Oakland residents go viral over truly insane defense of Hamas: 'Israel murdered their own people on Oct. 7!'



Some Oakland residents are going viral for all the wrong reasons.

On Monday, the Oakland City Council unanimously approved a resolution supporting U.S. House Resolution 786, which demands "an immediate deescalation and cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine." The council, moreover, rejected an amendment to include language in its resolution condemning Hamas.

Prior to the vote, the public had an opportunity to comment on the resolution and the amendments. To say that chaos ensued is an understatement.

Residents not only denied the atrocities that Hamas committed — rapes, murders, attacks on babies — but justified Hamas' actions, denied the group is a terrorist organization, and outright blamed Israel for Oct. 7.

Here is what just some of the residents said:

  • "There have not been beheadings of babies and rapings. Israel murdered their own people on Oct. 7!"
  • "Calling Hamas a terrorist organization is ridiculous, racist, and plays into genocidal propaganda that is flooding our media and that we should be doing everything possible to combat."
  • "I support the right of Palestinians to resist occupation, including through Hamas, the armed wing of the unified Palestinian resistance."
  • "As an Arab, asking with this context to condemn Hamas is very anti-Arab racist."
  • "The notion that this was a massacre of Jews is a fabricated narrative. Many of those killed on Oct. 7, including children, were killed by the IDF. An amendment condemning Hamas is bald propaganda meant to—"
  • "To hear them complain about Hamas violence is like listening to a wife-beater complain when his wife finally stands up and fights back."
  • "Question: Did anyone else notice that those who oppose this resolution are old white supremacists?"
  • "There's been a lot of atrocity propaganda ranging from claims of beheaded babies to mass rape."
  • "Hamas is not a terrorist organization just because the U.S. and Israel deems it so. Hamas is a resistance organization that is fighting for the liberation of Palestinian people in their land."
— (@)
Councilman Dan Kalb, who introduced the amendment, told the council that not condemning Hamas would send the "wrong message and an embarrassing message." Ultimately, his amendment was rejected by a 6-2 vote.
What happened at the Oakland City Council meeting is not only embarrassing, as Kalb predicted, but it's disturbing and, as journalist Yair Rosenberg explained, downright dangerous.
"The point of videos like these is not that these people are important or original thinkers. It's that they're not — and that's what's disturbing: their denial of Hamas atrocities & refusal to even call it a terrorist organization are downstream from a global effort to deny reality," Rosenberg said in response to the viral video of the speakers.
"It took decades for a global movement to fully emerge to deny the Holocaust and blame whatever couldn't be denied on its Jewish victims. It took days for that to happen after October 7," he explained. "Social media accelerates everything, including the erasure of antisemitic atrocities."

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Oakland City Council demands ceasefire in Gaza but rejects opportunity to condemn Hamas: 'An embarrassing message'



The Oakland City Council approved a resolution on Monday demanding a ceasefire in Gaza but rejected amendments condemning Hamas for its barbaric attack on Israel.

By unanimous vote, the eight city councilmembers — all of them Democrats — approved a resolution supporting U.S. House Resolution 786, which demands "an immediate deescalation and cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine." Far-left members of Congress, including the Squad, are responsible for that resolution.

The Oakland City Council resolution says:

RESOLVED that the City of Oakland supports U.S. Congress Resolution H.R.786 and joins other cities in calling on our Congress Members to demand: an immediate ceasefire; release of all hostages, the unrestricted entry of humanitarian assistance into Gaza; the restoration of food, water, electricity, and medical supplies to Gaza; and the respect for international law; and calls for a resolution that protects the security of all innocent civilians...

City councilmembers thought they were sending a message of moral clarity with their resolution.

But according to KQED, the council rejected any amendments to the resolution. One of those amendments, offered by councilman Dan Kalb, sought to include language condemning Hamas for its attack on Israel.

"Not even clearly mentioning the Hamas mass murder on Oct. 7 is sending the wrong message and an embarrassing message," he told his fellow councilmembers.

Even though his amendments were not adopted, Kalb voted for the resolution anyway.

During the public comment period held before the vote, Tye Gregory, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area, explained why any resolution demanding Israel stop defending itself without addressing the problem of Hamas is shortsighted.

"There will be no Palestinian-Israeli peace with [Hamas] in power, and that’s why this resolution must be amended to acknowledge the atrocities of Hamas and include its removal from power," Gregory said, KQED reported, referring to Hamas' desire to exterminate Israel.

According to KTVU-TV, the vast majority of public comments — more than 80% — supported the resolution.

Oakland City Council unanimously passes resolution demanding ceasefire in Gaza www.youtube.com

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'Irony defined': Only days after Oakland slashed its police budget, armed robbers ran up on the city's woke 'violence prevention' chief while he discussed rising crime with local news reporters



Critics of the defund the police movement in Oakland, California, are highlighting a recent attempted robbery as the perfect example of what inevitably happens when a local government decides to slash its police budget.

What happened?

On Monday, a local Bay Area news crew, KNTV-TV, was interviewing Oakland's violence prevention director on the steps of City Hall when a pair of armed robbers approached the group with guns and attempted to steal the camera equipment.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a scuffle ensued during the attempted robbery before a security officer brandished a firearm and drove the would-be burglars away.

Only days earlier, Oakland's City Council voted to reallocate $18 million of police funding to community violence prevention programs. The bulk of that money will now go to the Department of Violence Prevention, a group that reportedly aims to counter violence in the city by sending out "civilian violence interrupters and life coaches."

A spokesperson for KNTV-TV later confirmed the incident to the Chronicle.

"Our colleagues were conducting an interview at Oakland City Hall when they were approached by two armed individuals," said Liza Catalan, a spokeswoman for the station. "Thankfully our colleagues are safe and unharmed."

The suspects fled without any equipment and no injuries were reported, but given the irony of the situation, news of the incident quickly spread online.

What are people saying?

After the Oakland Police Officers' Association shared the story on Facebook, several followers derided the city's defund the police campaign by posting snarky remarks in the comments section. Such comments included:

  • "Irony defined......"
  • "Ironic"
  • "Karma"
  • Liberal stupidity at its finest."
  • "This kind of liberal stupidity has failed miserably every place implemented. They should be adding 18 million to the police budget."
  • "Would have been a great opportunity for Mr. Cespedes to jump in and demonstrate how to handle a situation like this rather than relying on an armed security guard."
  • "Officers eligible for retirement nows the time. Current officers go work for an agency where the government supports its police!"

Anything else?

Adding insult to injury, only hours earlier, Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong passionately rebuked the city's police defunding, arguing that fewer officers would only lead to more crime and more lost lives.

The chief noted that crime has been surging in Oakland, yet even so, the city council decided that giving fewer resources to police would be an effective solution.

"We see clearly that crime is out of control in the city of Oakland and our response was for less police resources," Armstrong lamented.