An effort to show solidarity between the City of Morgan Hill and those who are suffering here and abroad due to the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict exposed a deep rift between community members at a recent city council meeting.
The March 6 discussion left some council members wondering out loud if the divisions they witnessed in City Hall meeting chambers can be repaired.
Morgan Hill City Council member Yvonne Martinez Beltran said she wanted to bring a “sustainable peace resolution” to a future meeting for a council vote as a way for the elected body and the city “to support all of our community,” she said at the March 6 meeting.
Numerous other city councils in the region—including Gilroy, Hollister and Santa Cruz—have considered or adopted similar resolutions recently regarding the conflict that started Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and killed more than 1,200 people and captured more than 200 hostages.
In the months since Oct. 7, subsequent offensives by the Israeli military into Gaza have led to the deaths of more than 30,000 Gazans, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
At the March 6 meeting, the council ultimately decided not to formally consider adopting a resolution, but not before allowing public comment on the topic. For about an hour, more than 60 members of the public spoke about Martinez Beltran’s proposal—many of them commenting passionately about the impact of the international conflict on their own families, congregations and neighborhoods.
Martinez Beltran said she had met with a number of groups and individuals, including the faith-based community in Morgan Hill in drafting a “statement for sustainable peace for Israel and Palestine.”
That draft was not included in the March 6 council meeting agenda, but Martinez Beltran shared it with the public.
“It is important we acknowledge the pain and suffering being experienced locally by our neighbors who have been impacted by the war in Israel and Palestine,” Martinez Beltran wrote in her request for a council agenda discussion on the resolution. “It is important we
denounce any antisemitism, anti-Arab or Islamophobic sentiments, incidents, violence, etc. It is important we reaffirm our neighbors’ sense of safety here in Morgan Hill, our home, so everyone knows they are supported and valued at home.”
Council members and some members of the public commented on the palpable tension at the March 6 meeting, which was obvious even as attendees were standing outside the council chamber building, waiting to enter before the meeting began.
A young boy who spoke during the public hearing said someone in the audience had made disparaging remarks about his father earlier in the evening. During some of the comments, portions of the audience intermittently erupted into shouting and name calling between groups for and against a peace resolution.
One speaker said members of the public “were almost fist fighting” over the Israel-Gaza conflict as they waited to enter the meeting room.
An adult member of the public said, “I could feel the tension waiting for the door to open. You can see the line between the two groups. This is disastrous. This can only create more tension and hate.”
Many of those against a resolution told the council that the consideration of such a document would serve to stoke division in Morgan Hill, at a time when reports of antisemitism and islamophobia are on the rise in cities throughout the region.
Others who spoke in support of a resolution said it could help stop the ongoing deaths—including those of children—in Gaza and Israel, and forestall a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza which has faced significant destruction in the conflict.
Some raised their voices and held up photos when they spoke to the council.
The council and city clerk also received thousands of emails on the subject of an Israel-Gaza resolution after it was listed as a possible “future agenda item” on the March 6 meeting agenda.
After the public comment segment was complete, Council member Rene Spring admonished the audience for the divisive comments and behaviors expressed at the meeting.
“It is heartbreaking,” Spring said. “I am drained emotionally because of what you are asking us to do. You are so mean to each other. This is Morgan Hill—we don’t do that in Morgan Hill, so knock it off.”
Spring added that a council resolution is “not the answer” to achieving peace.
Council member Gino Borgioli, when it was his turn to speak during the March 6 discussion, said he was “distracted” by a group of audience members who appeared to be displaying an obscene hand gesture.
Borgioli noted that the city council should stick to local public service and not international affairs.
“Making a resolution on anything other than [what is] in the purview of Morgan Hill is going to be very divisive to our community and incite much more hatred [amongst] our citizens,” Borgioli said.
Martinez Beltran clarified that her proposed resolution had not called for a “ceasefire,” although some members of the audience had referred to the effort as such.
“I don’t know what we do” to promote peace, Martinez Beltran said through tears in reaction to the audience tension. “This is my home. I’m watching all of you sit here and say these horrible things when we’re not even talking about [a ceasefire]. We’re talking about a peace resolution.”
Borgioli said after the meeting that the division within Morgan Hill expressed at the March 6 meeting is in dire need of repair, and he thinks the city’s faith leaders should take the lead.
“I wanted to implore the faith community to get together and really try and bring about more civil peace within the community,” Borgioli said. “I believe that the only way—from what I saw which was pretty shocking relative to the hate going back and forth in the chamber—to bring about education, civility and respect is to get the faith community leadership involved.”
They city of Morgan Hill is in favor of mass killing of innocent people and genocide.
They (the mayor stopped it) wont even recognize the genocide of the original inhabitants of the very land we live on. What makes you think they’d be brave enough to take a stance on the current genocide unfolding before our eyes?
The US loves war. the arms manufacturers make lots of money….
