e
welcome vice mayor and council members I
call the special meeting of the Albany
city council for March 25th 2024 to
order the city of Albany recognizes that
we occupy the land originally protected
by The confederated Villages of lesan we
acknowledge the genocide that took place
on these lands and must make strides to
repay the moral debt that is owed to
this indigenous people specifically the
aloney
tribe we thank them for their
contributions which have transformed our
community and will continue to bring
forth growth and unity the city of
Albany commits to sustaining ongoing
relationships with the tribe and
together build a better future for all
that now make this their
home city clerk will you please call
Ro council member canel Romero is absent
um council member Jordan here council
member tman here vice mayor Lopez here
mayor Micky
here apologies I will be
um taking off and putting on a mask uh
today I'm getting over a little bit of a
cold um wanted to start off with u some
Quorum guidelines for the meeting today
uh we understand today's agenda is of
particular concern to members of Albany
and the largest Community we live in the
council shares this concern with you we
are pleased that you've joined us this
evening to comment on this matter in
order to work collaboratively we ask
that all community members be respectful
time lotted to the public comment will
be based on the number of people wishing
to speak and time limited for each
speaker will be
maintained please note disruptions to
the meeting will not be
tolerated moving on to the sole item on
our agenda today item 3-1 resolution
calling for a bilateral ceasefire in
Gaza
um for those who have not seen there's
uh in the back of the room there's the
agenda an attached memorandum and the
actual uh ceasefire resolution as
brought forward by the ad hoc committee
I want to thank uh council member tan
for working with me and meeting with
various conses over the past few weeks
through our meetings with Community
groups leaders and interested
residents um we have gotten to really um
learn uh each person's lived experience
um and really truly appreciate the time
that you have spent with us um in all
the committee held over a dozen meetings
with interested parties from all sides
of the
issue um and with that I'll hand it over
to our council member tan sure thank you
mayor uh I'll just Echo some of what the
mayor said and first thank him for his
cooperation and working with me on this
this process would have been uh much
more difficult without his cooperation
and is a credit to our city council um
also I want to reiterate his thanks to
everyone we met with uh the vast
majority of those meetings were
instigated by people Conta contacting us
because they were interested and wanted
to talk to and the vast majority were
also Albany residents so I appreciate
everybody taking the time to meet with
us we took something valuable away from
nearly every one of those meetings
um if you have not read the resolution
or the memo I encourage everybody to
take a look uh the I uh in the memo we
try and spell out the goals that uh the
mayor and I agreed on in wanting to do
this and what we were trying to address
and I think those inform a lot of what
we chose to focus on and and how we
chose to do it um for the council and
everyone else I'd say there's no perfect
language to express what we're trying to
do uh I'm not uh So Vain as to say what
we have written is perfect um but I will
say we've thought about just about every
word long and hard so as I normally do
as everyone on the council knows I will
say amending uh writing new language
from the Das often is very tricky um so
I'd caution us about it uh tonight
especially given that comparatively
small changes in this uh for for this
item can have big impacts as we learned
throughout this drafting process um and
with that I think I will leave the rest
my comments for a
discussion
I'll turn to um Council and it open up
for any questions from Council
Members not seeing any questions from
Council um I will open up for public
comment um I would ask those in the
council chair member who would like to
speak to make sure that you filled out a
speaker form and also just so I have a
sense of the number of speakers if you
could raise your
hands okay
and has everyone had an opportunity to
fill out a speaker card perfect uh and
uh city clerk how many
online um currently six hands currently
six hands okay um we will um we're going
to do slightly modified process than
we've done in the past uh we are going
to start in the council chambers and uh
the city clerk will call up five people
at a time to uh speak at the at the
podium uh and then uh on the fourth
person uh she will call the next five so
that we can people can remain seated as
long as as as uh until their their group
of five is called up um with that uh
city clerk if we could have the first
five
people
Marty Rober B Allan
M Jonathan M and Susan
M as uh the first speakers line up line
up behind the podium please uh I do want
to also remind everyone that we ask uh
that all comments be addressed to the
council and that you refrain from um
apologies um that you refrain from
showing your support or dissent uh for
the current Speaker uh the council wants
everyone to hear the comments of the
speaker and for all to feel comfortable
speaking and not feel intimidated by
others comments or
reactions so let me repeat that it's
Mark last name initial T Robert B Alan M
Jonathan M and Susan
M go ahead and approach this
Podium
um um the Israelis after many
unsuccessful attempts to create
reconciliation gave the Palestinians
Gaza Hamas
used a billion dollars to turn that into
a modernday holocaust
machine they invaded Israel murdered
people raped women
tied people together with wire strings
and burn them put babies in microwave
ovens I think any resolution should call
for the immediate elimination of of
Hamas a ceasefire resolution endangers
the existence of Israel and endangers
the Jewish people and encourages
anti-Semitism which I see growing in
Albany finally the war can be over if
Hamas surrenders releases the hostages
please
com thank you thank you for your
comments let go
ahead I thank you for letting me address
you my name is Susan Meyers I've been a
citizen uh Berkeley Albany resident for
45 years um my kids went through the
school system I've been involved in
committees that benefited schools and
also my resident my neighborhood and the
city and of Albany as well I am so today
I am here to address you in order to
achieve a true peace between Israelis
and gazans there must be a complete
dismantling and removal of Hamas a US
designated terrorist organization the
government of Hamas has vowed to carry
out barbaric
atrocities again and again as they
committed on October 7th murdering men
women and children beheading babies
raping women and taking hostages if you
care about Israelis and Palestinians you
will include the removal of Hamas from
power in the resolution let the Israelis
and Palestinians work together to
develop Gaza into a thriving region
Hamas thank you for your
comments time my time's over yes oh
sorry thank you
good good afternoon my name is Jonathan
minser I'm honored to serve as the
Director of external relations at the
Jewish community relations Council the
largest Collective voice of Bay Area
Jews representing over 50 synagogues and
organizations including hundreds of
Albany residents we have consistently
advice for local boards to avoid
resolutions about Foreign Affairs
because these ex um these efforts
exacerbate tensions among traumatized
communities as you will soon see here
today with the language before you we
are asking you to amend the resolution
and make the uncontroversial
clarification that Hamas must be removed
from power for a lasting peace for this
war last month I was in Israel and I
directly saw the aftermath of hamas's
barbaric attacks and I also had the hon
of speaking with residents of all
background Israeli Jews Arabs
Palestinians and others they don't agree
on much but one thing stood out they all
said that peace is not possible with
Hamas and Power in fact a new survey
shows that support for Hamas as a
political party in Gaza is at its lowest
levels 34% I'm asking you to align
Albany with the United States EU UK and
recognize that true peace is only
available if Hamas is removed from power
thank you thank you for your
comments hello my name is Rob uh I've
been to the Region 20 times and I want
to say it's far more complicated and
different than what the Press portrays
it as I am opposed to any resolution but
I want to thank you for all the hard
work you've done in creating the
resolution you have I pray every day for
the well-being of Israelis and also the
innocent people in Gaza I'm requesting
that the statement you've made be
amended to call for the removal of Hamas
from Power Hamas is a terror
organization that was behind October 7th
behind many similar attacks in the past
and has said it will attack Israel again
in the future experts in the field
including former secretaries of State
condalisa rice and Hillary Clinton has
said there can be no peace until Hamas
is removed from Power I would also ask
that you amend the title of the
resolution calling for long-term peace
and security rather than just for a
ceasefire thank you very much
thank you for your comments and after
Alan M it would be Larry H Helen
F uh
dorothia and Faith M and relle
N I'm a resident of Kensington and I
first want to thank the council for the
time and effort it has devoted to this
issue I respectfully want to point out
that the title of this resolution is
currently formulated does a disservice
to it the title by highlighting only one
of the multiple goals in the resolution
in effect says that the other goals are
only
secondary it leaves the impression that
the council would accept a ceasefire
without the release of hostages it
similarly relegates the call for peace
and tolerance within our community to
the
Shadows this is the local about which
local government should be concerned
first and foremost given the violence
and ranor we have seen in the East Bay
towards Jews in summary please
reconsider the title and make it more
General so that it is consistent with
the multiple goals laid out in the text
and so that it does not distort the
contents of the resolution thank you
again for listening and for all your
work thank you for your
comments hi I'm darthia Duren we do not
want you to pass a ceasefire resolution
of any
sort uh but since mayor Mickey and Mr
Tidman decided to present one to the
city council and the public we wanted to
present our resolution which I presented
to you this evening and by email in
Prior times there are 109 people who
signed this
resolution therefore the end of it says
therefore it be resolved that because
the city council of Albany is elected by
all the people of Albany whose interest
they are required to represent and
because their Proclamation supporting
peace and concern for all parties was
submitted to the public by them we
demand that they deal with the running
of the city of Albany for the benefit of
all of its residents and we demand that
the city council places undivided
attention on matters that directly
impact the city of Albany going forward
and not utilize any City Suns for
international matters as you are
currently doing today we do not think
that you should omit the removal of
Kamas and the return of all the hostages
from this resolution it is you could
call it a peace resolution instead of a
cease fire resolution thank you Hamas
doesn't want
one thank you for your
comments thank you my name is Larry
hendle I'm a member of Jewish voice for
peace but I'm just speaking as an
individual uh I support this resolution
I think it's about as evenhanded in this
in this world in this context that
people could have come up with and I
support the goal of ceasefire nothing
will happen without a ceasefire yes the
1,200 people killed October 7th was
terrible the 30,000 people that have
been killed since then is also extremely
terrible you know so much of this debate
comes to down to people saying who did
what to whom and who is suffering the
most that can be a little bit relevant I
mean history is relevant but history is
not determinative we are human beings we
can overcome history that is what how we
got the progress that we have
made and suffering is not a zero sum
game I heard someone say that a rabbi
actually and I totally believe it I
support the resolution only with the
ceasefire will there be enough dialogue
to bring Justice to the region and to
stop The Killing thank
you thank you for your
comments hi my name is Helen finlin and
I am Jewish I support this the
resolution as um this is not our concern
is not about Hamas or about peace or
about who did what to whom uh the
concern here is about a genocide and we
heard the resolution about our moral
debt uh to the aloney people because of
the genocide that happened
here and this moral debt obligates us to
be opposed to any genocide and not to
turn a blind eye to it and so this
that's what this resolution is
attempting to do this resolution is to
intending to stop a genocide that is
taking place and we have a moral
obligation to heat to heat it that's why
I support
it thank you for your
comments my name is Rochelle n and um I
do not support uh the passing of any
resolution although I would like to say
I think this is uh significantly
improved from an earlier uh version that
that was seen particularly appreciate
the uh support for self-determination
for both peoples that and a negotiated
piece between those self-determined
determined peoples uh is appreciated
there are aspects of the resolution such
