The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Pomona council OKS call for Gaza ceasefire
Pomona’s elected leaders, pressed to take a strong stand for a ceasefire in Gaza, went farther than most would have expected.
After hearing 90 minutes of calm but impassioned comment Monday night, the City Council added statistics to the resolution to make clearer the cost of the war against the Palestinians since Oct. 7.
After the vote to approve it — 6-0, with one abstention — the packed Council Chambers erupted in sustained applause.
It was a night of surprises. For me, the surprises started at the last meeting on Jan. 8.
I’d attended for a different reason and instead found a rally beforehand in which people beat on drums and shouted into megaphones. During the meeting, 15 people demanded the council call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Some belittled councilmembers and expressed anger they hadn’t immediately taken a stand for a ceasefire after the Oct. 7 attack and Israel’s retaliation.
It almost seemed as if they’d confused the City Council with the United Nations.
Nevertheless, Mayor Tim Sandoval directed city staff to come back
Jan. 22 with a resolution. I felt like I ought to be there — for my second straight council meeting after, uh, four years away — to see how things turned out.
I braced myself for a night of shouting and conflict. For one thing, a commotion had erupted in neighboring Chino Hills at its Jan. 9 council meeting over the same issue.
At first, the public microphone in Chino Hills was muted at the council’s direction if speakers brought up “international affairs.” After an outcry, councilmembers relented and heard them out, according to the account by the Chino Valley Champion’s ever-alert Marianne Napoles.