Councilmember Tammy Kim demonstrates leadership despite threats from Pro-Palestinian faction
Irvine, CA– Since November 2023, the Irvine City Council has been thrust into the center of war in Gaza when both Mayor Farrah Khan and Councilmember Larry Agran publicly announced their support for a ceasefire in Gaza. Since then, hundreds of Pro-Palestine and Pro-Isreal factions have flooded every council meeting. Public comments for non-agendized items in the December 12, 2023, meeting lasted for 5 hours, causing the city council to push out city business until January 2024.
Since then, the City council has been unable to focus on city business, and the public comments section has been turned into a heated battleground between Palestinians and the Jewish community. Public comments on the issue have dominated recent Irvine City Council meetings– at times, pushing them into the early morning hours, and sometimes people attending the meeting became difficult for council members to control with opposing sides speaking out against each other.
Knowing that both the Jewish community and the Muslim community have differing viewpoints, Tammy Kim has been careful not to weigh in on this matter. According to the January meeting, Tammy Kim stated, “The mere prospect of weighing in on an international conflict has deeply polarized our community and has created unnecessary divisions among our residents. Our diverse community has individuals with varying opinions and perspectives on global affairs. My heart goes out to the people of Gaza. The residents of Irvine elected me to the city council to address local issues affecting our city – infrastructure, housing, safety, and economic development. I was not elected to weigh in on complex international conflicts and divert attention away from city business.”
Tammy Kim became the epicenter of this storm, with Pro-Palestine activists employing increasingly aggressive tactics to sway her to change her mind. Threats, both in person and online, have been directed at her. Recently, a Pro-Palestine protestor was charged with a criminal misdemeanor for stealing 79 of Tammy Kim’s political lawn signs.
At the February 27 City Council meeting, Councilmember Kim made a formal motion to declare that the situation in Gaza is not a municipal matter and not within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Irvine City Council.
Councilmember spoke about the negative impact the issue has had in the city, noting the council auditorium aisle sections had increasingly divided into two competing sides, each squaring off verbally against the other with heavy police presence required to keep the peace. “We have people of the Jewish community on one side, and people who are Palestinian, Arab American, and those supporting them on the other side, and that is not really what our city is about,” she said, adding that she’s never seen the dynamic before in such a diverse city.
“If I could stop the war today, I would do it,” Kim said. “But I also think it’s important for this local body to prioritize matters that are directly impacting the residents of this jurisdiction on the topics that we can actually control.”
The motion passed with a vote of 3-2.