as the casualty figures and the passive
voice used to describe those that are
deeply hurtful and cruel to uh survivors
of of these attacks um saying that uh
people lost their lives uh uh when they
were in fact attacked and murdered is uh
is a cruelty that is not really uh
necessary in this context um in any
event my time time is up and thank you
thank you for your comments um after
faith it would be
Hagan uh Peter uh last initial b Barry p
and Francesco p and Sandra
R ideally Aly should not be making
foreign policy statements however the
city seems determined on doing just that
I appreciate the city council's Earnest
attempt at creating a resolution that
acknowledges the pain of both its
Israeli and Jewish constituency and its
Palestinian Arab constituency a few
suggestions to the
wording on the seventh whereas Israeli
deaths have continued since October 7th
this number needs to be updated the
second be it resolved calls for an
unconditional release of all civilian
hostages and would allow the Palestinian
perpetrators and criminals of October
7th to go un punish
this wording also must be changed the
title of the resolution also needs to be
modified just yesterday over 50 Rockets
were launched by Hezbollah into Northern
Israel hundreds have been launched in
recent weeks calling for a bilateral
ceasefire is insufficient please call
for a real and sustainable peace
throughout the entire region rather than
a bilateral ceasefire in Gaza thank you
for your hard work and the effort you
have put into this
issue
thank you for your
comments hi there my name is Peter
burnhard um thank you for meeting with
me in my group about this um you have my
email comments um it could be improved
but I appreciate the work you did and
this and the stress you're under to do
something right so I support it um and
the time I have left I'm just going to
read a quote here from if Stone
investigative journalist um who most
people should know the only kinds of
fights worth fighting for are those
you're going to lose because somebody
has to fight them and lose and lose and
lose until someday somebody who believes
as you do
wins that famous code applies to uh the
extent we keep protesting keep lobbying
our Representatives keep supporting with
whatever you can spare to those groups
that are taking direct action together
and in our numbers it's worth everything
even if you can only point to a sing
sing Le Victory achieved in this fight
for peace and Justice thank you thank
you for your
comments I too thank the council for the
many hours and meetings we've had uh
over this time and understood exactly
what you're dealing with in coming up
with a difficult
decision uh the resolution that I read
that you came forward with it talks
about people's pain people's feelings of
fear and so forth entirely appropriate
for all of the issues was involved but
what uh if I can make a critical point
since I argued it uh many times uh there
is a fact at the basis of all of this
and it's really the central fact and it
was left out and that is uh basically
that we're dealing with a genocide and a
genocide that is ongoing and people are
dying and it is not just name calling it
is of course the Judgment of the
international court of justice that made
an unambiguous
uh designation of what Israel is doing
is an ongoing genocide so uh that's what
we are opposed to that's what we'd like
to see end and all the other issues can
go after that
yes thank you for your
comments um as a long as as a longtime
resident of Aly I'm very proud of our
city for always standing up speaking
against violence and Injustice by
passing resolutions such as the one
passed in 2021 asking our leaders to act
immediately to help the Afghan people or
passing declarations such as the one
read at the beginning of every city
council meeting acknowledging the
genocide against the indigenous people
and not shying away from the word
genocide as uncomfortable and painful
that might be today we need to stand up
one more time and pass a resolution for
an immediate unconditional and permanent
ceasefire we need to stand for what is
the truth we need to face the truth even
if it will be uncomfortable some for
some and the truth according to
International courts of justice and
almost all the world is that Israel is
committing plausible
genocide thank you for your comments
your Proclamation has no mention of of
Hama
the terrorist aggressor who started this
war with their rampage that included the
murder of Innocence kidnappings and
sexual assaults this weekend a terrorist
attack in Russia by ISIS murdered 130
defensless Russians at a music venue
just like hamas's cowardly attack on
Israel in October 7th you have crafted a
document that did not require the
surrender of Hamas who started this
conflict any ceasefire should include
the unconditional surrender of the Hamas
leadership leaving Hamas out of this is
like talking about World War II and
admitting any reference to the Nazi
party this glaring Omission shows a lack
of moral courage Albany deserves
better thank you for your comments after
the speaker it would be itamar L noga A
Zan
M and
Yuko and Amber and for those who just
arrived if you like to speak tonight
please fill out public comment card
speaker card and turn them into me
please thank
you okay I'm a 39-year resident of
Albany and I'm here to speak for the
over 25,000 women and children who have
been massacred by the indiscriminate
bombing of
Gins and
I'm here to support a ceased fire so
that this will end and there can be some
resolution to this conflict thank you
thank you for your
comments hi my name is itamar Lando I'm
speaking on behalf of the Jewish
Coalition of Berkeley uh just founded in
December now have over 350 members at
least 30 of whom are Albany residents um
we do thank the subcommittee for a
heartfelt effort to have people be heard
um and for an attempt at a balance
resolution there's a lot of differences
of opinion as you're hearing tonight
about who's to blame um as you
yourselves pointed out maybe the one and
only key point of agreement is that we
all really pray for a long-term peace
and security for all peoples in the
region so I urge you to put that
squarely in the title A sear is nothing
but a tech a tactical aim where both
sides at this point would clearly claim
to exploit it to adjust further battle
um in the best position that they they
can so a truly uh value of the our
community is long-term peace and
security finally I urge you to also
clearly condemn the local hate and hat
incidents and violence against the
Jewish community and Israeli Community
here in Albany and ELO thank
you thank you for your
comments hello thank you for your time
now and for meeting with me before I am
an Albany resident homeowner and parent
it is my preference that this city
council not pass any resolution on this
matter unless it is going to likewise
engage on the Ukraine Russia War Haiti
or Syria however if you insist on
passing something I ask like other
people have spoken before that you
changed the title and remov the word
ceasefire we have discussed with you and
you understood why the word ceasefire is
particularly triggering for our
community there was a ceasefire on
October 6th and Hamas broke with an
unimaginable Massacre please call it a
path to long-term peace and security
also please don't compare innocent
Israeli hostages like f and his
four-year-old brother to convicted
murderers who are sitting in prison for
their crimes their releases are not the
same thank
you thank you for your
comments okay yeah so thank you again
for this resolution I appreciate the
overall intent of it that there be a
ceasefire and that all human lives are
precious but I do want to point out how
the perpetrator is hardly mentioned it
says whereas over 30,000 Palestinians
have perished how did they perish what
happened who is the agent of them
perishing did they just perish in thin
air who is the evildoer who took away
the lives of so many innocent people so
many innocent children who is
deliberately letting 1 million people
half of whom are children starve to
death this resolution needs to do more
and explicitly stating who is
responsible for these repulsive crimes
it's the state of Israel founded on its
racist ideology of Zionism who is the
evil perpetrator it is Israel who is
committing this genocide it is Israel
who who does not view the life of a
Palestinian as worth living and this
view didn't just formed suddenly after
October 7th and our very own government
here is backing it backing Israel so may
we see a future in which racist leaders
governments and ideologies cease to
exist may we see a free Palestine thank
you
please refrain from
clapping thank you could you includ
hissing Jing in that can you stop the
time please sorry um ple please as I
mentioned at the beginning of the
meeting refrain from showing any
supports of support or
um sorry
I'm pleas please those in the audience
please remain silent in all forms I'll
leave it at that
good evening I'm a resident of elero and
I came out here tonight to support or be
here in support and in solidarity with
the many and diverse residents of this
city of Albany who have been calling for
a permanent
ceasefire um and I really urge you to
pass this resolution despite it being so
little so late um for one it doesn't
name the genocide of Palestinians um it
doesn't call for a permanent ceasefire a
lasting
ceasefire uh it also does not name
Israel as an occupying Force um that has
been oppressing Palestinians for many
decades long before October nonetheless
this resolution must pass we must save
lives um even the UN Security Council
finally passed some sort of ceasefire
resolution this morning seiz fire now
thank you thank you for your comments
um after
Amber would
be Tamiko P Linda W so s o m a i
a um number three and Sherry
D council members thank you for your
time there can be no peace until there
is a free
Palestine there can be no free Palestine
until there is an end of the
occupation there can be no free
Palestine until there's an end of The
Siege and all of these must start with a
ceasefire keep ceasefire in the
title over the
weekend Faith leaders from
around the Bay Area joined for a
pilgrimage and one of the quotes that I
heard that really stuck with my heart is
that hope is like a bird singing about
the dawn while it's still dark and that
was in reference to dreaming about a
free South Africa which at one point
seemed
unimaginable and so now I invite those
who care about free uh Peace and Freedom
to imagine and work for and fight for a
free
Palestine thank you for your
comments hello I'm T Panela I'm Albany
resident um I think in this resolution
there are some words that I don't love
and there some words that are U missing
but um overall I do think we should pass
it I think it's right there in the title
ceasefire Stop The Killing um and I hope
that you can all shut out all this noise
and focus on that we just want the
killing to
stop thank you for your
comments hi good evening uh thank you
for putting the ceire resolution on your
agenda I do order you to call for a
permanent ceasefire an end to the
illegal Israeli occupation and an end to
the genocide today's UN resolution is a
joke it's a twoe pause on on bombing
just so like people can like starve to
death instead um there is an imminent
risk of famine the intentional
starvation of two million people half of
whom are children the Israeli
government's genocidal intent has been
proven by their words and their actions
for the past six months fear of a
hypothetical genocide cannot and does
not will never uh justify an actual
genocide Palestinians are live streaming
their own ethnic cleansing cleansing um
and for every atrocity zionists like to
talk about their thousands of atrocities
being committed by the iof uh forces
they're bragging about their atrocities
on social media and they're able to do
so with complete imp impunity because
our government does nothing but reward
them with more of our tax dollars I
don't want to be of a generation where
Grand our grandchildren look back with
with puzzlement and shame because we
fail to do what is so obviously right
help our governments um help end our
government's fueling of this inhumane
war on children thank you thank you for
your's your first name suaya okay so I
need Linda um someone that just put the
number three and
Sher please line
up Linda
W number three and Sherry D otherwise we
go to the next
group okay next Group K uh Karen
P um um a Amy
new um s p
d Toby B and Y a a please line up thank
you go ahead first of all I ask the uh
Council to
actively um keep to your res keep to
your instructions I am intimidated by
people jering in the corner and I find
that while I can hear that perhaps the
council cannot I ask that you do not
have any resolution at all I think this
is to be honest not really your business
your business is Alban's
business my last point is that a lie
spoken a million times is still a lie
for example claiming from this Podium
that the international court of justice
declared that Israel is committing a
genocide is a lie all you need to do is
Google it it's not true genocide and its
definition certainly is well known by
Jews is the intentional eradication of
an entire people either the gazin are
part of the Palestinians or they not you
can't have it both ways thank you very
much hi I'm Sherry um I'm a resident of
el Sero so I applaud you for grappling
with this they won't do it in elero they
don't have the courage at this point um
I support this resolution of course with
some reservations and I've been tracking
resolutions in other cities around the
country and you know noticing here
tonight the messaging um it might be
