Ultra-liberal residents of the Californian city of Oakland booed their Jewish neighbors and denied the Hamas October 7 attack at a shocking town meeting on Monday night.
The city council was voting on a permanent ceasefire resolution demanding peace in the Middle East and residents spent six hours sharing their thoughts, starting with a moment of silence for civilian victims.
At the end of the meeting, the resolution was passed unanimously. Local Jewish groups say it was a futile exercise that will have no bearing on the conflict and will only serve to spread anti-Semitism in the US.
Among those there was Jewish City Councilmember Dan Kalb, who was eviscerated when he dared to suggest that the wording of the resolution be changed to include the October 7 attack.
He didn't want to whitewash October 7, and felt it was appropriate to add it into the resolution before voting on it, but was met with the fury of local residents who said it was 'racist' to call Hamas a terrorist organization.
Other Jewish residents were booed when they took to the podium to suggest that the language be amended.
WATCH: Last night's #Oakland City Council meeting was disturbing. The council chambers were plagued for hours with support for terrorists, #antisemitism, and denial of the October 7th attacks. The Jewish community in the Bay Area stands strong against hate, and we call on our… pic.twitter.com/9cbHcGFMAw
— JCRC Bay Area (@SFJCRC) November 28, 2023'Calling Hamas a terrorist organization is ridiculous, racist and plays into genocidal propaganda that is flooding our media and that we should be doing everything possible to combat,' said one young woman who concealed her face with a COVID mask
This woman alleged that Israel killed its own citizens. 'There's not been beheadings of babies and rapings. Israel murdered their own people on October 7th!' she said
'I support the right of Palestinians to resist occupation including through Hamas, the armed wing of the unified Palestinian resistance,' said another young resident in a COVID mask
'As an Arab asking with this context to condemn Hamas is very anti-Arab racist,' said this resident
This man told the meeting: 'To hear [Israel] complain about Hamas violence is like listening to a wife beater complain when his wife finally stands up and fight back.'
A young man draped in a keffiyeh called it 'atrocity propaganda' to claim Hamas beheaded babies and raped women
'The notion that this was a massacre of Jews is a fabricated narrative. Many of those killed on October 7th including children were killed by the IDF. An amendment condemning Hamas is bald propaganda,' said this woman
'Question: Did anyone else notice that those who oppose this resolution are old white supremacists?'
Instead, they said IDF killed their own people and claimed any suggestion otherwise was 'genocidal propaganda'.
Tye Gregory, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council for the Bay Area, was also there. He described it as 'one of the most anti-Semitic rooms' he'd ever been in.
He blasted the local city council for even holding the meeting when the result will have zero impact on the conflict.
'They should focus on policing and housing and education issues and not the most intractable foreign policy issue we have on the planet,' he told Jewish News of Northern California.
Many of those who spoke in favor of Hamas covered their faces with N-95 Covid masks. These were their comments.
'There's not been beheadings of babies and rapings. Israel murdered their own people on October 7th!'
Jewish City Councilmember Dan Kalb tried to have the wording amended to include a condemnation of the October 7 attack.
The resolution passed unanimously. Local Jewish groups say it is a futile exercise and will only spread antisemitism while having zero impact on the conflict in the Middle East
'Calling Hamas a terrorist organization is ridiculous, racist and plays into genocidal propaganda that is flooding our media and that we should be doing everything possible to combat.'
'I support the right of Palestinians to resist occupation including through Hamas, the armed wing of the unified Palestinian resistance.'
'As an Arab asking with this context to condemn Hamas is very anti-Arab racist.'
'The notion that this was a massacre of Jews is a fabricated narrative. Many of those killed on October 7th including children were killed by the IDF.
An amendment condemning Hamas is bald propaganda.'
'To hear them complain about Hamas violence is like listening to a wife beater complain when his wife finally stands up and fight back.'
'Question: Did anyone else notice that those who oppose this resolution are old white supremacists?'
'There's been a lot of atrocity propaganda ranging from claims of beheaded babies to mass rape.'
'Hamas is not a terrorist organization just because the US and Israel deems it so.
'Hamas is a resistance organization that is fighting for the liberation of Palestinian people in their land.'
The resolution passed unanimously. Kalb said he was 'disappointed' in his colleagues for not supporting him.