Backlash Grows Against SF Board Of Supervisors Cease-Fire Resolution

The backlash against last weeks vote by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to issue an Israel-Hamas War cease-fire resolution continued to grow this week, with Mayor Breed and more and more residents speaking out against the Board’s decision.

Since late last year, San Francisco supervisors had been discussing on issuing a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, as well as condemning both Hamas and the Israeli’s for their decisions in the war. While many cities issued similar resolutions before, such as Oakland  in November 2023, few larger cities had passed something like it. In San Francisco, Palestinian supporters and Israel supporters clashed over the idea of a resolution. During discussion, known antisemites got on the microphone, denouncing Israel, and didn’t even mention a cease-fire. However, pro-resolution votes won out, and on January 9th, the Board passed the Resolution 8-3.

The Jewish President of the Board of Supervisors, Aaron Peskin, said after the vote, “I wanted to use the opportunity to bridge San Franciscans on both sides of the issue I don’t know that there’s any way to successfully do that given how deep the divisions and the hurt and the horror and the pain are.”

While Palestinian groups praised the decision, many residents and groups denounced it. Jewish groups in particular came out against it.

Former Assemblyman and current Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League Marc Levine said, “I was once an Assembly member and I never aligned myself with people that were the angriest and the ones that have called for violence. That was repellent for me and I think that’s what our communities are looking for. As for our elected leaders to have a moral clarity, to condemn this violence and disassociate themselves from it.”

Dr. Rich Malley, a charity coordinator for several Catholic charities sending aid to Israel, added, “The resolution just divides people more. We don’t need that right now. We have Israeli hostages still there, and several Americans. Passing a resolution like this, even though it condemns Hamas, is only hurting things.”

Cease-Fire Resolution strife

Earlier this week, Mayor London Breed added to the dissent against the Resolution by coming out against it. In a statement earlier this week, her remarks echoed the San Francisco groups and citizens rallying against the resolution.

“What happened at the Board of Supervisors during this last month did not reflect our values,” said Breed. “The Board’s process only inflamed division and hurt. Many outside San Francisco do not draw the distinction between eight district supervisors and the official view of San Francisco. So let me be clear: what happened at the Board of Supervisors does not speak for or on behalf of the entire city. I don’t think any statement or resolution can do that. Our people do that. Our values do that.”

While resentment against the resolution is still growing, there has yet to be an active effort, as of Wednesday, to remove the Resolution, or at least alter it into something less inflammatory, Experts on city and county-level decisions and resolutions on international events told the Globe on Wednesday that these sorts of actions have little to do with international efforts and are more theater.

“These sorts of resolutions are often used to let people get steam out during all those endless meetings as well as give those leaders some sort of experience with large events from far away,” Jessica Duane, a Washington-based think tank researcher on relationships between local governments and international affairs, told the Globe Wednesday. “This isn’t just San Francisco. Atlanta, Detroit, Oakland, Albany. They all passed ceasefires. And if you look at the theater around them, they all had the same beats. I mean, if you think San Francisco had a lot of Pro-Palestinian supporters for the resolution, you didn’t see how many came out in Detroit. And this is all lawmakers making a stand too. Keep these City Councilor and Supervisors names in handy, because five, ten years down the line, when they run for the House or Senate and need to show how they had international experience, they’re going to mention this. If they need to say where they stand on the Israel-Palestinian debate, they’ll use the resolution.”

“That’s not to say that they don’t care about the conflict. Of course they do. It just goes so much beyond that these resolutions. Even Mayor Breed in San Francisco denouncing it? She’s thinking of higher office at least in the back of her mind there. But she was also right in these resolutions ultimately being more harmful than good.”

Other cease-fire resolutions are currently under debate in cities in California as well as across the U.S.