possible that you want to just do a
separate Hamas resolution and strengthen
the resolution you have so that you
really do consider issues of genocide
issues of starvation issues of
occupation issues of accountability
issues of Israeli complicity so um
because sometimes if you try to put too
much together in one thing you actually
it gets pretty watered down but if you
don't want to consider that just pass
this and keep the title thank
you thank you for your
comments my name is Karen plat I've
lived in Albany for more than 40 years I
was a teacher at Albany Middle School in
the 80s and I'm Jewish and I strongly
support this resolution I think it's
horrible to watch a genocide in progress
right before our eyes and the strongest
thing that I can say is it's Collective
punishment which is a war crime
according to article 33 of the Fourth
Geneva
Convention thank you for your
comments hi my name is Sapa I am
actually an el2 resident and I just want
to say I support this resolution I have
some reservation but wholeheartedly I
think too little too late because today
14 countries voted for ceasefire in
United Nation and even us abstained so
you should consider that when you
consider this resolution no matter what
these people are saying the truth of the
matter is you're too late the whole
world is saying enough is enough raping
anything that you see in the news I
don't want to rip it again what is
happening in Palestine in Kaz and in
West Bank they keep having
Hamas why West Bank they're killing
people why in the West Bank they
arresting people West Bank there is no
Hamas is the Palestinian Authority so is
a lie is about Hamas don't fall for it
ask them why thank you thank you for
your
comments hi uh I'm a resident here in
Albany and I'm originally from Egypt
which is neighbor for Palestine Israel
and Lebanon and I want to point out that
Hamas was not there in 1967 when Israel
occupied Hamas occupied Palestine in
1974 when Sinai in Egypt was occupied
and part of Lebanon seeing the dead
children every day break my heart some
women are wed from just couple of days
finally I want everyone to ask himself
that what if it was your kid your wife
or your mother I ask for ceasefire and
peace in the whole region thank you are
you Toby
or so I'm
missing Toby and a
Amy and um mayor after these we no more
speaker cards my name is Toby blame I'm
a resident of elero I've attended one of
your meetings before when I was much
better attended for supporting ceasefire
I'm here today to beg of you you city
council it's it's not the perfect
resolution it's by far but we need to
get as many cities passing resolutions
as fast as we can I bring to all of you
today the words of Aaron Bushnell who is
the
25-year-old American active duty Airman
who set fire to himself because he
couldn't stand the US complicity and us
and genocide in Gaza and think of this
gentleman
25 years old who sacrificed his life to
bring attention expose the crime I beg
of you his last words he posted on
social media were I'm paraphrasing it
many people ask themselves what would we
do in the time of slavery what would we
do it in the time of Jim Crow what would
we do in the time of
apartheid you don't need to ask yourself
Americans or city council now because
what you're doing today and every day
answers that question thank you thank
you thank you thank you for your
comments that's all the speaker cards I
have uh if anyone in the room has not
spoken uh if you could fill out a
speaker card and
um I have an Amy is that
you I really have no words when I'm
hearing that the word ceasefire is
triggering in the history of humankind
when has calling for a ceasefire been
triggering when has been calling to not
starve children been a problem I am
fasting I look forward to breaking my
fast the people in Gaza are fasting and
they have to break their fast with grass
or nothing and this is not a famine that
was you know somehow this a man-made
famine the Israelis are going to the
border and stopping the food from going
through they now said that Ana cannot go
into Northern uh into Gaza at all and we
have pulled our funding from ANA so we
are starving children and the people
that are worried about Hamas how do you
think those kids are going to grow up
and feel towards not only Israel but
towards America how shortsighted are we
what kind of humanity do we have when we
can starve children and send our tax
dollars to starve more children and bomb
more mosques and houses and
hospitals please refrain from
Jay hi uh Jay Aly resident um please
pass this uh resolution it's not
perfect um but and it's late but please
pass it don't listen to those who seem
to think that we shouldn't have a
ceasefire they're in some kind of
genocide or Mania they shouldn't be
listened to um cooler heads need to
Prevail uh hopefully the US is starting
to come around they abstained
today they should have voted yes but
they abstained uh the international
pressure is building and people are
starving and dying every day so pass the
resolution don't listen to those who
would uh have you tell have who would
tell you that this is somehow wrong um
yeah cease fire
now thank you everyone in the council
chamber we're going to move to online
speakers my name is pmer an Israeli
American living in the East Bay the son
of indigenous Jewish people of Israel
Israel and the majority of the Jewish
community of the Bay Area want peace the
fact that you're not calling for peace
is alarming there are two combatants
here in this war one of which your
resolution conspicuously omits Hamas
Israel is fighting Hamas Gaza is ruled
by Hamas full stop the ceasefire
language only helps Hamas will help the
people of Gaza and Israel will be
calling for peace which can only be
achieved by removing Hamas an extremist
totalitarian regime that says that that
condones using rape as a weapon of war
that calls for all women to go back into
the kitchen and wants to kill all Jews
around the world not just in Israel just
as the International Coalition came
together to destroy Isis the same must
be done to Hamas you're whitewashing
Hamas by leaving them out of the
resolutions just as bad as whitewashing
the crimes of Isis thank you thank you
for your
comments hi I'm mus K the Council on
American Islamic relations wishing
everybody a blessed Ramadan in the
spirit of the holy month of Ramadan the
Israeli Heritage Minister recently said
that the so-called month of Ramadan must
be wiped out over 31,000 Palestinian
civilians have been killed Israeli
attacks on Gaza since October 7th that
includes 25,000 women and children which
is 80% of the death toll this is not a
war on Hamas but a war on the people of
Gaza Governor gav Gavin Newsome recently
called for a ceasefire in an open letter
to California Muslims and Arabs today
the UN Security Council resolution
calling for an immediate and Lasting
ceasefire 14 to Zer joining the global
call for ceasefire are those in Albany
who have sounded the alarm on social
media written letters spoken to the
representatives all too often to
deafening silence this is an opportunity
for this Council to amplify your
community's call for a ceas
right now amidst Israel's brutal Siege
on El shfa Hospital there have been
reports of executions detentions and
sexual violence it's critical for you to
Cate ceasefire now it's a he for he the
call of the people of Albany and the
world thank you thank you for your
comments everyone I do not see the need
for Albany to pass a resolution on this
complex matter especially given that the
city has already made a statement on
this
topic however if you insist to pass one
please make the following
changes one condemn Hamas the terror
organization and call for its removal
from Power two please rename the
resolution for a call for peace versus a
one-sided
ceasefire three denounced anti-semitic
and hateful acts that have occurred in
our
community four do not make a comparison
between between Israeli hostages and
prisoners who have committed crimes I
wish everyone a Happy Po and hope the
Jews will win evil again thank
you thank you for your
comments hi my name is Lee and I'm an
Albany resident uh first I care about
Jewish lives and Palestinian lives I
have never cheered about the death of
any innocent life 30,000 Palestinians
would still be alive if Hamas did not
start this war that is why it is so
important to add removing Hamas from
power in the resolution and yes I would
love a permanent ceasefire not a
temporary one that only benefits
terrorists as they regroup and rearm
before they attack Israel over and over
again as they have so proudly vowed to
do as long as there is Hamas no
ceasefire will last I'm also shocked
that the resolution calls for the
unconditional release of Civilian
prisoners how can you compare
one-year-old hostage K bius to
22-year-old Ahmed manasra who was 14
years old when he went to Israeli prison
for stabbing and attempting to murder
two Israeli teens in 2016 there should
be no strings attached to bring back
people who were
kidnapped thank you thank you for your
comments hi my my name is n and I am
Israeli and Albany resident for a long
time I want you to remember October 7th
remember the children SW elderly and
everyone who was kidnapped or brutally
murdered and also today they are raped
in the in Gaza they were not killed
during time of War they were killed just
for being is in Israel there was ceas
fire in October 6 Hamas broke it in
early morning of the 7th clearly any
cire with Hamas does not like last more
than two years Hamas has it in their
Charter that they will destroy Israel
and will call all kill all Jewish
wherever they are if an October 7 attack
happen in the US would you calling for
SE fire you know we would blow the crap
out of the terrorist who started it and
it would be justified because it's War
please include removing Hamas as part of
the resolution that's the only hope for
lasting and practice in region okay
Israel did not occupy AA for the last 20
years thank you for your
comments hello my name is David and I'm
a long time very long time Alber WR
firstly I am disappointed this is
something our local Council spent so
much time on though it does make me
curious if SE subf Fires for other
conflicts with many more casualties are
coming next I would think that
addressing other major Wars is much more
unifying than focusing on only Israel
and Gaza I'm sure Albany has many
ukrainians Russians syrians Yemen
Haitians that are equally distressed as
gazans and Israelis why aren't they
being mentioned and while I recognize
that you all are being pressured to pass
this resolution I agree with the notion
of changing its tile if your goal is
long-term peace and security in the
region say it say it how it is change
the title to be a reflective of that
instead of a call for a temporary
ceasefire make it a call for lasting
peace really
simple thank you for your
comments elain please unmute
yourself
um I'm at 45 seconds could I start at a
minute please
hello go ahead and speak I'm at 37
seconds can go ahead and make your
comment okay Hamas broke the ceasefire
in 2012 again in 2016 and again on
October 6 they have vowed to keep
attacking Israel a ceasefire will be
used to rearm Hamas which will mean more
dead people you should change the name
of this resolution to path path to peace
which is a much more realistic title
since Hamas does not want
peace if you have a little bit more you
have a little bit more
time thank you for your
comment
Fresca please unmute yourself
can you hear me yes can I have my time
back
please thank you uh I just want to say
that uh 127 children were killed per day
in awit it was about 220,000 children
over 5 years in Gaza the average is 139
per day right now and these statistics
do not diminish the severity and evil of
what happened to the Jews during the
Holocaust they're simply bringing to
light the grave situation in Gaza the
hostages that people are mentioning make
up 3% of the people in Gaza right now
that's not even 1% that's less than a
half of 1% what is fueling anti-Semitism
is the murdering of Civilian men women
and children by the thousands under the
banner of the Star of David and then
adamantly insisting that that is the
totality of Judaism and thus Inseparable
from all Jews Zionism is Terrorism
Jewish safety and Palestinian liberation
are intertwined please pass this
ceasefire resolution thank
you thank you for your
comments please unmute yourself when you
see the
message hi uh my name is and I um
I want uh I am supporting this
resolution uh we are already too late
the horrific crimes that are being
committed against the people of
Palestine especially the people of Gaza
uh are just too much uh if you guys care
to really find The Truth Listen to the
accounts of the people who are in who
are being evacuated from the hospital
and the homes they family members are
being murdered in front of them and uh
they are starving they have no food and
no water pleas passes these fire
resolution it's already relate we're the
ones funding it and we should be
stopping
it thank you for your
comments hello my name is Walla oricat
and I am a Palestinian American resident
of el cero
I support a resolution to call for an
immediate and permanent ceasefire the
suffering endured by innocent civilians
on both sides is immeasurable and the
cycle of violence only perpetrates more
pain and loss millions of people all
over the world are calling for a
ceasefire and today 14 countries voted
in favor at the UN Security
Council however this call is a little
too late we've seen over we've seen
Israel kill over 32,000 Palestinians
injure over 74,000 Palestinians they're
starving to death over a million people
including 27 children who have already
died
