US city councils call for Israel-Gaza ceasefire
Some 70 US cities have passed resolutions on the Israel-Gaza war with most calling for a ceasefire, a Reuters analysis of city data shows, placing more pressure on President Joe Biden ahead of November’s presidential election to help end the fighting.
At least 47 cities have passed symbolic resolutions calling for a halt to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, with six others passing resolutions advocating more broadly for peace. At least 20 have passed resolutions condemning Hamas’s 7 October incursion which sparked the current bloodshed.
Most of the ceasefire resolutions have passed in Democrat-run states like California, although at least 14 have passed in swing states like Michigan that could be decisive in Biden’s re-election bid against former Republican President Donald Trump.
Biden’s administration has rebuffed calls for a ceasefire, something supported by a majority of Americans, arguing that an Israeli halt would embolden Hamas. Critics of the city resolutions say they have no tangible effect on national policy and distract from domestic issues.
Gabriela Santiago-Romero, a Detroit council member who voted to pass a ceasefire resolution in Michigan’s biggest city in November, said that it reflected frustration, particularly by younger officials and people of colour, with Biden and other national Democratic party leaders.
“We want leadership that is willing to listen to us,” said Santiago-Romero. Democrats should “listen to young people, invest in diversity, invest in people that are values aligned who actually listen to their constituents.”
When asked for comment, the White House, which has said that it is pressing Israel to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, referred to previous statements that a ceasefire would only benefit Hamas.
Many of the ceasefire calls are modelled after Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush’s “Ceasefire Now” resolution, which also urges the release of hostages and an increase of aid for Gaza, where health officials say the Israeli bombardment has killed more than 26,600 Palestinians, most of them children and women.
At least nine of the ceasefire calls were in Michigan, where Arab Americans account for five per cent of the vote and Biden’s 2020 margin of victory over Trump was less than three per cent. An October poll showed that Biden’s support among Arab Americans had plunged to 17 per cent from 59 per cent in 2020.
“This [war] is something that’s going to be on voters’ minds,” said Douglas Wilson, a Democratic strategist in the swing state of North Carolina. “It’s going to be an issue here and in all the swing states because of the Muslim populations in these states, the Jewish populations in these states and the Black and brown population in these states.”
Hamas said on Tuesday that it had received and was studying a new ceasefire proposal which includes the release of hostages in Gaza. It was presented by mediators after talks with Israel, in what appeared to be the most serious peace initiative for months.
US support for Israel throughout the war has divided Americans sharply, sparking protests in US cities in support of both Israel and Gaza. However, a Reuters poll last year found bipartisan support for a ceasefire.
Some critics of the city ceasefire calls say they’re premature, citing the brutality of Hamas’ attacks. “We can’t have a ceasefire [with] a terrorist organisation [sic] that’s committed to doing this again,” said Tyler Gregory, head of San Francisco’s Jewish Community Relations Council, which has condemned the calls as one-sided. “[These] resolutions are not only fanning the flames of hate, they’re creating stronger tensions.” He pointed to a rise in anti-Semitism in the US since 7 October.
At least some city officials said that the ceasefire calls had support from Jewish constituents. San Francisco Board Supervisor Hillary Ronen said hundreds of Jewish and Muslim residents urged her to vote in favour of a resolution that passed in the city, one of the largest to approve it. “For people like me, Jewish people with family members in Israel, it’s extra important for us to take a stance against this war,” she explained.
Mohammed Khader, a Black Palestinian-American and policy manager with the US Campaign for Palestinian Human Rights, said advocates “hope that those empowered with local state or federal voting power will acknowledge their Palestinian constituents.”
Analysts cautioned that while much could change before the election on 5 November, local frustration with Biden could hurt him at the polls by suppressing turnout. Nadia Brown, a professor of government at Georgetown University, said that many Democratic activists “don’t see voting or doing things at a national level as a way to get things they like. And if they don’t see that now, will they see that in November? I don’t think so.”
SOURCE: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240131-us-city-councils-call-for-israel-gaza-ceasefire/