Ojai City Council passes contentious resolution on Israel-Hamas war

After nearly four months, two broken-down meetings, a "die-in" protest and hours of fractious public comment, the Ojai City Council voted Monday night to issue a resolution calling for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.

The 3-1 vote during a special meeting was slightly less divided than the nearly three hours of public comment that came before it. Councilmembers Leslie Rule and Suza Francina, who helped draft the document, backed the symbolic resolution along with Mayor Betsy Stix.

Councilmember Andrew Whitman opposed the resolution, calling it ill-advised and divisive. Councilmember Rachel Lang was absent. City Manager Ben Harvey said she was unable to attend due a scheduling conflict.

Stix said the city first began considering a resolution on the Israel-Hamas war in November as cities around the U.S. passed resolutions of their own and community members began asking during meetings for the council to take a stance.

Dozens of U.S. cities have passed symbolic resolutions on the Israel-Hamas war in the months since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. By early February, news service Reuters had counted roughly 70 such resolutions across the U.S., most calling for a cease-fire.

Among local cities, Ojai's resolution appears to be a rare case. The Oxnard City Council's Finance and Governance Committee considered forwarding a resolution to the council on Jan. 9, but a motion to forward the resolution was not seconded.

President Joe Biden told reporters on Monday night that he hopes a cease-fire could be in place as soon as March 4, though Reuters reported that Israeli and Hamas officials are more cautious.

The Ojai council's first attempt at a resolution during a Dec. 20 special meeting spectacularly broke down into shouts between pro- and anti-cease-fire attendees during public comment. The council stopped the meeting and left the dais, re-emerging only to say they were calling off the meeting entirely.

On Monday, the resolution finally made it back on the City Council's agenda, spurred in part by a spate of local protests from pro-cease-fire activists.

Festering discontent in Ojai

On Feb. 9 and 10, Ojai Police Chief Trina Newman said, police responded to complaints about protesters outside the Ojai Valley Inn, but made no arrests. The inn is owned by the Crown family, which made some of its fortune with defense firm General Dynamics, a company activists say manufactures some of the weapons used by Israeli forces in Gaza.

The next morning, Newman said, the inn's sign was splashed with red paint. She said police are investigating the incident as potential vandalism.

Days later, a Feb. 13 City Council meeting broke down when a protester staged a "die-in," the Los Angeles Times reported, sprawling limp on the floor in front of the dais, covered in fake blood. Newman said police made no arrests.

During Monday night's marathon meeting, public commenters wore Jewish yarmulkes and patterned keffiyehs and other colorful attire. Some steadied themselves with canes. One man carried a Palestinian flag, printed with spatters of blood.

Some spoke off the cuff. Others read prepared statements from phones, laptops and handwritten sheets. The preparation did not stop many voices from quivering with emotion.

Leorah Snow, a member of Ojai Cease Fire, sang a short song calling for Palestinian freedom. Another pro-cease-fire activist read aloud some of the last words of Aaron Bushnell, a U.S. airman who died Sunday after setting himself on fire in protest of Israel's campaign in Gaza.

Many of the resolution's proponents argued that as a member of the International Cities of Peace network, Ojai has an obligation to support a cease-fire, even symbolically.

Opposite those voices were many members of Ojai's Jewish community who expressed fear that a resolution would encourage anti-Semitism in Ojai or that a cease-fire would only enable more Hamas attacks. Others said a resolution on an international conflict fell outside the bounds of city business.

"What is happening here is demonizing Israel as Israel defends itself from the clear and present danger of Hamas," said Rabbi Lisa Bock, of the Jewish Community of Ojai. "Ultimately, a cease-fire supports only Hamas in regrouping, a group that is committed to the erasure of Israel’s existence."

Francina said Tuesday morning that she was pleased with the meeting's relative calm.

"People were very well behaved," she said. "I think it showed we can have a relatively peaceful discussion even if we have very deep differences of opinion."

Francina said she, Rule and other community members who contributed to the language of the final resolution did their best to draft a balanced document that held both Israel and Hamas responsible for the people they have killed. An initial draft of the resolution that the council published online with the meeting agenda gave way by Monday evening to a much-tweaked, tightened version that the council approved without edits.

The challenge of finding concensus

In a Tuesday interview, Stix called the final resolution a product of a "beautiful process," in spite of the "shades of gray" shadowing the war.

"I feel it's our moral obligation to reduce suffering for all beings," she said.

Both Stix and Francina said they understood why some local Jews were worried.

"I feel their fear, and I know their discomfort is real," Stix said.

Whitman said Tuesday that he regrets the message the council's resolution sends to the local Jewish community and that, though he wants peace, he believes the council overstepped its bounds.

"I believe we need to try to secure peace and our national representatives are attempting to do that," he said. "I don't think our city is the right place for that."

Snow said Tuesday that she is "deeply grateful" the council passed the resolution.

"We get to now feel this moment of celebration and carry it forward, knowing that our city stands at least in some small way for peace," she said.

Some Ojai Cease Fire members, Snow said, have been working to bring the resolution's supporters and detractors together for a "listening circle" in the near future. "It's been a challenge to find consensus," she said.

In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Bock said she had little to add to her Monday night comments.

"We have a decision, and that's it," she said. "I really just pray for the Jewish community in Ojai, and I pray for peace. We stand for peace, and we want peace more than anything. We certainly wish that Oct. 7 had never happened."

Isaiah Murtaugh covers education for the Ventura County Star in partnership with Report for America. Reach him at isaiah.murtaugh@vcstar.com or 805-437-0236 and follow him on Twitter @isaiahmurtaugh and @vcsschools. You can support this work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ojai City Council passes contentious resolution on Israel-Hamas war