uh we cannot continue to watch this
please vote for the
resolution thank you for your
comments
hi my name is Lake and Sheldon I'm a
resident of Albany and I'm here to
advocate for a permanent ceasefire I
think he should pass this resolution
I've had numerous friends and family
who've been directly affected by this
genocide but you don't have to know
anybody personally to know that the
slaughter of innocent children and
civilians is absolutely wrong you know
we have uh zionists here arguing about
the technicality of this word and that
word but nobody in their right mind
should declare that our tax SC dollars
be sent overseas to continue this
massive Slaughter it's just ridiculous
and I while their history is is way off
all you have to do is Google knock by
it's it's all there it's so easy to find
out so these zionists with their
arguments which have been debunked over
and over you got to pass this resolution
we can't keep killing
people
thank you for your
comments hi everybody my name is Russell
Bates I'm a Berkeley resident I've been
following and supporting the Palestine
cause for the last 30 years I'd like to
see an unconditional worldwide ceasefire
one the Israeli m does not control like
they're controlling the president the
house the Senate it's a cult it's a cult
of death and it needs to be stopped
immediately it's wrong and it's hurting
the world Zionism is on its way out the
Ted offensive in 68 the Gaza offensive
in 23 the Americans were rout 7 years
later the zist will be out sooner or
later pass this resolution and please
stop the killing thank
you thank you for your
comments hello my name is Risa I am a
Berkeley resident and I'm here um in
support of a ceasefire resolution um in
Albany I personally have no familiar
ties within like is Israel or Gaza but
as someone who has seen the videos of
starving children the killings of men
women pregnant women elderly in Gaza
over the last 6 months I know this isn't
a complicated situation I know anyone
can see that this is a genocide and um
calling for a ceasefire
isn't isn't a call for division or uh
hatred it is a call for Humanity so
please City Council Members please pass
the ceas fire resolution thank
you thank you for your
comments mayor that's all from online we
do have two public speakers in the
audience ahead Dalia and next is elen or
e thank you so much Council for this
opportunity I know there there is a lot
of pressure to pass a ceasefire as much
as I wish I could ask you to stay
focused on local business so I will say
speaking for myself and anybody else in
this room the the humanitarian cost is
awful nobody wants this this is abor in
anybody's
book it's tragic it's absolutely
tragic the call for a ceasefire on the
surface seems completely legitimate and
reasonable who wouldn't want that I
would ask you to please understand the
Nuance here that it has to be a
ceasefire that protects safety on both
sides on all sides that it has to be a
ceasefire that removes Hamas and
endorses Israel's right to exist as a
nation at the same time thank you thank
you for your
comments e or
El um my name is eileene Lee I work in
Albany Hamas must be disarmed and
removed from power for a lasting peace
if not they will do what they promised
on October 7th and continue slaughtering
Jews today they shot 11 Rockets not at
soldiers in Gaza but at civilians in
Israel please add that to your
resolution secondly please call this a
path to long-term peace and security
that's what we all
want and um number three do not equate
the innocent Israeli hostages who were
kidnapped from their homes on October
7th don't equate them to convicted
terrorists that are held in Israeli
prisoners thank you thank you for your
comments
hi can you hear me all right yes we can
hear you perfect my name is Henry uh I'm
an anti Zionist you I'm not going to all
Liv matter of this BS uh for the last
160 days we've seen the unadulterated
Slaughter an unequivocal Slaughter of
men women and children um for those
claiming that there was a ceasefire on
October 6th uh let me remind you that
97% of water in Gaza was
undrinkable undrinkable Gaza has been
declared the largest concentration camp
for Palestinians
worldwide uh we have to put an end to
this killing we have to put a stop to it
the calls that a ceasefire is divisive
uh on the surface level level or even
under it um are just calls to continue
violence you must put a stop to it uh my
Jewish history tells me that I should be
more apt to see the signs of
dehumanization the signs of genocide of
which are very apparent ceas fire
nowk for your comment
hi there um my name is Talia I'm a
resident of Albany um I understand that
you feel that this resolution is
balanced and that IT addresses the hurts
of many in a community at least that's
what you told me when we met in person I
also understand that hard work did and
was put into drafting this resolution
and as upet and as many have said it is
not perfect while many here and
everywhere have claimed that they want
peace they still spew hateful sentiments
toward Israel and Jews it is those
Voices That should be silenced I have
yet to hear anyone speak disply about
any citizen of Gaza all decent and
reasonable people want a ceasefire but
that cannot be done without eliminating
Kamas and releasing the hostages the
resolution's omission of any reference
to Hamas the terrorist group who began
this conflict is shocking if peace is
truly what everyone wants and everyone
has claimed it then the title of this
resolution should absolutely include
that thank you for your
time thank you for your
comments that's it oh I'm
sorry um I appreciate the resolution um
um my my request is would it be I would
like to see added to it that the US
government no longer Pro is stops
providing weapons and money for weapons
um that Israel is using to kill
Palestinians as a Jew I am embarrassed
and actually horrified by what is
happening right now thank you thank you
for your
comments that's
all and with that we will close public
comments I want to thank everyone who
has provided comments today both online
and in person uh and in the past over
the past few months um I recognize that
for many of you in the room this may not
have been a comfortable conversation uh
but I applaud the civility by which this
meeting has occurred um I also recognize
that there
were uh moments in which Applause or um
dissent was voiced and but I appreciate
that those who are doing that were able
to uh come back to our are um requested
standards of kind of how we would run
this in in our
deorum um I have often looked to this
Council and often said that uh as the
one presiding over the meeting that I
would prefer to go last in discussing
things I do have a few things that I
would like to say before we get into
conversation
um uh I would like to address some of
the comments are raised by members of
the public uh and Aaron please feel free
to to interject as as you see fit um in
particular um sorry I'm I'm going
through my notes here um there was been
a lot of call for a permanent ceasefire
and I think that is something that that
that we in discussions with many people
and between ourselves um we thought
about as well our primary concern about
including permanent with ceasefire as
suppos to in the language that we have
which calls for an immediate bilateral
ceasefire and um let me read the exact
phrasing uh let me see in the resolution
it says um and negotiation of a
permanent just solution to the conflict
that results in lasting prosperity for
all by affirming all parties right to
self-determination and peaceful
coexistence our our recognition is that
a ceasefire is needed now hostility
needs to end now um without it
necessarily
being um reliant on the long-term
ceasefire or peaceful existence of the
Palestinians and the Israelis um in Gaza
and in the West Bank uh we did not want
to
um we did not want to make that a
condition of getting to the point where
an end of the hostilities as they are
going on now and that the humanitarian
Aid a can begin to flow and that through
a process we are
not we are not experts in this field but
just understanding that a process would
would be had that we would hope that
there would be
self-determination and two governments
working together to find a peaceful
long-term
solution um so that was uh one of the
items I wanted to raise just explanation
of of the language uh just because I
recognize that uh for the other council
members up here
um just why we didn't include the word
permanent um let's see um and then the
other one I would say is I think there
was a lot of debate on the title the
title of the resolution um and in the
end we chose to bring forth to this
Council uh the phrasing is there but I
believe that that is an area which um I
know Aaron Aon and I both share the uh
the opinion that at the dice it's very
hard to carefully craft language um but
that was one point where we had quite a
few
conversations um Aon are there any
things that you might want to convey to
the other council members in terms of
things that the members of the public
raised about language or
terminology um uh a couple um and and
thank you for addressing some of that uh
I
think like you mentioned we we did
discuss you know what do we call this
which all gets at what are we trying to
say and how are we trying to say it and
I think that
the it was it was my opinion that we had
to keep it calling as a as a resolution
calling for Seas far as that was our
intention uh that we
were that was the understood phrase that
I think is was clear to us as saying
that there is something very wrong
happening now and it needs to stop and
too many people are dying and there
needs to be a halt to that and and
that's what I think ceire means and
that's why it's in the title of that I
would also say that you know just as
there are many things that in the many
hours John and I discuss this that
we think about this issue not all of
which we put in this resolution just as
this resolution does not include
everything that I or John or anyone in
the city wants to say about this our
title doesn't include everything that
happens in the resolution and in fact
I'd say if we're if anyone's just
focusing on the title it's important to
read the entire thing that's why we
wrote it uh that's why we put so much
effort into every one of those words and
why I spent so long in front of my
computer looking at them uh the all of
them are important and I think they do
address a lot of the things people said
and including that want for a Perman
piece which we do have in that Clause it
I think uh as as some of the other
council members know uh I am very
obsessive about writing things well and
that was a consistent difficulty here
because there is a the simplest and
easiest and best expressed way to write
things was not always the way that we
had to express it to
be over clear about what we were trying
to say and and that's where we ended up
and I
sincerely believe we got to the points
we needed to and express the intention
that we expressed and for more detail
you know the the memo does is exist to
elucidate some of that and spell out
those intents uh
clearly um I will uh take an opportunity
now to go more into again I normally
choose to go at the end but I I would
prefer if I may to uh take use the
mayor's discretion to make a statement
um you know I think through the
formation of this ad hoc committee and
and apologize to everyone in the room I
am going to read from some text that I
wrote because
um uh I am recovering still from a cold
and even in my best times I will forget
points that I mean to say so um through
the formation of the at committee I've
learned and grown so much um many have
shared truly personal lived experiences
that have given me a deeper
understanding and apprecia of the pain
fear anxiety and grief each of you has
and I think you know those who ask us
why do we why is why we as the council
taking this on it's because that is such
a visceral thing in our community um
that is occurring and I'll go back to my
script now um and you've opened up about
your hopes and dreams and I appreciate
that as well um as this process started
I did not see a b bilateral ceasefire
something that would divide our
community because I felt we were already
a divided Community one in which civil
discourse could not occur one in which
peaceful marches and rallies and
protests could not occur without
violence one in which city council
meetings across the bay area have either
ended early or ended
in in I would not none have gone to the
extent of violence but have not um have
not been a meeting that people felt
comfortable being in or felt safe being
in we a community where again and
January 6th our rally a peaceful rally
the organizers who intended to have a
peaceful rally did not end
peacefully where UC Berkeley
continuously has protests that turn
violent these are all
events that are not you know that are
part of us we as part of Albany we as
part of the East Bay Region we as the
San Francisco Bay area we are
experiencing and I say this because as
council members he did
discussions part of what happens when
you have a contentious item that's on a
docket sorry on an
agenda heated discussions about tangible
things that our community can help shape
and control can lead to compromise
understanding and a better City the
wounds from those heated discussions
will heal over time but that is for
tangible things that we as a city
control and so for those of you in the
room who say we as the council should
stay focused on things that are
local I agree and we me we said this or
I said this on March 4th when we when I
brought the question to the council
about forming an ad hoc
committee and I mentioned then that we
