Shall we give peace a chance? I’m not referring at the moment to the Middle East but to Santa Monica, where the City Council took an unexpectedly calming and nuanced approach to the battles encompassing our community over the bloodshed in Gaza and Israel.
I’ll confess that I was dubious when local activists initially demanded that the City Council issue a ceasefire resolution. My question was why should Santa Monica be weighing in on a war thousands of miles away? And why would we want to bring the inflamed rhetoric and deep wounds of that war to the shores of our city?
But then I realized that it’s already here. In the anti-Semitic swastikas on our streets and the Islamophobic comments in our parks. In the impassioned pleas to save lives and the callous disregard for lives lost, sometimes by the same people. Our community is divided, and those divisions, like others in our nation, threaten our stability and our future.
So the Council was obligated to say something. Still, I dreaded what it would be, and, I must admit, I dreaded writing about it. Not for a lack of thought on the topic, but there’s so much pain, for myself and for so many in our community, that I doubted if I could find words to unite and heal. I still hope to do so. But right now, the councilmembers have come to my rescue, and I want to share some of their words and actions with those who may not have watched the more than nine (!) hours of last week’s Council meeting.
It would have been more than eleven hours, if the Council hadn’t reduced individual allotted time to one minute from the customary two minutes, since over 130 people spoke for and against the ceasefire resolution. Even so, the Council didn’t vote on the resolution until nearly two in the morning.
Yet Councilmember Torosis stated "It is our honor and privilege to be able to sit here and listen to members of the public," and proving the point, Councilmember Negrete remained present until the end, despite undergoing chemotherapy the previous day.
We are fortunate to live in a country where citizens have the right to speak out without fear of reprisal, and it’s admirable that so many chose to passionately do so at the Council meeting. However, there was far more emotional truth than factual accuracy, which isn’t surprising, but, in a time of so much misinformation, it’s unhelpful. And too many participants chose to use their freedom of speech to drown out opposing views.
Mayor Brock admonished the unruly attendees. "I think a lot of you are here because you don’t think one side is respecting the other right now," he said. "I would request in this house, the people’s house, that all of you show respect to each other."
His words didn’t have the desired effect, and, sadly, it was people advocating most ardently for peace who were the most combative. Yet despite multiple warnings that those interrupting the meeting would be removed, as per Council protocol, the Mayor chose forbearance over force and succeeded in preventing escalation in the level of vitriol.
The resolution itself is a carefully calibrated and even Solomonic effort to bring wisdom and humility to a grievous topic. It doesn’t presume to solve the crisis or resolve our feelings about it. Rather, it’s a simple call for peace in its purest form, both in the Middle East and most especially here in Santa Monica. No doubt there will be some who are disappointed by it on all sides, but that is almost required for any sincere effort at peacemaking. Councilmember Zwick gets credit for taking the lead in crafting the resolution, and he delivered a statement so heartfelt and compelling that I’d be doing an injustice if I merely quoted it. So instead I’m appending his entire statement to the end of this column, and I strongly encourage everyone to read it and the Council’s resolution in their entirety.
In my first two columns for the Santa Monica Daily Press, I pointed out when councilmembers strayed from facts, and most likely I will do so again. But giving credit to public servants when they effectively serve the public is equally important, if not more so. Jesus said "Blessed are the peacemakers," but he didn’t have to run for elected office. We often claim peace is our greatest goal, and both Jews and Muslims use the word for peace in their daily greetings. Yet extending an olive branch to neighbors remains an act of moral and political courage. The Council did their part, now it’s up to us.
Statement by Councilmember Jesse Zwick
"First off, I should just start by saying that I don’t particularly love it when we as a council must go outside of the boundaries of our city’s jurisdiction, and I’m quite aware that as a small city in California the actions of this council are on the whole deeply, deeply insignificant when it comes to one of the most ancient and intractable of conflicts around the world. But two things are true: As a body we are asked to and we regularly weigh in on issues around the world from public health programs administered by our county, to the rights of women in Iran, to the war in the Ukraine. That’s just enumerating some from the past year. All of which we have no direct power over other than the ceremonial weight of our office. Second, there are clearly a lot of people in our community who feel deeply about this issue and who’ve brought their feelings to the attention of this body. Many of whom have called for us to weigh in, and that’s why I chose to do so.
"The terrible attack of October 7 and the repercussions of the war that have resulted have caused so much pain and suffering in Israel and Gaza, around the world, and right here in our community. Personally, speaking as a Jew, as a father, as a believer in the ideals behind the founding of the state of Israel, and as a close friend to both Israelis and Palestinians who have lost lives and family members in this conflict, these last eight months have weighed incredibly heavily on my heart. The language before you, which, to be frank, I wish more people read closely, was crafted in close consultation with local experts in the field of Holocaust and genocide studies and remembrance and was an attempt to craft a series of statements so obvious in their factual basis and universal in their values that they might bridge a terrible divide in our community. Obviously, that hasn’t quite succeeded.
"Though I imagine it's unlikely that any attempt could do otherwise in this moment. The temperature is too high. The tribalism on all sides runs too deep. But I would encourage everyone in this community and on this dais to read and engage with the words in the resolution itself. It does not demand a ceasefire without preconditions, in fact there are several, including the immediate release of all hostages taken by Hamas. It does not minimize the violence and victimization of Jews and Israelis. It leads with the terrible tragedy and loss of life on October 7th. It does not draw false moral equivalencies between Hamas, which is a US designated terrorist organization, and the state of Israel. It demands the end of Hamas rule in Gaza. It does not ignore local acts of anti-Semitism. It explicitly calls them out and condemns them. At the end of the day, I am just a father who does not want to see any more kids die in this conflict. I don’t expect people to be happy with each word in this resolution. In fact, if ultra partisans on all sides come away unhappy tonight, I will call that a win."
Devan Sipher
