Prominent Democratic party leaders in California, as well as pro-Israel Jewish groups in the Bay Area, have condemned expressions of support for Hamas and conspiracy theories questioning the 7 October attacks aired at a heated Oakland city council debate on Monday.
The California congressman Adam Schiff said it was shocking to hear people “downplay, deny or even seek to justify” the “horrific attacks, rapes, killings and kidnappings” carried out by Hamas. Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California, also posted on social media that Hamas was a terrorist organization that “must be called out for what they are: evil”.
The Democratic leaders were responding to edited video clips of comments made by members of the public at an Oakland city council debate on a ceasefire resolution calling for an immediate end to the Israel-Hamas war. The remarks, some of which portrayed Hamas as justified “armed resistance”, were lambasted as a “disgrace” by the pro-Israel group Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC).
In an indication of the political foment that the Israel-Hamas conflict is spawning in cities across the US, there was equally strong pushback to the video clips from pro-Palestinian groups in the Bay Area. They claimed that the remarks had been highly edited to misrepresent people’s positions as part of a malicious propaganda campaign designed to discourage calls for a ceasefire.
The contentious comments were made in the buildup to a vote of Oakland city council which, after hours of public discussion, unanimously adopted the resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.
The motion was carefully worded in an attempt to garner consensus behind calls for peace. It demands protection and security for “all innocent civilians” and the “release of all hostages”, as well as unrestricted humanitarian aid for Gaza.
The resolution’s sponsor, the councilmember Carroll Fife, described the document as having been consciously crafted to “depoliticize” the language and “bring the sides together”. It echoes demands raised by progressive Democrats in Congress in House resolution HR 786 that urges the Biden administration to press for an immediate de-escalation of the hostilities.
A temporary ceasefire is in place in Gaza but is scheduled to expire on Friday. So far about 100 hostages have been released from Gaza, with 160 still being held, according to Israel; a total of 180 Palestinians have been released from Israeli prisons.
The contentious remarks at Oakland’s debate were prompted by a proposed amendment condemning Hamas for the 7 October attacks, which was voted down 6 to 2. As the amendment was being read out, there were loud boos from the public floor, according to the Associated Press.
The video clips circulated on social media showed individual members of the public repeating conspiracy theories disputing that the 7 October attacks were carried out by Hamas.
“The notion that this was a massacre of Jews is fabricated narrative,” one public attendee said of the attacks inside Israel. Other public speakers offered unconditional backing to Hamas. “I support the right of the Palestinian people to resist occupation, including through Hamas, the armed wing of the unified Palestinian resistance,” one woman said.
Several speakers said that to condemn Hamas was racist or a form of white supremacy. “Calling Hamas a terrorist organization is ridiculous, racist and plays into genocidal propaganda,” said another.
A woman was heard in the edited clips saying: “As an Arab, asking with this context to condemn Hamas is very anti-Arab racist.” In a longer version of her comments posted separately, she also states that she is a non-Palestinian Lebanese citizen who has “survived three Israeli invasions … Seventy-five years of Israeli colonization, and now we want to condemn Hamas.”
The charged scenes in the Oakland council chamber were just the latest manifestation of the political turmoil that is spreading across cities and neighborhoods. Ceasefire resolutions have already been passed in the nearby city of Richmond, California; in two cities in Michigan where large numbers of Arab Americans live; as well as in Atlanta, Georgia; Akron, Ohio; Wilmington, Delaware; and Providence, Rhode Island.
JCRC, the pro-Israel coalition of Jewish organisations in the Bay Area, denounced the Oakland council meeting as “a complete disgrace” and warned that it would fan the flames of antisemitism across the region. The coalition’s marketing director, Jeremy Russell, who was present at the debate, told the Guardian that it was “an incredibly unpleasant experience. There was anger and hatred bandied about for hours and hours.”
Russell added that for him the most disturbing element was “people who justified the atrocities committed by Hamas”.
The councilmember who proposed the failed amendment condemning Hamas, Dan Kalb, said that he was sympathetic to the sentiment behind the resolution. “I understand the desire for a ceasefire now because too many people are dying, I understand wanting civilians not to be killed – who could say no to that?”
But he said that he had been “very angry and upset at some of the ridiculous and absurd testimony that was heard at the meeting, that Hamas was not a terrorist organization and did not commit mass murder. Trying to downplay what happened, that’s just nuts.”
Supporters of the ceasefire resolution protested that the edited video clips gave a false impression of the meeting. Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, said the ceasefire resolution was “extremely moderate in tone and emphasizes the urgent need for ending the war on Gaza”.
She said most of the speakers at Monday’s debate, which she attended, echoed the language of the resolution itself. “People spoke out in vast numbers to support the resolution, including Jewish community members,” Kiswani said.
The Bay Area chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which backed the ceasefire motion, said that it did not agree with “every single comment” at the meeting. But “overall the hearing was a peaceful gathering of residents”.
In a statement given to the Guardian, JVP suggested the video clips were part of a “malicious propaganda campaign” designed to “undermine Oakland’s life-affirming resolution”.