as a council are not prone to doing this
we are not prone to taking on things
that are outside of our borders and more
importantly are not something that we
have a tangible effect
upon and I say that because when we take
on topics like this we take on topics
where we can form a resolution and that
resolution has no tangible
impact
I say all of that and yet I brought
forth the request to form an ad hoc
committee and I brought forth with Aaron
many thanks to Aaron sorry council
member tedan this resolution because I
believe while this resolution does not
have the tangible effect of frankly
influencing anyone in the US government
anyone in Israel or anyone in Hamas it
does raise the common voice that we have
heard consistently in our
community that we want
peace we want a long-term peace and I
understand in many
ways the word
ceasefire has is a charged
word as many have said there was a
ceasefire on October 6th and it wasn't
the first of many ceas of of of
ceasefires so you know one of the
phrases that I use that that that I
believe in is that you know
professionally in my work and in my work
on a council is you can only move at the
speed of
trust and that trust is really in the
understanding that we as a
community can come together and have
conversations and I want to applaud
everyone who attended today and everyone
who attended online
today while it wasn't a comfortable
conversation and while there are maybe
things that some that some said that you
don't agree with or you you do not
believe we were able to have people were
able to voice their vantage point and
their lived experiences and to me that
was one of my major purposes for
bringing forth the potential of having
an ad how committee to have the
conversations that Aaron and I had with
the community to have the ability to
start to build some bridges in this
community I say this because I also
recognize that
um
that passing of this resolution has the
ability of breaking some of those bonds
but I hope we as a community are strong
enough to recognize in each other that
we have all a desire for peace I really
appreciate those who came forward saying
a clear path to peace or a path to peace
I think that is very accurate in the
sentiment that I've heard from everyone
that I have talked with um and so with
that um I will say um I will open that
up to conversation with other council
members um if they if they would like to
comment on anything uh you do not have
to but um I will open that
up I'll take my traditional poll
position
um thank you mayor thank you council
member tan I'm very grateful that you
wrote this that you took the time and
did the work um I think that that the uh
the goals that you set are right on um
so but I appreciate the explication of
that uh once I read the memo that was
strongly in line with my goals um like
yourself I have some things I want to
read um two factors incline me to the
resolution uh one is the insufficient
food supply that is occurring um and has
been occurring and the other is that the
United States is the main supplier of
weapons to Israel and the main um source
of diplomatic support and so unlike many
other wars in the
world that gives us a particular
responsibility in this
situation um in its brief regarding its
most recent analysis of the situation in
Gaza issued March 18th the International
Food security phase classification the
IPC found almost 700,000 people
experiencing catastrophic food
insecurity IT projects the will rise to
1.1 million which is half the population
in the next few months catastrophe is
defined as even when using all of their
coping strategies people have almost no
food and cannot support their basic
needs starvation death destitution and
extremely critical acute malnutrition
levels are evident the brief States the
IPC acute food insecurity analysis
conducted in December 2023 warned of a
risk the famine may occur by the end of
May 2024
if an immediate cessation of hostilities
and sustained access for the provision
of essential supplies and services to
the population did not take place since
then the conditions necessary to prevent
famine have not been met and the latest
evidence confirms that famine is
imminent in the Northern governorates
and projected to occur any time between
mid-march and may of
2024 the southern governance which is
the rest of Gaza are classified in IPC
phase 4 emergency however in a worst
case scenario these government its face
a risk of famine through July
2024 this means without a ceasefire it
is not possible to get sufficient food
to people in Gaza to prevent
famine there were choices made that
created this
situation the IPC divides defines famine
as at least 20% of households in an area
are experiencing catastrophic food
insecurity IPC 5 meaning these
households are facing an extreme lack of
food at least 30% of children are
suffering from acute
malnutrition and at least two per 10,000
people are dying each
day ipc's population tracking tool
indicates the only people on the planet
experiencing catastrophic food in
security currently are in
Gaza majority in the northern area about
a third in the center um and a quarter
in the
South the IPC system a famine occurs
when at least 70% of the people in an
area are are experiencing catastrophic
food
insecurity that is what is projected for
the nor Northern
government as reported by a number of
mainstream news organizations including
Reuters and NPR various entities such as
the world BL bank and the UN have
independently estimated from satellite
imagery that the number of buildings
destroyed or damaging is approaching
100,000 or scale there are around 5,000
buildings in
Albany the area of Gaza is equal to that
of the Cities from Albany through San
Leandro except three times as many
people live
there imagine if none of us can leave
this area food supply has been cut below
sustenance levels and buildings are
being progressively destroyed in all
parts report that more than 30,000
people have been killed in Gaza is
unverified but given the destruction
that number seems
reasonable the situation has elicited
hate crimes against people in our area
most dramatically the felonies with hate
crime allegations against a pro uh
against a pro-israeli counter protester
by a pro Palestinian protester in Elo at
a protest that commenced in
Albany I do have some adjustments I
would like to request to the resolution
um I have provided that file to the city
clerk I hope that she's able to bring it
up so that we can go through it I don't
believe that they're
dramatic
or if you want to go
ahead yeah well without getting uh fired
up
um thank you mayor Mickey council member
tman for your efforts uh thank you
council member Jordan for your prepared
statement
uh just say on my end right now I'm not
too particularly interested and get into
the nuances of language or altering
language
um
I I've been very clear from the jump
that
uh we we do have individual agency using
our positionality and our influence and
our connectedness to other and local
power and state and federal power to
communicate directly with them and to
encourage our constituents to also reach
out but I've also made it very clear
that um though I like it wouldn't be the
one to bring a resolution to the
table I would still fully support a
resolution nonetheless
um I don't want to make this about our
feelings and you know what we think what
we observe and our opinion uh around the
matter because as mayor Mickey alluded
to and as I've also unequivocally stated
uh numerous times we are not the
Arbiters of Peace negotiation but we do
have the opportunity to raise uh
to the surface the necessity to call out
what is happening and what has happened
um and that it is inclusive of the
atrocity that happened on October 7th
and the atrocities that have happened
since then but that's also inclusive of
the various atrocities that have
happened predated to October
7th um and again
that not uh that's not a particular
thing that I think we need to get
detailed about when we are considering a
resolution
um and so I'll leave it there in terms
of what I would like to say in term uh
with respect
to uh our positionality on Council but I
do want to reframe it and um acknowledge
everyone that is here today that has
been coming to our meeting that have
been emailing us um that
this does speak to the necessity of our
community needing to find ways to uh
come together to find ways in which we
can also uh have coexistence of uh lived
and valid truth
um as mayor Mickey also highlighted you
know this is a local issue but I don't
think it stopped at just passing a
resolution I think this maybe have speak
speaks to an opportunity to uh
uh have events activities in our our
local spaces our community center where
we highlight and showcase and center the
identities that we see right here in
this room right now that that what we're
hearing what we're experiencing right
now definitely calls out the uh
unfortunate issue of lack of
accountability of maybe those in uh
leadership in the past who haven't
recognized this that we have a beautiful
and diverse Community here in Albany and
we have an opportunity to Center those
uh many identities through different
cultural events different opportunities
uh whatever they might that may look
like and I think that's an opportunity
for us as Council us as your elected to
further listen to you beyond just this
meeting and so I would highly encourage
folks to keep doing so um I also just
want to acknowledge that I've been
hearing like a little tiny human uh
Babble out there in the hallway
and uh I just want to say I think that's
hella dope that you know folks are
getting uh people in their family
involved in local politics being aware
um no matter what side of the issue or
uh where uh along the spectrum of a
stakeholder you are in this I think this
also Paramount Paramount speaks to uh
the absolutely absolute need of our
households in this community to be more
civically engaged and to do our part to
you know hold city council accountable
to the things you want to see and the
things that we need in this community um
and I would hope that many of you
continue to come to our future meetings
and see how we're holding ourselves
accountable to local issues local uh
concerns um may have heard uh in the
previous meeting some of the things I
have suggested for uh future agenda item
ranging from a pay or equal pay
ordinance to uh ways in which we can
acknowledge our uh superintendent who
had recently passed away
so we need you here constantly uh we
need you here to keep telling us what
you want and what you expect and again I
think this is a way in which we could
still look past uh what happens today um
whether folks agree or don't agree with
uh the ultimate language of the
resolution um and I know Preston just
dying to to let us know and uh and uh
run that run that down on us but I
really do hope I sincerely hope that
many of you who have been emailing and
have been coming to the meeting continue
to do so and uh as some of you in the
space today uh are aware like I have
been trying my best to email everyone
back whether you you agree with me or
not I've been trying to be very uh
intentful about that because I do
appreciate people's feedback and I
appreciate the level of Civic engagement
that we all are having um again I just
wanted to take that opportunity to frame
it for the folks that are here in this
space right now and that you're still
here you gave your public comments but
you're still here still civically
engaged and I do highly encourage that
after this you you post about it you
share your thoughts you share your
opinions because that's part of the
democratic process that's part of uh
seeing what the outcome can be um that's
part of challenging the status quo
that's part of challenging uh how your
elected representative uh choose to
represent you um and I just want to say
I thoroughly do appreciate everyone
being here
um
lastly I just want to
also highlight and acknowledge though
that um since October 7th uh
particularly I know history in itself is
quite complex and challenging to uh
unpack especially if you're not a
someone who's directly uh involved in
those spaces similarly how I don't
expect people to understand um the
complexity of my own indigeny connected
to
Mexico um but I do want to take moment
to acknowledge that specifically since
October 7th there has been um
a clear concern in presence of uh folks
voicing their
um their hurts and their their pain
around anything centered anything that
pertains to anti-muslim anti- Arab
anti-jewish
anti-semitic uh rhetoric and behavior
and action and I think that's something
that needs to be addressed and
unequivocally stated by everyone on
councel that
those are acts that uh need to be uh
fully uh acknowledged as something we
don't condone and should never condone
and that uh any form of that especially
uh when folks feel like they are under
uh direct uh danger or intimidation of
violence that that be addressed um and
again that's a way for us to move
forward and look Beyond just a ceasefire
resolution but what can we do in our own
Community what do you want us to see us
do what do you want city council to do
to leverage our power to do so um so
just close it out with saying thank you
everyone for being here and uh providing
your public comments and your opinions
and uh see how we take that into account
as we move forward but would' love to
hear what council member Jordan has to
say I don't don't have an email from you
you don't have it uh oh that's not good
um does somebody have a
drive all right well I it's simple
enough I think I can explain
so I can't if somebody gives me the
Wi-Fi password I keep Wi-Fi off so that
I
know mayor while we troubles shoot this
