Cease-fire resolution pushed to next Minneapolis City Council meeting
The Minneapolis City Council referred a resolution that calls for a permanent cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war until its next meeting of the committee of the whole.
In a room packed full of supporters of the resolution, council members voted 10 to 2 to refer the resolution to the Jan. 23 meeting.
Council Member Aurin Chowdhury asked for the change at the Monday meeting.
“I, along with many other council members, wanted to ensure good governance and transparency in this process and conversation and consultation with constituents, our mayor, council members and the coalition that was a part of the proposal of this resolution,” she said. “Following our standard process means that we have another week to collaborate before its final version is due to the clerk’s office.”
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The resolution, as it was worded Monday, says, “We unequivocally condemn the targeting and killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians — a violation of international law.”
It calls for an immediate cease-fire, the release of Palestinian and Israeli hostages and ending “U.S. military funding to the State of Israel.”
Council Member Linea Palmisano said she thinks the council should not weigh into issues it cannot control.
“People are worried this will inflame both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,” she said. “I feel strongly that we need all of our energy to spend time on the issues that we can affect here in our city. That’s how I’d like to start this year is getting to work on things where we can affect change and not on things that heighten fear and alarm in our constituents.”
But Council Member Robin Wonsley said the council should step in and make its voice heard. She said the attacks on Gaza should be called “genocide.”
“Staying silent is not an option,” she said. “And neither is using language that misconstrues the reality of the situation and gives cover to the violence and oppression that our relatives in Gaza are experiencing.”
It was a meeting that brought out many supporters of the resolution, who at times chanted “cease-fire now!”
Sana Wazwaz, a Palestinian American with the group American Muslims for Palestine, attended the meeting Monday.
“Although Minneapolis City Council doesn’t have any jurisdiction over foreign policy, they have leverage in that, if they join one of the five large cities and one of 60 municipalities that have passed cease-fire resolutions and called for these measures to end the bloodshed to end this disproportionate and senseless and indiscriminate violence against the Palestinians,” she said. “That could influence national policy.”
Bob Goonin, who is Jewish, brought a sign supporting a cease-fire.
“I would have liked to see the resolution voted on today and that is because the situation in Gaza is dire,” said Goonin, who lives in North Minneapolis. “We have 23,000 people who have been killed, civilians, Palestinians. And every day another 200-plus die. This includes over 9,000 children.”
Mayor Jacob Frey said last week he was not consulted on the resolution as mayor or as a member of the Jewish community. He joined Jewish leaders from the Jewish Community Relations Council and Temple Israel on Friday to criticize the resolution, which hadn’t yet been finalized or shared publicly.