San Francisco Mayor London Breed Jan. 12 denounced the Gaza cease-fire resolution passed by the county’s Board of Supervisors last week.
“Like my recent predecessors in this office, I almost never comment or take action on non-binding resolutions from the Board of Supervisors. This one warrants an exception,” Ms. Breed said. “What happened at the Board of Supervisors during this last month did not reflect our values. While I support the need for community members to be heard, the process at the board only inflamed division and hurt.”
At a Jan. 9 meeting, the county board of supervisors voted 8–3 to approve a resolution—introduced by Supervisor Dean Preston in December—calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The meeting drew a crowd of hundreds of demonstrators.
Mr. Preston along with Supervisors Aaron Preskin, Connie Chan, Joel Engardio, Myrna Melgar, Hillary Ronen, Shamann Walton and Ahsha Safaí voted in support of the resolution.
Meanwhile, Supervisors Catherine Stefani, Matt Dorsey, and Rafael Mandelman opposed it, arguing that it didn’t adequately denounce sexual violence in the Oct. 7 attack or explicitly condemn the terrorist group Hamas.
The mayor’s statement comes one day after the mayor of Haifa—one of San Francisco’s “sister cities” in Israel—urged Ms. Breed to condemn the board’s decision in a letter.
San Francisco has 18 sister cities across the globe as part of a program founded in 1956 promoting peaceful relations.
Ms. Breed, who is also part Jewish, visited Haifa last May to celebrate the cities’ 50th anniversary as sister cities.
Haifa Mayor Einat Kalisch-Rotem said she was disappointed that San Francisco’s resolution “critically targets Israel but glaringly omits to condemn the sexual violence against women by Hamas on Oct. 7.”
“It is imperative to address and denounce all forms of violence and human rights violations,” Ms. Kalisch-Rotem said. “As sister cities, our joint commitment should be towards promoting peace, justice, and equality for all.”
