Stanton city council members approved a resolution this week condemning violence, terrorism, hate and the loss of innocent lives in Palestine and Israel – the latest in a host of officials across Orange County cities debating whether to take a public stance on the conflict.
The discussion comes two months after Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack that killed over a 1,000 Israelis and took hundreds hostage and Israel’s retaliatory airstrikes that so far killed over 17,000 Palestinians and displaced about 90% of the people living in Gaza.
It also comes as local Arab American, Muslim and Jewish leaders report a spike in hate crimes across Orange County since Oct. 7.
This week as violence in Gaza intensified, a debate over a ceasefire resolution took off at the UN General Assembly, which ultimately saw 153 countries including Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, Japan, Australia, Egypt, Spain, South Africa and Chile supporting the resolution.
It came after the U.S vetoed similar efforts in the U.N. Security Council last week.
Meanwhile, the U.S., Israel, Austria, Guatemala, Liberia, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Micronesia, Czechia and Nauru voted against the ceasefire resolution.
Almost two dozen other nations including the United Kingdom, Germany, Ukraine, Italy, Argentina, Malawi, South Sudan, Uruguay and the Netherlands abstained from the vote.
A similar trend over similar resolutions played out across several Orange County city councils in recent weeks.
Huntington Beach City Council unanimously passed a resolution in support of Israel, Laguna Beach City Council passed a resolution similar to Stanton in October. Meanwhile, Santa Ana city council members deadlocked over dueling resolutions on the issue last week.
This week, Stanton was the latest city to take up a resolution on the conflict with city councill members voting 4-1 at their Tuesday meeting to adopt the resolution after almost three hours of public comments from both Pro-Palestine and Pro-Israel Orange County residents.
City Councilman Donald Torres was the dissenting vote and had initially proposed a resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire, a release of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas as well as the end of Israeli apartheid and the occupation and blockade of Palestinian land.
“The original intent for this item was to call for an immediate ceasefire in an area where a disproportionate amount of civilians have died,” he said.
Instead, City Councilwoman Hong Alyce Van proposed more neutral language that did not include calls for a ceasefire and called Torres’ original proposal divisive.
“You can see it in this room,” Van said. “I can see there is a lack of unity on this resolution.”
On Tuesday, residents including some local OC Rabbis came out and spoke against Torres’ proposed resolution arguing it is one sided, does not condemn Hamas which is still holding hostages and that Israel has a right to defend itself.
“The proposed resolution includes inflammatory rhetoric that is divisive and one-sided, it fails to condemn Hamas for its terrorist massacre of October 7,” said Peter Levi, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, at Tuesday’s meeting.
“It demonstrates a bias in blaming only Israel and describes no agency or responsibility to any other groups or parties in the area.”
Other residents, including some who identified themselves as Jewish, spoke in support of Torres’ proposal arguing the resolution impacts many Arab and Palestinian Americans in OC and said Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians.
“We cannot stay silent when the U.S. sends billions of dollars from our taxpayer money to support genocide. I have family in Palestine,” said Ahmad Musa, a Stanton resident, at the meeting.
“Imagine if it was your child or your loved one who’s under the rubble suffocating. Imagine if it was your grandchild or your parents being killed.”
An online petition sponsored by the Arab American Civic Council urging Stanton City Council members to pass the original ceasefire resolution got close to 1,900 signatures as of 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
Mayor Tries to Throw Resolution Out
Mayor David Shawver initially tried to invoke a new city policy on proclamations introduced at the Nov. 28 council meeting to throw out the resolution on Israel and Palestine.
A majority of council members agreed that Torres’ resolution violated the new policy but still went ahead with a vote on Councilwoman Van’s suggested proposal.
“Only proclamations dealing with local, county, Stanton issues are those that positively impact the Stanton community and convey a positive message to all the residents will be considered and issued on that sole basis,” Shawver said reading from the policy.
The proclamation policy was passed on Nov. 28, the same day Torres introduced his ceasefire resolution. A majority of council members agreed to bring back his proposal for a vote.
This week, Torres pointed out that the city issued a proclamation earlier this year in support of the Iranian American community and condemned violence by the Iranian government against its people.
He also said what happens abroad impacts people in OC and Stanton.
“We are a country of immigrants. Literally every single geopolitical issue, every little movement in another country does affect the demographics of this country,” Torres said. “40% of our Stanton residents are immigrants.”
Shawver himself has also helped host and spoke at two rallies against the military regime in Burma held outside Stanton City Hall but never called for a city resolution on the issue.
Shawver ended up supporting Van’s resolution on Tuesday night.
OC Elected Officials Weigh in on Palestine & Israel
Stanton’s proclamation makes the city council the latest local officials in Orange County – a region home to tens of thousands Jewish and Arab Americans – to take a stance on a foreign conflict that is deeply impacting families here.
In the past two months, a host of County and city officials have put out statements or resolutions weighing in on the violence in Gaza and Israel as local activists and residents have held vigils and protests either in support of Palestine or Israel.
Last week, Santa Ana city council members deadlocked on a resolution in support of the Palestinian people and called for an immediate sustained ceasefire at a tense meeting.
[Read: Santa Ana Council Deadlocks on Israel & Palestine Statement]
In October, the Huntington Beach City Council unanimously approved a resolution in support of Israel and condemning Hamas.
That same month, Laguna Beach City Council members unanimously approved a resolution condemning acts of terrorism against Israel and urging both sides to protect innocent lives.
And officials in more cities may take a stand.
This week, Irvine Mayor Farah Khan and City Councilman Larry Agran both called for a ceasefire and return of the hostages taken by Hamas from the dais during their city council meeting Tuesday.
It came after over four hours of public comment from Pro-Palestine residents demanding the city to pass a ceasefire resolution and Pro-Israel residents speaking out against Hamas.
Irvine officials have not brought up a resolution on the matter for a public debate.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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