can I make some comments yes thank you
um so so thank you to the rest of the
council um for engaging on this and uh
for all of your thoughts and especially
thank you
to everybody here for the discussion and
the civility I know as the mayor
mentioned it has been difficult it's
tense but I want to acknowledge that
there are many communities that could
not have gotten through this sort of
meeting or this sort of conversation
without much much much more hostility uh
and with there are many who couldn't
really get through the meeting um and
especially I've I've shared this with
members of other elected offices and
other cities that at the meeting when we
established the ad hoc we bookended our
meeting with two items that had to do
with this and were able to have a robust
discussion about sidewalks in between
there are many city councils that could
not do that uh and I very proud of our
community that we have not boiled over
in a way that makes it impossible for us
to have those discussions or or even
this discussion uh I think there are
also councils that would struggle to be
even
always uh 100% respectful and have a
good discussion with each other on the
dis so I am as I am always very
appreciative that we have a council that
speaks its conscience and works together
and has a tremendous amount of respect
for one another even if we do have
differences of opinion on many things um
to Echo something that uh the other
council members and the mayor have
said this issue be has become a local
one I think it's obvious to anyone who's
been attending our meetings or the
meetings of any neighboring cities uh
this is a an issue that is present in
our community that is causing harm and
it was simply put not working to have it
be only something that we could be
spoken at about and could not respond to
uh that is all that was happening before
this because it was not on our agenda
and we cannot discuss things uh
substantively when it is not on our
agenda so this was a way for us to
actually meet at head-on and talk about
what was happening in the community in
the divisions and try and take some
steps to uh recognize and heal
that
um I think that as we've stated there
are a lot of issues we can't solve uh
and I would say no one is more aware of
the limits of their power than a local
elected and a city council person we
know exactly what we can and cannot do
uh and we are not going to
single-handedly solve this crisis as the
mayor said it may have little impact on
even our own higher elected officials as
much as I wish it would um and even on
the local level it won't do everything
to address everything our community is
feeling uh but instead it's it's taking
the first or one of the first steps and
the subsequent steps are not wholly ones
that the city government can or even
should always lead uh there is work in
our community and work to address
everything that's been brought up as
part of this that we simply cannot do as
the city council or as the city it is it
is a a social issue that we will all
have to deal with uh and I think a big
part of that is addressing the hostility
we feel for one another and the the ways
we paint each other uh you know as I've
mentioned to the mayor in our
meetings uh this has been a difficult
issue to deal with and and a saddening
and a frustrating one for a lot of
reasons I think one of those is
that the experience of painting each
other in the least flattering light we
can uh you know even before we were
talking about this resolution I have
been called not a real Jew because of
positions I've taken on it and even more
disturbing was in previous discussions
we've had about this in the council I've
heard uh
people heckling uh uh commenters uh
dismissing their lived experience of of
uh what they've experienced uh as as
Jews who've experienced anti-Semitism as
Palestinians and Arabs or uh Muslims of
what they've experienced and the uh
hatred theyve
experienced and I think that that is
that's one of the most sading parts of
this process and thing something will we
have to address and something that this
resolution alone W won't address and uh
that it can't we we've tried and we've
put language in there that tries to go
some of that way but as I mentioned in
the
memo we have to do more to deal with
hostility we feel towards each other
especially on painting each other with
uh these broad brushes my experience of
my religion is not everyone else's
experience um just as what some of my
opponents on some issues may say is not
representative of all of them we cannot
paint members of our own group as all
the same and we cannot paint members of
groups we disagree with as 100% the same
I think it does a dis service to all of
us and lowers the level of our
discussion on important issues like this
so I think this resolution goes a long
way to to doing something about all of
that it does not go all the way it it
cannot it cannot solve these issues but
it can be a step towards it and I
appreciate the council and I appreciate
everybody who had a part in giving us
feedback on that and who came to speak
to us about it here in meetings or in
past
meetings with that I think I'm done
thank
you
um so the the first change I'm
suggesting is that two of the findings
really seem like resolves to me um that
Albany condemns prejudice against people
who are perceived as being members
of um groups that have ancestry in the
region one way or the other uh and that
ALB reaffirms right to peacefully gather
um so I'm merely suggesting moving those
to the resolve from the
findings um and then I I heard the
comments
about switching over to active voice to
identify um those entities that are
doing The
Killing and to update the death toll so
in the first case it specifically
replaces says that 1200 citizens of
Israel
um and others were killed by Hamas and
over 200 more have been killed since
then and that the killing is continuing
and then does the same um for the
Palestinians and gazin who've been
killed and um it recognized that our
nation is the main supplier of weapons
and detic support for
Israel which to me is as I said one of
the two reasons I am I am motivated to
this um
and I added one finding which motivates
the resolves against Prejudice
condemning Prejudice and reaffirming the
right to peacefully protest which
regards the attack on pro-israel
counter-protesters that occurred in
elrio on January 6th and specifically
notes that that one uh Pro Palestine
protester um perpetrated the attack and
is now charged with felonies with
special special hate crime allegations
which
is the more most formal and
recognized is the most formal
please please allow Council to have
conversation which is the most formal
um matter of prejudice that has occurred
in the areas of my knowledge uh this
this language is from the cost County um
Sheriff's Department press release
regarding what what the charges
are and so in the green is the the
findings that have been brought down
from above and made
resolves and I don't recall if there's
any further
changes city clerk if you scroll to the
scroll to the bottom oh yes um I'm not
in support of sending this resolution
outside of this country for me the the
target of this resolution is our leaders
in the United States um given our nation
support
Israel in the ways that I've
described I don't think it's in the
Constitutional Spirit based on decisions
been made by the courts for us to be
sending resolutions to leaders of other
countries on any of that I welcome
uh on any of this I welcome your
thoughts as to
why
I think the movement of the where two
whereas statements uh to being uh be it
further resolved
um I will I don't necessarily have a
problem with that as one of the authors
I I will say
that Ain has been super helpful in me
understanding where usually you put
whereases and where you put
therefore
statements um on moving those to the
more active clauses I see the argument
um I think they were in the were ases
versus the be therefore be it resolved
Clauses as they
were less the active thing that we were
calling for and more the sort of
background
or things that would be if not obvious
sort of already settled fact to some
extent um that you know we stand against
Prejudice in many forms um I I see the
argument um and
I yeah I see the
argument I will add one item which is um
in both your languages to the city the
two where where which killings continue
to increase um we um we there is a
whereas a few statements below that says
whereas millions of lives are at IM
immin risk for continued
hostilities and due to a lack of food
and medical care we felt that that kind
of covered the fact so we in one Essence
we were trying to State what happened on
October 7th what has occurred since um I
do think that there is the ability to
add in language uh to the effect that
two and 200 more since uh since you know
October 7th was one event and then the
events that have happened since there
have been a quantifiable number of
people who have been killed in Israel as
well so I think that that I I could see
um if I could add on that
I I yes I would Echo what the mayor said
I think that that Clause down there was
trying to get at that um and I'll note
that I I think one of
[Music]
the difficult parts of writing this was
numbers
was that in our meetings there were
people on all sides of the issue who
wanted more numbers and there were
people on all sides of the is who wanted
fewer numbers um
and also finding numbers that are agreed
upon uh gets difficult quite fast um um
is is what I found um so that was the
thought for having these is it felt that
something needed to be Quantified um and
like mayor said one of those is
specifying the the numbers on one day
and one is specifying the numberers
since and then another is saying that
there are more lives at risk
uh I would say I prefer how we wrote it
um originally on
that
okay noting I added one just one number
yes you know me I like numbers um I
think sorry just yeah sure um I think
one of the things that was conveyed to
us through that conversation is that um
one of the horrors of war is that you
may never know the true number and so
any number you list is always going to
be who knows what the plus and minus on
that is um not to say that we should
include it but just that was one of the
other conversations about trying to
limit the number of numbers that we
added but I do think the point that was
made by some of the members of the
public and the point that you're trying
to make I believe is just that there
were additional deaths after October 7th
since we only list October 7th right I'm
just trying to make it symmetric
essentially um and thank you for the
clarifications certainly for that
additional language of the killings
continue to increase to be to be
removed probably the bigger issue is is
the switch from passive to active voice
so again having worked with you um and
appreciate your skill and
uh particularly going over my writing
when we work together um I would imagine
you thought about passive voice versus
active voice on those and so there's
probably maybe some thinking there um so
I don't know if you've been willing
to explicate on that or not sure and
I'll say I I I get the frustration there
as as I've probably given notes to you
of we should always strive for the
active voice in good writing
um I think
the overall idea there was there
were a lot of things we don't
necessarily address in this resolution
um and I recognize that there's folks
who want us to address more of them and
folks that want us to address less of
them uh
I think the point one of the things that
we talked about in writing is
that there
are issues that we can or cannot talk
about here that open a long and sort of
bottomless argument
um
that we could try and address or we
focus on
the pain and suffering that is being
experienced uh rather than trying to
spell out each part of that um and I I
get that that does not uh fulfill the
hopes of of everyone
um but it it felt like the thing that
got to our intent of of recognizing the
crisis
without focusing on
every part of it that and how it could
be expressed and how it could be
disagreed with
and who we wanted to identify or not
um so I'll leave it at that unless the
mayor wants to add anything on
that I think you summ that up
well yeah I mean I I heard among the
comments
from those who both support moving
forward with this not
that the the passive voice
was opposed um and so I do prefer
actually naming the parties because
otherwise
it it's into a natural disaster the way
it reads currently um so that that would
be my preference we'll see where it goes
um city clerk if you could remove which
killings continue to
increase council member Lopez were you
about
to yeah in the section in which the uh
January 6 uh protest was uh
mentioned sorry uh public comment is
closed at this
point
um
I do have a couple concerns there uh one
that it's framed as Pro Palestine
protest when to my knowledge how it was
publicized with the ceasefire rally um
but two um I think we we as a council
can absolutely condemn any acts of uh of
hate towards any specific group what I
do worry about is uh the rapid that that
uh whereas statement could potentially
drive us towards um just speaking as
someone who has been system
impacted and uh the potentiality of a
whole city uh making a statement towards
you uh I believe in innocent until
proven guilty um I know
the the videos that is your final
warning I will ask you to be escorted
out of the room if you cannot
um maintain
silence I do know there's video
surfacing around that clearly does show
um hateful act that did occur and I
believe that's something we need to let
our justice system handle accordingly
