Editor’s note: Council Member Hillary Goldberg made this statement following the passage of her resolution this past Tuesday night.

First off I want to say thank you, thank you to all my colleagues, especially our Mayor Pagan, [Township Manager] Dean, Teaneck Police, rabbis, my parents, my son, my significant other, former Councilmembers Sohn and yes, [Keith] Kaplan, and of course residents. Your amazing level of support since Friday has been completely indescribable. This is surreal.

I woke up on October 7 to my significant other in tears. He said, “Israel is at war.” His sisters were in bomb shelters; his best friends who he served with in the Israel Defense Force were going back to combat. Despite the holiday, I immediately contacted Deputy Mayor Katz and Councilman Schwartz, my colleagues who were in Jerusalem, to make sure they were alive and ok. Thank God they were. As I was glued to the news all day, I kept seeing news bulletins and was reminded of my grandfather, every Passover seder, reading a letter asking, “I wonder if the word bullet comes from the word bulletin,” as I saw bullets flying all over the news. My mother just sent me a message telling me my grandparents would be proud. Yes. Yes they would be very proud.

I listened in horror as my partner shared a horrifying story of his family’s neighbor being gang raped and murdered on camera and that video being sent to her parents.

I listened in horror as residents called me saying, “My grandfather was a Holocaust survivor and I never thought my children would live through a pogrom.” Residents send me screenshots and stories, like Maxine and Deborah Blaiberg shared. I sent those to the manager this morning. There is no one on the council, including myself, who is anti-Muslim, who is anti-Palestinian, who is anti anyone.

I stood and marched for Black Lives because it was necessary, because Black lives matter. I stood and demanded the raising of the pride flag because love is love. I stood against Asian hate; I stood against terror, and I will still fight for every single one of you. Because it is the right thing to do, and tonight, as my colleague stated, it is important to recognize that we are supporting Jewish lives.

This resolution is about condemning Hamas; it is about condemning antisemitism; it is not against Palestinians; it is not against Muslims; it is not against Islam.

We have all seen images we cannot unsee, images and video of throats being slit, babies burned, women raped, and people, including those of Teaneck residents. I heard today that a Teaneck resident found out his daughter-in-law was missing, and then she was found and had left behind a 6-month-old baby.

Thousands of Teaneck residents are directly impacted by these horrific events, and I will repeat: “The terrorist acts of Hamas will result in tremendous loss of life on both sides, and loss of innocent civilian lives should be spared.” Every death on both sides is because of the horrific terror of Hamas. I condemn Hamas for every life they take in Israel and Gaza and the West Bank.

In this country we have an amazing freedom of speech; in Germany it is against the law to deny the Holocaust; there are countless photos and videos, yet there are people who deny the Nazi atrocities. I have seen the horrific videos and photos of the atrocities committed by the Hamas terrorists. They are not fake news; they are not lies. They are real. They are crimes against humanity.

Someone used the analogy that the Jews of the world are sitting shiva for those who don’t know what shiva is. It is the mourning period after death. Jews all over the world are sitting shiva; we are in shock; we are outraged; we are grieving. At the next Council meeting I will absolutely support a resolution proposed by my colleagues that I can get behind when we work through wordsmithing.

Hillary Goldberg
Teaneck Town Council