This morning, Supervisor Hillary Ronen and Arab and Jewish advocates held a press conference at City Hall demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The press conference kicked off a planned all-day walkout of about seven San Francisco schools, coming on the heels of Tuesday’s attack on a Gaza City hospital that reportedly killed at least 500 people.
“Collective punishment is a war crime. And what I watch Israel doing in Gaza each day is just that,” said Ronen, calling on President Biden and congressional leaders to do everything in their power to secure an immediate ceasefire.
“This is what the start of genocide looks like,” said Ronen. “As the daughter of an Israeli, as a Jewish woman, as a human being, I say: Stop the madness, stop the killing.”
Lara Kiswani from the Arab Resource and Organizing Center spoke on behalf of the city’s Arab Muslim population. She said Arab students go to school every day feeling the gravity of this moment, and they need those in positions of power to take care of them — “to see them, to make them not only feel visible, but heard.”
That is why students across the city have called for mass walkouts nationwide, Kiswani added.
Mana Elkarra, a family doctor from San Francisco whose family is from the Gaza Strip, emphasized the role of physicians as victims in the Israeli barrage.
“The doctors in the Gaza Strip are pleading for your help,” she said. “They are pleading for the help of the outside world. They are asking for basic human rights.”
Israel’s 12 days of bombing on the Gaza Strip followed a surprise attack on Israeli civilians by Hamas that killed over 1,400 Israelis in several massacres. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, the death toll from the Israeli bombing has topped 3,000 so far with 125,000 wounded.
Some 80 students from Mission High walked out of school this morning, and some 40 of those continued on to join other students outside City Hall. There, they amassed and chanted “Stop the bombing in Gaza!” calling for an end to hostilities.
“Free free Palestine!” several students chanted, walking back through the Mission and receiving the occasional honk from supporters driving by, said Camilla Martinez, a student from Mission High.
The students met at the Eric Quezada Center for Culture and Politics on Valencia Street after the marrch, gathering to discuss their grievances about the situation in Gaza and the lack of information circulated about it at school.
Mission High is known for its anti-racist teaching. Students discussed how well equipped they are to have been taught about complex historical and political issues in a way that allows them to draw their own conclusions. “I’m really grateful to Mission [High] and San Francisco for that,” said Dylan Senesy, a student there.
But regarding the conflict in Israel and Palestine, most teachers have remained silent, they said. “Many are scared to speak up,” said Martinez.
“We haven’t even talked about it in world history,” said Noor Ibrahim, another student.
Another student remarked that it would have been more effective to protest within the school, to mobilize other students and staff.
Several students said their main source of information is social media, particularly TikTok — where many people in Gaza post eyewitness accounts of what’s going on.
Some students are frustrated that they are the ones to take upon this themselves. “It’s really frustrating, as a student, to be the one to do all of this,” said Senesy.
Hillary Ronen’s own words on what she’s learned after 7 years in the role of supervisor: “The root cause of these [national] problems are fixable, but they’re not always fixable at the local level”
https://www.sfchronicle.com/podcasts/article/soup-with-hillary-ronen-18140301.php#:~:text=Supervisor%20Hillary%20Ronen%20represents%20the,issues%20with%20a%20municipal%20toolkit
So she then applies that hard-earned wisdom by trying to fix the root cause of *international* issues at the local level.
I have no problem with Ronen supporting whatever causes she likes as a private citizen, but the fact that she does this kind of thing while on-the-clock as a district supervisor is absurd. Of all the things going on in District 9, she made a point to calendar this event?
So glad Supervisor Ronen has time to solve the problems in the Middle East. I’m sure that Hamas and Israel will immediately stop their hostilities when they hear that she has demanded it.
Perhaps when she’’s done creating world peace, she could deal with issues in her own city and district.
This interview is absolutely worth a watch. Hassem Youseff has been described as the Jon Stewart of the Middle East. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4idQbwsvtUo
Thank you for introducing this interview with Bassem Youseff. What a brilliant use of ironic humor to expose the horrific cruelty perpetrated on the Palestinians. Never seen anything like it, and I will be following him.
I concur with several of the commenters here re Ms. Ronen’s desire to dabble in foreign affairs. The quality of life in her district – where I live – has declined in her watch. It would be great if we could have a cease fire in the Mission or have existing laws enforced or take away the homeless lady that yells racial epithets at people actually working for a living. Ronen lost my vote a long time ago!!!!!
Thank you Hilary Ronen for taking a clear stance against what is unequivocally genocide. As an Arab American who remembers the racism our community here received after 9/11, I am grateful that my representative is taking a stand for what is right.
Remember that the overwhelming majority of Americans on both sides of the aisle agree with you and want this genocide to end. Despite what some of the comments here say, our tax dollars should not have to go towards supporting genocide.
Ronen is fake and superficial, conveniently jumping on the easy-feel-good “defund the police” hysteria in 2020, and then abandoning the idea when it proved to be so supremely idiotic even most liberals are backing away. Dumb as a rock she’s managed to alienate both her leftie voters and moderates. And now, after doing a stupendous job with drug abuse/homelessness/crime/the usual in D9, she’s ready to jump into international politics as her usual half wit/half assed self. Sure Hilary, side with the “save gaza” crowd but don’t say anything about hamas’ responsibility in all this. Ignore the massacre that happened to your fellow Jews. And Israel’s right and need to defend itself against hamas, whose stated mission is the destruction of Israel. Enjoy your status as a self hating Jew….and have a great day!
Not sure how Mission HS Students walking out of school helps. Seems like discussion in school could focus on sympathy for the suffering of all involved, the history, (ancient and present) of the Jews and Palestinians, Hitler Germany/the Holocaust, the formation of the Jewish State… Teachers could then lead students into a discussion on how life could be improved for both groups, what interventions could students imagine doing if they were in leadership. One must express sorrow for all who have been injured before any constructive discussion can occur.
Good for her speaking up.
Students at Balboa and Lincoln walked out of class and around their areas, but did not go all the way to City Hall like kids did during climate and gun protest in the 2010s. I think there is a lot of hesitancy to speak up, because once you do you are accused of supporting killing, which Sup Ronen and others are expressly not.
Well done to everyone involved. It’s becoming increasingly likely that the hospital strike was carried out DELIBERATELY by Israel, while Biden gives Netenyahu the green light for continuing the genocide in Gaza. Cue all the Zionist apologists who’ll now swarm in!
hemming don’t be a lemming.
Calls for a cease fire in Gaza are as realistic as calls for a cease fire in the Warsaw Ghetto. “Just stop firing your weapons and keep apartheid in place” is what this message is.
How do we know that Ronen is not lying about being the daughter of an Israeli?
Given Ronen’s record on Black Lives Matter and defunding the police, where she made bold policy statements and abandoned them at the first sign of push back, odds are that in a few weeks time she’ll change her tune again.
Who knows, maybe one day in the not so distant future, Ronen can mobilize her political operation like she did against DSA Afro Socialists and last night against the Marshall community to do the AIPAC’s work next?
You never know what’s up next when you’re dealing with a pathological liar.
Yea and Israel bombing that hospital. I mean, even if it was islamic jihad’s rocket fired from gaza, we can still blame Israel for instigating this. I also appreciate ronan’s unbiased morality stance vis-à-vis Israel and hamas. She makes all Jews proud!
/S
pretzel.logic