and properly without City making uh any
particular uh statement around that uh I
don't know and I think this is where I
also would defer to our City attorney um
if including a statement like that would
put us in any type of legal situation
with the
accused the there's no issue with
including that statement it's a policy
decision for the
council
um this I think this this this weas
Clause that we're on right now I think
falls into one of those categories
where Aon and I had many discussions
about um and I think the one thing that
we came to realize in our conversations
with members of the public was their
lived experiences of that day's
events were not always the
same and I think there are things that
we know and we can absolutely say um the
police have arrested this person on
charges of these things
but I would I would say that based on
the discussions that I heard and the
Shar the lived experience of many people
is that while the violence and the
physical
assault um one person has been arrested
on those charges it was not only one
person or one side that
was
um I don't want to say violent but I
would say I would not say that that the
disagreements that were were happening
or that the conversations that were
having or the animated discussions or
however you want to describe we're
having were solely one-sided or at least
that they weren't perceived as solely
one-sided and so I worry that the
statement as written at least is very
divisive versus saying something to the
effect of what I mentioned earlier where
what was intended to be a
peaceful reality and protest turned
violent because for some it was violent
because they were verbally assaulted as
they tried to leave a restroom while
holding a sign they weren't physically
assaulted but they were verbally
assaulted and
intimidated for others and the example
has written
here I do not know the entire story I
have heard different sides of the story
but in the end there was a person who
took a flag
someone was assaulted and that flag was
attempted to be burned and so that one I
think there's more documentation of but
there are other stories and other lived
experiences that I don't believe this
encapsulates and that's why
I have generally kept it to that there
generally was a level of violence and
intimidation that was occurring that day
which is not in keeping with us as
Albany and our goals and our strives and
I understand as a community as a person
you don't always meet those goals or
morals that you try and set for yourself
U but I felt that this was one that
truly just went beyond um what what
happened and and I think again this is
why I think all those and I truly
appreciate the time that people spent in
talking with us because in hearing those
shared experiences I've learned so much
more and I recognize that I have so much
more to learn but I recognize that that
um we were super cautious in what we
wrote in here because of
that I'll just to briefly add to that I
I think
that gets
to something I was saying earlier
of
I think one of the the things we ran
into in writing is that there are things
that could be in here that start to
become a point of disagreement about the
facts of the state of
play um rather than what we're trying to
say about a statement of our values
um and what the mayor was mentioning is
a good example of that of you know the
what people are saying about what
happened uh at that protest match up 80%
and then there's divergences
um and so I think we uh uh we made a lot
of decisions in a lot of this language
to try and focus it on the statement of
values rather than the points that could
individually then be a point of just
going down the rabbit hole of I disagree
about the statement of fact that the
facts are disagreed on um and I think
you know that's a problem in even our
normal discussions about normal items we
deal with and it's especially an issue
in this one uh so I think that was a
that was a big reason there and why we
stuck with the sort of larger statement
that you've moved down to an more active
clause about that people should be able
to say what they want and no one should
be um attacked or experiened hatred or
anything like
that as a before
you just just before you say anything
just sure to um um that being said I'm
not opposed to necessarily having awas
acknowledging that January 6th happened
right that is a fact it is and this is
where we get into this whole how do we
write the language but like um
acknowledging the January 6 happened
acknowledging you know I we mentioned we
mentioned particularly the violence and
intimidation that has been put upon
elected officials and not even
necessarily talking about our elect
officials actually I think in our
community I personally have not received
any of that there have been heated
discussions and there have been very
pointed comments but that is different
than going after someone personally or
going after someone's family right so I
I do want to acknowledge that so so
having aware as that we acknowledge
January 6 and we acknowledge the greater
instability kind of to have these
peaceful protests in the area I think
I'm I would be comfortable with it would
be much more explicit than than the
whereas that you move to be further
resolved I'm comfortable having that but
it
is it is about how you write that
language to be sensitive to the fact
that that we don't want it to be a
debate
about everyone's telling someone that
their lived experience wasn't their
lived experience
say I appreciate your deliberation and
thoughts and that would ask city clerk
to remove that whereas if she
would I appreciate your openness to
including something but to the point
of not trying to really write in detail
here um I mean I'm obviously pushing the
pushing the envelope with what I'm doing
as it is
um
uh may I offer a change to your now
therefore be it resolved sure yeah the
city of Aly
condemns the violence that occurred on
January 6th of this
year and we could uh yeah so we'd remove
all that up to on January
6th uh in in elero I think we would add
at the
end yeah I guess
enough no no no no I don't mind not I
I'm trepidacious about I have
trepidation about including an Elso
because it's not clear to me that it was
only an Elso y um because you you raised
the point
of various things happen that day and I
would guess from what you've heard they
didn't all happen in elero correct um
so uh I think we do need to say on
January 6th of this year
something about occurred at the at the
protesting counter protest on January 6
otherwise there's no finding so nobody's
G even know what we're talking about
they're going to think we're talking
about
2021 this year so it could just be
occurred at the protest and counter
protest on January
6th at the ceasefire at the ceasefire
protest counter protest
yeah might I also suggest the addition
after violence to
State the violence and hostilities
because uh folks though they may not
have felt uh or endured any specific
type of physical violence um are verbal
um we've have heard and we have seen
many emails where folks have expressed
that they've endured a certain level of
hostility I think that's worth
acknowledging uh in this statement
thank
you um and I think we already I think we
already
um reach consensus on those two findings
being moved to where the to resolve um
and so I think the last thing is whether
or not this gets sent to leaders in
other countries
so this this again comes to um I'm
sorry I'll also take off my mask I I
think this hearkens back to
um our attempt here was to ask really
all sides to come to the table with a
good faith effort and for this to be a
document that was simply being sent to
our US representatives meant that
it could be inferred that our intent was
only for it to be for the US to pressure
Israel as opposed to um the us through
the UN pressuring using pressure to get
all the nations to work together to get
everyone who is a party to this
conversation about finding an end to the
hostilities to the table in good faith
um we understand
that Israeli government doesn't have to
listen to us and probably won't list us
we understand that the the Hamas
leadership well we're not I'm not even
sure where we would mail that to but um
but you know we list we list these other
groups Qatar and Iran because Iran and
Qatar are those are the groups are the
two countries that are working are my
understanding with Hamas on the other
side of the table to come to some form
of end to the hostilities and so we are
trying to pretty much say we would like
this resolution to be sent to everyone
so that everyone understands the pain
and suffering that our community is
going through um that is really being
enacted by the fact that U both sides
are not coming to an agreement on an end
to the
hostilities I I totally understand your
point though
that they may not listen to anything
that we right or or that it's not really
an our perview but yeah it's more that
it's not that they won't listen I mean I
think
that's the the probability they will
listen is di Minimus is a word used in
risk assessment in my world which means
you know so negligible is not even one
thing about um I I will also add one
other thing that are um be further
resolved we before we added yours so
let's just we're put in kind of order of
of what we saw as the most actionable
items we as City Council Members we as a
community can do so the
first further resolved was what can we
as a community do the next was kind of
what we hope for and then who is Ascent
to and I think who was Ascent to
is the the one that that I would just
say they were put in order of of um
where we saw the mo we had the most
impact local to remote yeah to reiterate
and and Echo that point you know like
like I've mentioned a couple times we
had the the the two intents we were
trying to get
to
and this Clause I don't think
is 100% necessary to either of them it
is a sort of standard it's you know the
many of the other resolutions that other
cities have passed have a list of uh
usually American elected officials that
also includes a lot of local ones that
uh we thought you know there may not be
a ton of utility sending it that um but
was also the one
that in the process of editing I had
very little problem editing this Clause
because the lot of what we were trying
to do was recognize more what people are
feeling get more that of what gets
across the intent and nothing that we
changed in this Clause to me really
affected getting across the intent and
making that core statement of values
which was the goal
yes but sending this outside of the
country
is is more than just about the feelings
the intent it's an actual formal act um
that I'm not I'm not comfortable with in
terms of the role of the city I mean the
reason I support this is because our
nation's government is involved in one
side of this and I want to pressure our
nation's leaders to do something
differently
and to me that's the appropriate remit
of this
body
um I I'm not in this to try to
pressure from from my position here to
pressure leaders of governments of other
nations and other bodies to do something
that is beyond for me that is beyond my
remit
I'm I I will just I inclined to leave
leave leave that where that uh be it
further resolved as
is I think I would agree with that I I
get the worry um I I very much do
um but I'm I'm comfortable with it
all right well I guess I'll make a
motion we did not sorry we did not
discuss
um the additional language about
um because the US provides weapons and
as a statement uh so just want to make
sure uh because that is a change in that
um that is probably one of the whereases
that went through many
iterations
um I'll I'll
say this whereas in the language you've
added is a great example
of something I think I mentioned earlier
around I would love to write everything
as simply and clearly as possible often
that was not possible with this
resolution I think the simplest and
clearest way in a lot of ways
that is in the good resolution language
to me was saying this clause and the the
simple way of America is uniquely
situated and that encapsulates a lot of
things
um it's a it's a choice of whether we
spell it out or not but I think it is
not to to have it still as saying that
America is
uniquely involved and able to affect
things here is not saying that there's
not this going on and I think
acknowledges it in some way in that we
are uniquely qualified because we are a
very strong diplomatic link with Israel
and because we are supplying a great
deal of weapons and material support to
them
so the the goal is not to
not acknowledge that it is to
acknowledge that and much more by having
it as we are uniquely qualified in many
different
ways and I just to maybe focus on that a
little bit is that in in in the language
as written you specifically call out is
Israel but the reality is our nation has
also relationships with other countries
in the area who could be doing more to
provide humanitarian they could be doing
more to to allow Palestines a place to
move to safety while the conflict is
going on and so um really by not calling
out Israel we're saying yes we have
influence on Israel but we also have
influence on other countries in the
region uh and we have other methods of
providing influence to try and secure an
end to the hostilities and really the
humanitarian crisis and so
um again there
was a lot of time spent on on when when
and where we call out
um Israel and Hamas essentially in in
this
resolution just chime in my two sense
really quick here is um when I seen the
original statement I think I had very
similar concerns as you Preston or
council member Jordan um but you know
not just coming from the hyper
Progressive in me uh wanting
accountability
