[2:30:32] we'll come together and be able to have
[2:30:33] a message that uh reflects well on the
[2:30:36] city of skty and again uh has some
[2:30:40] incremental benefit for the world as a
[2:30:42] whole thank you madam president thank
[2:30:45] you mayor first of all I'd like to thank
[2:30:48] go ahead
[2:30:53] I'd like to thank everyone that came out
[2:30:55] um tonight and um you know we heard a
[2:30:58] lot we heard a lot of history we heard a
[2:30:59] lot of passion we heard a lot of
[2:31:01] opinions we heard some finger
[2:31:03] pointing um one thing I want to State it
[2:31:06] was kind of stated by one of the people
[2:31:08] there um in terms of our who we
[2:31:09] represent and I just want to State very
[2:31:11] clearly that those of those of us who
[2:31:14] are elected in the city of skincity
[2:31:16] represent everyone that lives in the
[2:31:18] city of skincity as nothing to do with
[2:31:20] your e ethnicity your um whether you're
[2:31:23] a male or female or whatever so I just
[2:31:25] want to make that very clear that we
[2:31:27] aren't here to represent any one certain
[2:31:29] group of people because that statement
[2:31:30] was kind of implied today in my
[2:31:35] opinion the Bible says that the tongue
[2:31:37] is a mighty weapon and so we have to
[2:31:39] remember that the words that we speak
[2:31:41] can be powerful and destructive or they
[2:31:43] can provide guidance and understanding
[2:31:47] today I heard some words that I felt
[2:31:49] were powerful and destructive and some
[2:31:51] words that I felt were um gave some
[2:31:54] level of under
[2:31:57] understanding you've been we have been
[2:31:58] asked to um pass the ceasefire
[2:32:01] resolution and for those for I'm going
[2:32:02] to give you a little bit of background
[2:32:04] I've been consistently saying that the
[2:32:07] two groups who are having the uh
[2:32:10] differences of opinions and I'm putting
[2:32:13] that nicely uh should talk and so what
[2:32:15] councilman Williams attempted to do was
[2:32:18] to bring the groups together to have
[2:32:20] those
[2:32:21] conversations so that we would get to a
[2:32:23] place where the two groups would be able
[2:32:25] to talk to each other and work towards a
[2:32:28] solution for
[2:32:30] the disagreement that is between the two
[2:32:33] groups and I'm talking about
[2:32:36] locally and in terms of the resolution
[2:32:38] that was brought forward both both uh
[2:32:41] leaders from both groups were given the
[2:32:43] opportunity to provide uh resolutions or
[2:32:47] statements to us and that is what
[2:32:49] happens so I don't want people to walk
[2:32:51] out of this room um with the
[2:32:53] misunderstanding that only there was
[2:32:54] only a resolution that was presented and
[2:32:57] there was no statement from from um the
[2:33:00] leadership of the Jewish Community
[2:33:01] because there was so just want to make
[2:33:04] sure that you know that there were both
[2:33:06] things that were present not just
[2:33:09] one I beg your
[2:33:13] pardon okay so you know I we have you've
[2:33:18] talked about you know having a ctive
[2:33:20] voice and asking the city council to
[2:33:21] pass this resolution as as you can see
[2:33:24] there is not there the consensus is not
[2:33:26] there and I also want to state that we
[2:33:28] have not doing the city's business
[2:33:30] although this has taken a lot of our
[2:33:31] time I can't disagree with that but we
[2:33:34] have continued to do that we've heard a
[2:33:36] lot about what hate speech is and what
[2:33:39] it what people interpret it to be and
[2:33:42] one thing that I always say is how you
[2:33:43] see it depends on where you
[2:33:45] sit so people some people may not see it
[2:33:49] as hate speech and you do see it as hate
[2:33:51] speech and I understand that but we have
[2:33:54] a lot of work to do in this community as
[2:33:57] far as I'm concerned because what this
[2:33:59] has brought forward in my opinion is not
[2:34:02] so much the conflict that's happening in
[2:34:05] Gaza but the Divi divisiveness The
[2:34:09] Divide in our community and did it exist
[2:34:12] prior to this or did this bring it to
