As Dean Preston — the Jewish son of someone who narrowly escaped the Holocaust — read aloud a message from his Palestinian-American friend, he struggled to hold back tears.
“Seven more members of my family have been killed overnight and this morning,” said a visibly emotional Preston, reciting the message from his friend. “At least 100 have already been killed since October 7.”
That brief yet painful message set the tone for the Dec. 5 Board of Supervisors meeting at City Hall, where Preston introduced a resolution calling for a “Sustained Ceasefire in Gaza, Humanitarian Aid, Release of Hostages, and Condemning Antisemitic, Anti-Palestinian, and Islamophobic Rhetoric and Attacks.”
The meeting lasted just under nine hours and saw countless people lined up for public comment, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which killed nearly 1,200 Israelis, nearly 18,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the result of relentless Israeli air and missile strikes.
Preston spoke eloquently and movingly about the lasting trauma the Holocaust had on his father and family, and the very real grief that many Jews have felt since Oct. 7.
“It is beyond tragic to see anti-semitic opportunists and conspiracy theorists seize this moment to deny atrocities against Jews, and equally tragic how the real pain and trauma of Jewish people is weaponized by the right-wing and rising anti-democratic forces in our country and around the world,” Preston said.
“I believe the resolution is compelled by the moment and offers an opportunity for us to come together in defense of human life,” Preston continued. “I want to be very clear about my intentions in putting this forward. To add our voice to the chorus of international human rights organizations and humanitarian organizations, countries, cities, labor unions and city residents, who are calling for an end to the violence, destruction and death that is taking place overseas. And to acknowledge the pain and trauma that these events have had on many people here in our city.”
The horrific images that have emerged from Gaza in the last two months have spurred multiple protests and demonstrations worldwide. In that time, we’ve seen traffic stopped on the Bay Bridge, student-led walkouts at high schools, colleges and hospitals, and massive demonstrations across the City. The Bay Area cities of Richmond and Oakland have already passed resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Public comment, which went on for nearly seven hours, included a diverse array of voices.
“As a Palestinian teenager, I am struggling alongside many other youth. We are watching people that look like us, getting butchered and killed in a mass genocide,” said Helena, a 16-year-old Palestinian youth leader from Arab Youth Organizing, during public comment. “We protest weekly and daily with the same tears because we are in this together…We watch children our age safe collective punishment for crimes they did not commit. Why should they live in fear, just for existing?”
Among the first to voice support for Preston’s resoltution, which is co-sponsored by District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen, was Brandon Lee. Lee barely survived an assassination attempt on his life in 2019 for his activist work in defending the Igorot indigenous people of the Philippines.
“This board of supervisors unanimously came to my defense and condemned the Philippine military for that attack. The public stance this board takes on the side of the people have a global impact and your actions make a difference. I am proof of that,” Lee said. Today I come before you once again to stand with my Palestinian indigenous brothers and sisters to ask every board member to support the resolution for permanent ceasefire as it is written and send an unequivocal message that San Francisco stands against genocide. I want to remind the board, there is no pause to genocide, there is only stopping it.”
Lisa Rofel, a member of the Bay Area Chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace who has lived in San Francisco for 40 years, also spoke in support of a ceasefire.
“I can’t stand that this is being done in our name, this genocidal violence, I can’t stand it,” Rofel said. “We stand with our Arab and Palestinian communities in urging a ceasefire. Standing for a cease fire is not anti-semitic. Standing for a cease fire is not divisive. It is the only way to bring true and lasting peace — at least the first step. I was raised as a orthodox Jew. I was taught that Judaism stands for social justice. That every single life is precious. It is because of my Jewish ethics I’m here today speaking in favor of a ceasefire resolution that seems very clear and straightforward to me.”
In an age where Congress — with the passing of House Resolution 894 — has decided that “anti-Zionism is antisemitism,” not all serving on the board seem to support the resolution.
Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area called the resolution “divisive” and held a gathering in front of City Hall before the meeting, which was attended by Supervisors Catherine Stefani, Rafael Mandelman, Matt Dorsey, Myrna Melgar and California State Senator Scott Wiener. The gathering included 136 Israeli flags planted in the ground, one for each hostage.
“I want to put into the public record that the Jewish Community Relations Council does not speak for all of the Jews of San Francisco,” said Alexei Folger. “They say this resolution is divisive. If this resolution is divisive and their position is just, where is their counter resolution? They don’t have one … The best they can do is call for no resolution, which is calling for complicity via silence and San Francisco is better than that.”
It is unclear if the resolution will be voted on before the end of the year.
