Failed Fairfield City Council Ceasefire Resolution

 

Greetings City Council Members, Mayor and Vice Mayor -

I’m Karen Yuen, a 33-year Fairfield resident who raised two girls in the Fairfield Suisun school district. I’m also a 45-year follower of Christ who believes the massacre of God’s children in the Holy Land needs to stop… and the first step is a permanent ceasefire. What started as Israelis right to self-defense from Hamas' horrific killing and kidnapping of  over1400 Israelis has spiraled into the slaughter of over 25,000 Palestinians, of which over 10,000 are children.

It breaks my heart that the US has given about $18 billion and weaponry to Israel in 2023 and early 2024. We are funding and weaponizing the mass killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals and schools, and other infrastructure necessary for water and survival… while also putting our US service members at risk. Please show that the city of Fairfield has the humanity and integrity to call for a ceasefire resolution now. Thank you. 

This is all I could say in the one-minute limit as there were over 80 other people who wanted to speak (about 60 in person, 20 on zoom) on a Ceasefire Resolution, the majority of who spoke in favor. I got there early, around 5:30, not knowing what to expect regarding the crowds and the room did get to "standing room only." There was quite a large police presence there (including Police Chief Dan Marshall), much more than necessary since EVERYBODY was courteous and polite. It went pretty much as I expected in that the council, especially Mayor Cat Moy, already had their minds made up that they wouldn't pass any resolution... that they would listen to the speakers and try to placate us with words of empathy. Some I felt were sincere (such as Rick Vaccaro and Vice Mayor Pam Bertani) whereas others were more "thoughts and prayers" statements. In fact, the mayor is instead putting forward a policy at their next Council meeting on 2/20 to NOT entertain any such resolutions as they feel it is out of their purview as city council members to make statements/resolutions about world affairs. They basically told us to write to our Congresspeople (as if we hadn't already been doing that) and wanted to pass the buck.  As at least one man said, we have been writing to John Garamendi and other representatives and got no response. It was our hope that their voices as our representatives would be able to speak to Garamendi et al. Instead, we've been told that they won't do that and will instead make it so that they never have to listen to our concerns on national/world affairs again. 

I grew up in Richmond and they were able to pass a Ceasefire Resolution which both denounced Hamas' actions as well as the Israeli massacre of Palestinians back in October. It would not have taken much effort for Fairfield's Council to use that as a template and update it accordingly, but they've made it clear that they don't want anymore meetings like last night's where they had to listen to their constituents for 2-3 hours as they don't feel it's in their "jurisdiction" to take a stand for peace. 

Main arguments given against a Ceasefire resolution were: 

• "Hamas' charter has stated that they want to eradicate Israel" - Not every Palestinian is Hamas. Why are we funding Israel to attack all the civilians, hospitals, schools, infrastructure? How would we feel if all of Fairfield was bombed and destroyed because some militant White Supremacist  group based in Fairfield killed 1200 residents of a Bay Area town, declaring that liberals, immigrants and criminals are trying to take over their country and must be eliminated?  The White Supremacists are in the minority in Fairfield (I hope), and the rest of the residents should not pay for their crimes. Neither should Palestinians be punished because of Hamas' acts.
• "Hamas started it on October 7" - "For 75 years, the Israeli government has maintained a military occupation over Palestinians, operating an apartheid regime. Palestinian children are dragged from their beds in pre-dawn raids by Israeli soldiers and held without charge in Israeli military prisons. Palestinians homes are torched by mobs of Israeli settlers, or destroyed by the Israeli army. Entire Palestinian villages are forced to flee, abandoning the homes and orchards and land that were in their family for generations" (Jewish Voice for Peace)
• "Antisemitism has risen" - Islamophobia has also risen. Perhaps we put forth a resolution like Richmond did and address this locally also? Some speakers talked about how they or their kids were bullied in school or at the mall, etc. The council said this needs to be brought up to the school district (again passing the buck).  They mentioned how they pride themselves on a diverse city. How about we have a resolution or policy that, at least in Fairfield, we will not condone Racism, Antisemitism, Islamophobia etc. and the council works with the school district to ensure measures are taken? That the resolution's not just a "symbolic gesture"? 
• This is a very difficult conversation that causes divisiveness - There is divisiveness whether you discuss it or not. The conversation is not what's causing the divisiveness - the root cause is hatred and consequently war. We are unique in that we are the home to Travis AFB. None of us should like war, yet here we are weaponizing and funding Israeli's war on Palestinians. It's not lost on me that all three of the soldiers killed in Jordan were Black. Recruiters purposely target disadvantaged communities and you won't see politicians or their kids getting killed like this. How about we REALLY stand up for our armed forces and Travis AFB by letting the nation's leaders know that we are NOT good with financing and weaponizing Israel Defense Forces? And we don't need to put our soldiers in harm's way by helping Netanyahu escalate this massacre?
• This is out of our jurisdiction - Is it out of your jurisdiction to take a stand for peace? Fairfield council members should be proud that everyone at the meeting was respectful and we could be using that as an example to other cities. Instead, we want to take the safe route and "both sides" this issue. This is not an issue of Jews vs Muslims (Palestinians can be Jewish, Muslim and Christian) - this is an issue of mass murder in the Holy Land that they share. If enough cities like Richmond, Oakland and Fairfield stand up for what's right, perhaps the National and World leaders will listen to the people and stop funding and weaponizing Netanyahu’s war on Palestinians. But we won't know if we look away.