Citing protests, Newsom won’t hold an in-person tree lighting
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom opted to make the Capitol’s annual tree-lighting ceremony virtual amid safety concerns over protests, his office said Tuesday, prompting harsh criticism from the organizers of a pro-Palestinian rally.
“As we continue to see protests across the country impacting the safety of events of all scales — and for the safety and security of all participating members and guests including children and families — the ceremony this year will be virtual,” Newsom spokesperson Omar Rodriguez said in a statement.
The annual ceremony to light up the huge tree outside the state Capitol building typically attracts families and in recent years has featured children who help Newsom and his wife flip the switch to turn on the tree’s lights. Sacramento’s Midtown Association previously advertised a night market associated with the tree lighting on Tuesday evening, but announced last week the event was canceled and that the tree lighting would be virtual, saying protests presented a security threat.
Newsom’s office announced Tuesday that a pre-taped ceremony will instead be streamed virtually on Wednesday evening.
The Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights planned a rally at the Capitol on Tuesday evening calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. In a statement, the group accused Newsom of canceling his plans to hold the tree lighting in person because he “doesn’t want to face their anger at his shameful stance in regard to the genocide in Gaza.”
“Governor Newsom decided to cancel the tree lighting ceremony rather than face the public that is enraged by his shameful silence on the genocide in Gaza,” one of the group’s members, Yassar Dahbour, said in a statement. “This certainly doesn’t add up with his past stance with Native Americans.”
During his first year in office, Newsom issued a formal apology to Native Californians, saying that the government’s slaughter of their ancestors, family separations and forced labor amounted to “genocide.”
Newsom has said he supports Israel in its war with the militant group Hamas. In October, he traveled to Israel, where he said government officials there showed him a video of Hamas militants beheading an Israeli person during the attack on Oct. 7, which Newsom said deeply affected him and shaped his view of the conflict.
Hamas militants killed about 1,200 Israelis and captured more than 200 others during the attack. Israel responded by bombing the region heavily. The Gaza Health Ministry said more than 15,000 Gazans have been killed in Israel’s attacks.
In October, Newsom said California was sending aid to Israel and to Gaza, though he said the state was facing logistical challenges in dispatching it because of Israel’s blockades on aid into Gaza at the time. Some of the aid finally reached Gaza last week, Office of Emergency Services spokesperson Brian Ferguson said.
California sent 52 pallets of supplies, including 50bed medical stations to both Israel and Gaza that include wound and IV kits, defibrillators, wheelchairs and other medical supplies. The supplies were taken from the state’s surplus emergency supplies.
Newsom’s decision to alter the normally in-person tree lighting ceremony comes about two weeks after pro-Palestinian protests prompted the California Democratic Party to cancel some events at their convention in Sacramento.