Dear Editor,
I recently attended the February 12, 2024, meeting of the Culver City Council to urge the Council proclaim its official support for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel/Palestine War. I further requested that this proposal be placed on the agenda of the next Council meeting in late February so that we can have a full discussion of this important issue. My fellow Culver City residents, please support my plea to the City Council by writing and calling in your support to the Mayor of Culver City or the various Council members.
At the meeting, I spoke the following words: As all council members know, nearly 28000 Palestinians have been killed and tens of thousands maimed and mutilated in this war even as an unknown number of Israel soldiers have died or been wounded. Almost 85 percent of the population in Gaza, nearly 2 million people, have been displaced and left homeless since the war began. Hospitals, schools, and places of worship have been destroyed and little humanitarian aid has been allowed into Gaza. 1200 Israeli citizens were slaughtered, many as they slept–and over 100 Israel hostages remain Gaza, living in constant terror, even as thousands of Palestinians are imprisoned in Israel, most without due process, a trial, or even specific charges.
The anguish felt by me and so much of the world at the slaughter of innocents in both Palestine and Israel is almost unbearable. Jewish and Palestinian voices alike have joined in urging a ceasefire, including 100 Jewish rabbis and spiritual leaders as well as Jewish Americans like Senator Bernie Sanders. And numerous city councils around the nation have passed proclamations of ceasefire along with those in California: Cudahy, Long Beach, Oakland, Richmond, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Stanton.
The killing of children must stop, the hateful antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks on Jews and Muslims must stop, and the City Council of Culver City must call for the war to stop. I’m asking you to proclaim with one voice: Enough is Enough.
Now is not the time to argue about the false equivalency equating the 1200 dead Israel citizens with the 28000 dead Palestinians. Nor is it the time to avoid this humanitarian issue by saying that it is not Council business. Nor is this the time to take sides, denouncing or supporting the conflict and differences between the anti-Zionist Jewish Voices for Peace and the pro-Zionist Jewish Anti-Defamation League.
Now is the time to stop the killing on both sides. Now is the time to bring the hostages home by stopping the war and to return Palestinian prisoners to their homes. Now is the time for the City Council to act.
Ronald Davis
