An open letter to Mayor Breed: Request to Veto Ceasefire Resolution

Dear Mayor Breed,

I am a local metal artist, and a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. I have been making Judaica, from a universal perspective— in San Francisco for over 25 years. I have always been an interfaith advocate, and I have always been a proponent of peace.

 

I can’t think of anyone who would want to support the killing of innocent people anywhere, least of all me.  I do not support the current right wing government in Israel. (Hundreds of thousands of Israelis, including many of my family members, have protested this.)  But this ceasefire resolution is as irrelevant as my opinions on Israel. Worse yet, it is causing more division in our city, and it does nothing to help the complex and dire situation in Israel/Gaza.

 

There are already antisemitic murals, calls/signs to boycott businesses owned by Jews, anti-Israel graffiti everywhere I look. Jewish families are leaving the Oakland Unified school district in droves. They fear for the safety of their Jewish children. Beyond that, our city’s politics, have nothing to do with what’s going on in Israel/Gaza.

 

The Anti-Israel movement is intimidating, loud, bullying, and spouting misinformation and lies. They don’t want to share the land but only to wipe us off the map— while ironically accusing us of genocide. They massacre and rape us.  And they claim that this “resistance” is justified.  They are ignorant of Jewish history and try to rewrite it.

 

In short, living in the San Francisco as a Jew is terrifying every day now. Ceasefire resolutions like these only make our lives worse.

 

I would like to ask you from the bottom of my heart to please veto the resolution.

 

Thanks for your consideration.