America is a war machine. love it or leave it
“To get the faith community leadership involved to restore education, civility and respect” when rabbis Faith Joy Dantowitz and Debbie Israel https://emeth.net/our-rabbi/ go from meeting to meeting with their entire Emeth congregation to block any attempt to stop the genocide in Gaza. This must be a joke. They come to these meetings like a mob ready to fight. The same actors repeat the same script in every meeting. On March 6, one of them called Palestinians “animals” and the mayor let that go when at the beginning of the meeting, he tried to stifle a discussion about not allowing city council meetings over zoom anymore because one attendee made a antisemitic comment in the past… see for yourself https://morganhillca.portal.civicclerk.com/event/813/media
The city of Morgan Hill isn’t going to move the needle on the issue of the genocide in Gaza but one thing for sure, the genocide in Gaza has exposed the double talk and the double standards of many. Remember Ukraine? That wasn’t an international issue, was it?
When killing children is OK according to the “faith community leadership”, then people of conscience say NO and that’s exactly what has been happening in Morgan Hill and elsewhere. We will continue to say NO to genocide even if we get killed ourselves. Councilman Borgioli, we are no longer in the Middle Ages where we let “faith community leadership” drown us in dark ages where genocide is OK. We are in California in 2024. We speak our conscience and our conscience is saying Genocide in not OK.
For the mayor and councilman Rene Spring who were completely overwhelmed by what their constituents “were asking them to do for them”, you missed the whole point. Nobody asked you to do anything for them, we asked you to take a stand for the children who are being massacred by the hundreds each day. You didn’t even understand what people were talking about. This is what we are talking about https://youtu.be/-e3cBuO-izo?si=hexw_W4QLVCEx-Nw
Anyway, one day, you will realize that a genocide was happening when you were in office and you will feel ashamed that you didn’t try to stop it even symbolically. You will try to apologize. We will not accept your apology: https://youtube.com/shorts/fPyTiIgxPNI?si=PI9bCeB1Pcs87MpR
Thank you councilwoman Yvonne Martinez Beltran for your honesty, sympathy and humanity. Your remarks were moving. Don’t worry that the sustainable peace resolution you drafted didn’t go anywhere. In fact, it accomplished much more than what you think. If people are opposed to the same “Sustainable Peace” that they advocated for in the Board of Education meeting, this means that they are playing games and that their ultimate goal is the annihilation of all Palestinians. This is a monumental blunder that we will not forget.
I attended this Morgan hill Council Meeting! It was an absolute joke! Councilwoman Yvonne Martinez was the only decent one that seemed to care about the obvious genocide happening in Palestine! All the other members, especially the Mayor showed no interest and gave me the impression he absolutely did not want to be present! I am a long time resident of MH, and will not be voting for his re-election.
I attended the March 6th meeting and was deeply disappointed with how the MH city council and Mayor handled the meeting and the hateful behavior coming from the genocide supporters.
It’s truly a shame that the council members and Mayor Turner did not even stop and acknowledge the hateful messages, especially when one of the public comments referred to Palestinians as “animals”.
It’s a shame to collectively reprimand the audience like school children about not getting along when nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been slaughtered, while Israel intentionally is starving the population to death.
Yes, we are divided, that is very clear.
— You either support a genocide or you don’t.
— You either value Palestinian life or you don’t.
— You either have humanity in your heart or you don’t.
— You either have moral and ethical standards or you don’t.
— You are either believe that all people, including Palestinians, have the right to live with dignity, freedom, equality, and self-determination or you believe in the collective punishment of Palestinians.
The council’s lack of genuine empathy and compassion for the tens of thousands lives lost and the many more on the brink of famine is shameful. A permanent ceasefire is to end the violence. Not supporting a permanent ceasefire makes you complicit in this genocide. the city council members can no longer claim they did not know.
Do better MH City Council!!! Be human!!!
I attended the March 6th meeting and was deeply disappointed with how the MH city council and Mayor handled the meeting and the hateful behavior coming from the genocide supporters.
It’s truly a shame that the council members and Mayor Turner did not even stop and acknowledge the hateful messages, especially when one of the public comments referred to Palestinians as “animals”.
It’s a shame to collectively reprimand the audience like school children about not getting along when nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been slaughtered, while Israel intentionally is starving the population to death.
Yes, we are divided, that is very clear.
— You either support a genocide or you don’t.
— You either value Palestinian life or you don’t.
— You either have humanity in your heart or you don’t.
— You either have moral and ethical standards or you don’t.
— You are either believe that all people, including Palestinians, have the right to live with dignity, freedom, equality, and self-determination or you believe in the collective punishment of Palestinians.
The council’s lack of genuine empathy and compassion for the tens of thousands lives lost and the many more on the brink of famine is shameful. A permanent ceasefire is to end the violence. Not supporting a permanent ceasefire makes you complicit in this genocide. the city council members can no longer claim they did not know.
Do better MH City Council!!! Be human!!!
European and Americans Jews want Gaza land. That’s it. Gaza land-I am so thankful I am not a Jew /because I see the devil side in them. I saw a 6 year old child said “Jews came to his home shot his7 months pregnant mom in her stomach then his father then him he is the only survivor-American, London or European jews join criminals israhell-went to kill kids pregnant women to defend them selves- to get Gaza land
Thank you Mayor and City Council for sticking to issues directly related to your purview and our community.