Berkeley Peace & Justice Commission votes 8-7 to send Ceasefire Resolution to City Hall

On September 30 a standing-room-only audience of 300+ citizens at Berkeley Senior Center waited stoically for 4 hours for the so-called Berkeley Peace & Justice Commission to finally pass a “Resolution for an Immediate and Permanent Ceasefire in Gaza, an End to U.S. Military Aid to Israel, and Support for Palestinian Self-Determination.”

The measure narrowly squeaked in with an 8-7 majority.

The voting SHOULD NOT have been this tight. The only reason it was close is because Zionists in Berkeley City Hall did every possible slimy maneuver they could to pack the commission with anti-ceasefire candidates who have absolutely no ethical qualifications to be on a board addressing peace & justice issues. They were only chosen because they are Zionist puppets happily voting like their Zionist handlers in Berkeley City Hall want them to.

The 15 commission members are each selected by individual council members, plus the mayor, and the school director. New commissioners include Nimrod Pitsker Elias (appointed by Sophie Hahn on 12/5/23); Robin Mencher (appointed by Susan Wengraf on 1/4/24), and Allegra Guarino (appointed by Rashi Kesarwani on 2/2/24). All three appointees have been obstructionists to peace & justice in Palestine.

Just a month ago, on August 30, councilmember Igor Tregub removed longtime commissioner Diana Bohn (she’s pro-Palestinian) for what seemed, at best, a petty bureaucratic reason. The honest excuse for her dismissal, of course, was that she wasn’t going to vote Zionist, like Igor wanted her too. Additionally, just hours before the meeting, a new anti-ceasefire Zionist was appointed to the Peace & Justice Commission by Councilmember Mark Humbert.

Mayor Jesse Areguin’s appointee - Andrea Cassidy - is also a truth-denying Zionist. At the meeting she ludicrously praised Israel as a very diverse country where there is no apartheid ?!?!?!? A Palestinian American in the audience countered this by holding up his green ID card that prevents him from moving freely in Palestine.

Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission was established in 1986 during the Divest From South Africa movement, to advise City Council and the School Board on Berkeley’s role in peace and social justice issues. In its 38 years of existence it has often performed as the “conscience” of Berkeley, but in the last year, its morality has been poisoned by fraudulent appointees.

As a result, Berkeley has been shockingly absent in the global and national outcry against Netanyahu’s butchery. One hundred USA cities have called for a ceasefire, including local cities Richmond, Oakland, Hayward, Daly City, Pacifica, East Palo Alto, San Francisco, South San Francisco, Albany, Cotati, Davis, and another dozen or more cities in Southern California. Multiple college and university campuses also established encampments in support of Gaza last spring, including UC Berkeley.

Despite all this, the once-progressive city of Berkeley has done NOTHING, except infiltrate its peace & justice commission with genocide enablers.

Shame, Shame, Shame.