but I think it's also important you know
as an elected to like separate that um
my personal bias and experience um and
acknowledg and I think uh council member
tman you hit the nail on the head there
with you know looking for a statement
that more or less encap encapsulates it
all because as that I was going back and
reading it on my own I was like I'm I'm
struggling with this because it's not
calling out what our country is being
complicit with um but then it kind of
took a step back you know took a
breather and you know acknowledged
internally
that if we want to acknowledge what our
country is doing what our country is
complicit with um that would probably be
a couple Pages worth of lifting out
things and uh and so I have my
reservation because this more or less
Cherry picks what uh the US government
is doing but I don't even I don't think
it even scratches the surface of how how
uh horribly complicit our US government
and our federal leaders uh
are uh behav in the situation uh which
is why I'm I'm more or less uh in the
camp of leaving the statement as it
originally was because then again we
risk going down this Rabbit Hole well we
should mention this and this and this
and this and then it just I think it
become tiring because then it's going to
reach a point where nobody's going to
ever be satisfied or it's just GNA
um induce a lot of anger and frustration
as
well thank you again for your
deliberation I appreciate it
um I think uh we can agree city clerk if
you could remove the additions to the
whereas after our nation which I know
is a few different pieces
there
um
I think it's well I think it's our
nation and our
nation's uh was it our nation and our
nation's leaders was the original our
nation and our leaders our nation and
our leaders
okay
and then I think there was maybe
another which killings continue up above
and needed to be
deleted further
up there were two occurrences of that um
yeah wish killings continued to increase
so there's a a prior instance of that
yeah that needs to be
deleted
okay I'll briefly just State thank you
city clerk for doing this on the flight
we appreciate it real
time so I think I think we've reached
agreement except on the last bit which
is whether to Senate outside the country
or not maybe I'm wrong could we scroll
down so I can make sure I'm remembering
everything that's in
there
I think under the last whereas if we
could please strike the colon and and
change that to period
pleas thank you I double checked that I
was doing that correctly in the original
version so for the record I'd like to
say that Preston added that and
not it was in Red so yes thank you
I'm related to too many lawyers to let
that go unnoticed
so this is a unique situation I wouldn't
normally obsess about words so much but
this is pretty much all about
words yes I was very glad that Aaron
joined me council member tedan joined
me
did not want us to end up editing
language on the Das as I said but I I
appreciate the discussion about it again
I think there are't a lot of councils
that could have this sort of discussion
um so it I am appreciative um that we
have and I
think I'm always very attached my own
language I can make my peace with this I
I would still disagree with the the
changes to the final Clause I I think it
from my perspective it costs us nothing
to
include I'm happy to yield on
that in the spirit of Comedy not comedy
but comedy with a
t so City Clerk in that case we would um
unri uh um in the last Clause be it
further resolved um un strike everything
that's red I don't know if that's actual
edits or if that's just a stri their
edits okay but I mean I think is that a
right she's not gonna be able to she's
not gonna be able to un strike it I
don't well maybe oh yeah right on okay
this okay
great city clerk if I may ask that if we
could go to the top of the Proclamation
just to verify that we've gone through
all items um so I will ask and I know
Aaron won't like this but I will ask um
there is the naming of the resolution
and um I this is absolutely the one that
in all of our conversations and
particularly in our conversations with
Aaron and I we have gone back and forth
quite a bit
um I I will say that for the purposes of
bringing it to the council I felt
comfortable leaving it a
ceire but I
um I do agree with some of those that
I've heard in the public about the title
being ceasefire and the use of any
resolution that we pass um having the
term ceasefire in the title at least uh
there
is perhaps disagreement but there is um
there are those who perhaps are not
within our community who are using
anything that passes with a with the
term ceasefire simply a pointer to lay
blame on one part
so I would
um I don't know how you all feel about
the title but I I would be open to the
title being changed to include and I'm
going to pull this up uh both for myself
and for the city clerk uh that it be
changed to and I will read this but then
I can get tell you the exact wording
again a res a resolution of the Albany
city council sporting efforts for a path
to long-term peace and stability in
Gaza uh so again we're supporting
efforts we are you know we're not
creating long-term peace but we're
supporting efforts um and then I believe
that our whereas Clauses really are or
there therefore be it resolved list the
ceasefire list the humanitarian and so
it really is our goal is really all of
that there were others in the community
who had uh you know trying to make that
that resolution be even more focused on
us I do think um long I do think
something in the effect of to long-term
peace and stability in Gaza um uh is an
option but
I'm I'm also comfortable leaving a Cesar
but I think I did think it was
appropriate for us to have a
conversation at least about the
title uh you're right mayor
um as as we discussed I
I feel quite strongly that I think we
should leave it as is uh I think that is
the overarching point uh that is and if
this is going to
be used by others I think that will
happen regardless of what we name it the
title does not define everything that's
in the resolution it also Define doesn't
Define the meaning That Others May
ascribe to it um but it is that is I
feel the accurate title because it is
the Top Line it it is not everything we
want to say but a title by definition
can't be everything we want to say
that's why the rest of the resolution is
there but it is the
topof line issue and I think gets at
the one of the biggest impetuses of why
we're doing this and what we want to
say I I would say uh personally I would
prefer to leave the language ceasefire
or leave as is um just because I think
if we go back and forth with this we're
going to spend way more time than we
want to on debating on what a title
should look like um
especially if this end up becoming like
a two verse two type of situation um I
think uh at the end of the day similar
to what council member tman had alluded
to you know title to titles it's you
know the content that matters but titles
are what uh also more or less Define the
whole the whole product
um if if it going to be changed
um would I would have a lot of
reluctance towards that um but certainly
wouldn't stop me from you know you know
using my platform my positionality to
still publicly call and refer to as a
seire so Aon and I've had this
conversation quite a few times so I will
just say that I I am again I am
comfortable keeping Cesar in in the
language I just wanted to make sure that
we had a conversation about it I will
offer one other alternative and then if
there's no support for it I'm fine with
leaving the title as is but it would be
changing it to a resolution of the Alban
city council supporting an immediate
bilateral ceasefire in
Gaza um sorry bilateral
ceasefire uh to support a path to to
long-term peace and stability in Gaza so
it would be adding in the long-term
peace and
stability so we have the word ceasefire
but why do we want the ceasefire
just throwing it out there yeah I I
appreciate you raising it for discussion
that's a lot of what I've done just to
fully flesh it out um in the public
record
um I prefer the title The Way It Is
proposed um because to me that the
reason I'm supporting this is because of
the the starvation that is occurring and
the mass starvation that is that is
imminent which is all about immediate
bilateral ceasefire um it
is to me I don't have
particular judgment on anything beyond
that I'll remove my okay all right
thanks I I don't need to look to Aaron
to know where landed this one um I did
remember something else that that was
commented upon which was civilian
prisoners so I'm wondering if you could
talk to that yes I meant to elaborate on
that earlier so so
um
we again every word that we chose we
chose
cautiously um the term civilian prisoner
to us and our understanding of what the
Israeli government uses that to be is um
in this case would be any Palestinian
who was
arrested but not charged with a crime
and so those in in Palestine who were
arrested so the example given of I
believe it was 23-year-old who had done
some killings that is not considered a
civilian um
prisoner um so so that was our
distinction so those who have committed
crimes are not included that
um I'll I'll just add to that of saying
that yes that that is one thing that I
think came out of our meetings uh you
know one we met with several uh
Palestinian Arab business owners in in
Albany who made the point of you know
with with how the discourse has gone so
far if you just say unconditional
release of all hostages it doesn't
necessarily read as saying that you also
think that a great number of
Palestinians who have committed no crime
should also be freed um who who are
currently detained um so that was an
attempt to explicitly recognize that um
again
it's a good example of in a simpler
world we could make a simpler statement
that could be read to include all
parties but that is not the world in
which we exist in
currently so if I'm understanding
correctly CI civilian prisoner is the
term that Israel uses to refer to
prisoners who are not indicted
essentially but they're in
prison because it it doesn't because it
doesn't it doesn't read it's like not
obvious at all to me being steeped in
this I will say also that you know
it's it's a it it is an attempt to to
acknowledge a greater variety of people
who are prisoners and who should be
released there's no perfect way to say
that because again this is one of those
doors that you can open that you get
into a discussion of what constitutes a
just prisoner of war uh who should be
considered that and how do you say that
in a succinct way that doesn't end up
putting a research paper in the middle
of our resolution right I I know it is
not it is a it is a term of art that I
am advocating for a reading of uh but I
think it gets at the the point
of we are saying that a large number of
people need to be released and those are
not just on one side of this conflict uh
and that's what we were trying to get to
and and came directly from discussing
this with people in the
community and and I would emphasize
that in all conversations it was truly
those who it was never intended to
equate those who were taken as hostages
and those who Israel has detained and
put in prison for crimes that they will
be charged with right so or have been
charged with um so we weren't that was
not what we intended when we said
civilian
prisoners actually I believe Israel
calls anyone who's been
imprisoned and is considered to be an
Endy combatant to be different than a
civilian prisoner sorry like there there
there there is a different category wait
so there three three categories we are
not talking about anyone who has been
involved in the war we're not talking
about anyone who's been charged with a
crime that maybe wasn't necessarily
completely related with the war we but
those who are being detained or
imprisoned but not charged because it
reads on his face in this context as all
prisoners who are not combatants or in
the
military so it would be the equivalent
of every prisoner in this country other
than those in Quanto I guess those are
all
civilians um so that's how it read to me
as a lay person if you will I mean it
seems like the term that would generally
be used would be political prisoner but
that would introduce the doctoral thesis
in the middle of the resolution so um I
appreciate the discussion I don't think
there's a whole lot that can be done
around that um but I didn't want to let
it go by without
asking um since the resolves do now
include the statement or resolves on the
local situation I don't know if the
title should include something in that
regard
I don't think we need to change it
okay I look to the authors
to I will move passage of the resolution
with the changes that we have agreed
on and that being resolution
20246 yes I'm just looking at you
because that's what you do every time I
make a motion and I forget to include
the res resolution number I appreciate
your commitment to Roberts Rules of
Order uh yes I would move resolution
2024-the on uh in the council discussion
second mayor Mickey yes council member
Jordan yes council member tan yes vice
mayor Lopez yes and the motion carries
I want to thank everyone who
participated today and in all past
Council meetings upon this um about this
topic again I please ask you to
refrain I believe as as council member
tman mentioned um while this has not
always been a comfortable conversation
for all in the room and
online um I am very thankful to all the
participated and all that kept this a
very civil and um uh uh safe environment
to have conversations and have a
discussion um with that I will adjourn
this special meeting of the Alban city
council thank you very
much
e