[2:34:14] the surface that's a question we really
[2:34:16] have to ask
[2:34:18] ourselves the the um the UN Security
[2:34:23] Council passed their draft
[2:34:25] resolution um which is aimed at halting
[2:34:27] the the blood fighting and to me a
[2:34:30] ceasefire means to that both sides lay
[2:34:32] down their weapons and stop attacking
[2:34:34] each other the young lady who wanted me
[2:34:36] to see her sign and I did see your sign
[2:34:39] it said that peace peace takes both
[2:34:41] sides to do it and so that is my
[2:34:44] understanding of what this is about um
[2:34:46] ladies and gentlemen if you're look look for a resolution I'm going to tell
[2:34:51] you quite frankly I don't see that
[2:34:53] coming forward from this Council we have
[2:34:55] spent months working on it we have
[2:34:58] spent um
[2:35:00] meetings and we're trying to help
[2:35:03] resolve this and it we don't have there
[2:35:07] is no support quite frankly for a
[2:35:11] resolution coming forth from this
[2:35:12] Council it doesn't
[2:35:14] mean really the Applause I think really
[2:35:17] inappropriate right there because there
[2:35:20] are people who are walking away feeling
[2:35:21] that we've done some disservice to
[2:35:25] them but we in all of our conversations
[2:35:30] and varies to each other you know with
[2:35:32] all of you um don't see how we can come
[2:35:36] to that place quite frankly and so each
[2:35:38] of us as I said offer to people at the
[2:35:41] committee meeting can State what their
[2:35:43] positions are and support the resolution
[2:35:47] from from the UN if that's where their
[2:35:49] support is and we have to just accept
[2:35:54] where we are we try to get there we U
[2:35:57] one council member asked if we would
[2:35:59] just issue a statement that we wouldn't
[2:36:00] do anything we also did not entertain
[2:36:02] that because we're Beyond well beyond
[2:36:04] that in my
[2:36:05] opinion so you can continue to talk to
[2:36:08] us but um what trying to put forth a
[2:36:11] resolution quite honestly there are not
[2:36:14] the votes it takes votes to get a
[2:36:15] resolution passed and there are just not
[2:36:18] enough votes to do that um we'll
[2:36:21] continue work with the communities I
[2:36:22] tell you again I think that you there
[2:36:24] should be more
[2:36:25] conversations to have better
[2:36:28] understanding where each person stands
[2:36:30] and um I really really don't know what
[2:36:33] else to say we have just tried and tried
[2:36:35] for months on in in weeks and this is
[2:36:37] where we are at this point so thank you
[2:36:41] all again for coming and I hope you
[2:36:44] respect people's individ uh Li um
[2:36:47] positions and let me just say I don't
[2:36:49] feel uh I feel no threat from any of you
[2:36:52] coming here I think you know you have
[2:36:54] your right to say what it is you have to
[2:36:55] say and as long as we're not um saying
[2:36:59] things that are divisive
[2:37:01] or making other people feel
[2:37:03] uncomfortable so um uh the rabbi and I
[2:37:07] did have a conversation and we were
[2:37:09] talking you know again like he would he
[2:37:12] said some things were uh anti-semitic
[2:37:15] and some things were Jew hating and I
[2:37:16] told him that from what I'm from here I
[2:37:19] didn't understand that because I've not
[2:37:21] lived that I did don't have that lived
[2:37:23] experience so we really need to have a
[2:37:25] conversation to talk and try to get
[2:37:27] through this as a community because
[2:37:29] after it's all said and done we all
[2:37:32] still have to live here
[2:37:34] together um as brothers and sisters and
[2:37:37] I think some of the work that was done
[2:37:39] before this happened unfortunately I
[2:37:41] have seen undone in these past few
[2:37:45] months and weeks
[2:37:47] so I have nothing more to say say and um
[2:37:50] I'll just entertain a motion to adjourn
[2:37:53] move by Miss
[2:37:54] Patrick second by Mr Farley all those in
[2:37:57] favor I we adjourned
[2:38:22] love
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[2:40:40] he
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