San Francisco on Tuesday became the largest Democrat-run city to approve a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, adding to pressure on Joe Biden.
The president and his top officials have repeatedly defended Israel's devastating campaign in Gaza, which has now entered a fourth month, following the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas militants, which killed 1,200 people in the south of the country.
Since then, more than 23,000 Palestinians—two-thirds of them women and children—have been killed in the besieged Gaza Strip, The Associated Press reported, citing the Gaza Health Ministry. The United Nations warned last month that about half of Gaza's roughly 2.3 million residents were at risk of starvation.
The U.S. in December vetoed a United Nations resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza that was backed by a vast majority of the Security Council. While Biden and top officials have urged Israel to minimize the impact of its strikes on civilians, they have stopped short of backing more than a temporary cessation of hostilities. The president said on Monday that he has been "quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza."
Biden's steady support for Israel's war has led to growing dissent from within the Democratic Party and his administration. Last week, Tariq Habash resigned from his role in the Department of Education, saying Biden was turning "a blind eye to the atrocities committed against innocent Palestinian lives" by Israel.
On Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 in favor of a resolution that calls on the Biden administration and Congress to support a sustained ceasefire in Gaza, and for the delivery of humanitarian aid and the release of all hostages. The resolution condemns Hamas' killing of Israeli citizens as well as Israel's attacks on Gaza, and rhetoric and attacks that are antisemitic, anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic and xenophobic.
San Francisco joined dozens of other cities across the country that have approved similar resolutions, which have no legal authority, but increase the pressure on the White House and lawmakers.
Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who is Jewish, said during the debate on the resolution that if enough cities pass such measures, Biden "will have to listen." The San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the White House have been contacted for comment via email.
"If approved, this carefully penned motion, as bare-minimum as it is, will represent one of the most powerful Democratic cities in the country sending a message to a Democrat president that it doesn't support his funding of further bloodshed," opinion columnist Soleil Ho wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle ahead of Tuesday's vote.
But if the Biden administration "took its policy cues from progressive city governments like San Francisco on every issue, its approval numbers would be even lower than they are," Thomas Gift, an associate professor of political science and director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, told Newsweek.
He added: "That's not to say these resolutions are completely irrelevant. They're clearly reflective of an underlying discontent among some elements of the Democrat base about how the White House is handling the Israel-Hamas war.
"However, they're far down the list of concerns that Biden will be weighing in its approach to the issue. Simple polling, for example, on how voters are appraising the issue in key swing states is likely to be far more important."
The Richmond City Council in California was the first in the nation to approve a resolution that expressed support for the Palestinian people in Gaza and accused Israel of ethnic cleansing and collective punishment.
The Oakland City Council in November unanimously approved a permanent ceasefire resolution in November. Other Democrat-run cities, including Atlanta and Detroit, have approved similar resolutions, while several, including Minneapolis, Chicago and Denver, are advancing their own resolutions.
Meanwhile, polling has indicated that Biden, who is seeking re-election in 2024, could alienate voters, particularly young people, over his handling of the war.
A poll from The New York Times and Siena College last month found that a majority of Americans disapprove of Biden's response to the war. Those aged between 18 and 29 were especially critical, with 72 percent saying they disapproved of the president's handling of the conflict.
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Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on abortion rights, race, education, ... Read more
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