Gov. Gavin Newsom broke his silence Wednesday after a viral video of an Oakland, California, city council meeting showed residents defending Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group responsible for more than 1,700 deaths in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
"Hamas is a terrorist organization. They must be called out for what they are: evil," the California Democrat posted on X, formerly Twitter, in response to the video.
The Oakland City Council was debating an amendment to a proposed resolution calling for a cease-fire by Israel in the conflict with Hamas. The proposed amendment — which was voted down — condemned Hamas, the group that took responsibility for the deadliest day of the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
The resolution was met with opposition from several Oakland residents who testified before the council. One resident featured in the video said, "Calling Hamas a terrorist organization is ridiculous, racist, and plays into genocidal propaganda that is flooding our media and that we should be doing everything possible to combat."
Another resident complained that "to condemn Hamas is very anti-Arab racist."
Yet another added, "the notion that this was a massacre of Jews is a fabricated narrative" and called the resolution "bald propaganda."
STORIES OF TORTURE, TORMENT REVEALED BY ISRAELI CHILDREN KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS TERRORISTS
One man said that hearing Israelis condemn Hamas is "like listening to a wife beater complain when his wife finally stands up and fights back."
"Hamas is a resistance organization that is fighting for the liberation of Palestinian people and their land," another resident said.
