Minneapolis’ City Council passed a cease-fire resolution. Will its Jewish mayor veto it?
A crowd of people both for and against the Minneapolis City Council’s ceasefire resolution at the Jan. 25 Minneapolis City Council meeting. Photo by Lonny Goldsmith
This article originally appeared in TC Jewfolk, and was republished here with permission.
Despite a late attempt to move forward with a more moderate, less divisive resolution on foreign policy, the Minneapolis City Council passed a resolution for a “permanent ceasefire and preventing loss of human life in the Middle East.” The resolution passed 9-3 with one abstention. More than 60 cities around the country have passed some sort of cease-fire resolution.
If the coalition of yes votes were to stay together, it would be enough to overturn a veto from Mayor Jacob Frey were to veto the resolution, should he choose to do so.
“The reason that the resolution before us is lopsided is because this conflict is lopsided,” said Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison. “This conflict is devastating. And absolutely: the attacks on October 7 were horrific and should be condemned. But it is not an excuse for a 25-to-1 death rate in a conflict like this.”
The resolution calls for: Advance a full, immediate, and permanent cease-fire, along with urgently needed humanitarian aid as a necessary step towards lasting peace; support an end to U.S. military funding to the State of Israel, and an end to U.S. tax dollars contributing to humanitarian catastrophe and loss of life; ensure the release of all Israeli hostages taken by Hamas; and ensure the release of thousands of Palestinians held indefinitely without cause and trial in Israeli military prisons.
Councilmember Linea Palmisano, who brought the substitute resolution that was voted down, said it’s the first time in her memory that a resolution on foreign policy was brought to the council that failed 4-8 with one abstention.
“If we can’t do something that we all agree on here, then what is your point?” she said. “When we speak about foreign policy and conflict thousands of miles away, we must do so to speak for our residents through a common microphone. And we must do so in a way that unifies our city and doesn’t divide. We should not fuel the fire of this hurt and this hatred on our own.”
In criticizing Palmisano for sending her motion to members 12 hours before the meeting starting Thursday morning, many of the City Council members spoke about the transparency of the process undertaken to get to the version that was ultimately approved.
“A coalition of 18 organizations, multifaith, multigenerational, multiracial, wrote this together and every word that you see in front of you,” said council vice president Aisha Chughtai. “The main motion was carefully considered by people who came from many different life experiences [who] belong to multiple identities, including people who were Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and lived in different parts of our city.”
Mayor Jacob Frey, who is Jewish, said he spoke at the meeting because the city needs unity, and the resolution that ultimately passed missed the mark. He hoped that Palmisano’s resolution would be considered both with an eye for peace and an eye for uniting the city.
“I support a cease-fire. I support a return of hostages. I support a two-state solution including both a sovereign Palestine and a sovereign Israel. And I support a resolution that can bring people together, not divide us,” he said. “I would sign a resolution that meets those ends and draws those conclusions. This resolution, however, is one-sided. It chooses what context and history to include, and what context and history to ignore.
“Including some people’s histories as valid – truthful and righteous as it may be – while ignoring others is neither progressive nor inclusive. It’s just sad.”
At the Jan. 23 Committee of the Whole meeting where the legislative process of taking amendments happens, eight amendments were added to the final version that the council approved Thursday; all were brought by council members Ellison, Robin Wonsley and Aurin Chowdhury. LaTrisha Vetaw, who voted against the final resolution and favored Palmisano’s substitute document, didn’t bring an amendment forward because she found the whole endeavor offensive.
“I’m not supporting anything that says genocide and some of the language they use,” she said. “[The authors] can say that there was the opportunity to bring amendments forward, but they wanted [Palmisano and I] to do it after they created this. If they really wanted to fix, they could have brought amendments forward that said things better.”
Steve Hunegs, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, said that Wonsley’s use of genocide in the resolution amounted to a “blood libel.”
“Genocide requires intent,” Hunegs said. “The [Israeli Defense Forces] tries to minimize civilian casualties while Hamas embeds its terrorists among schools, mosques, and people’s homes. Israel is trying to conduct a war of self-defense which Hamas started.
“You can see the true colors of the underlying resolution when councilmember Wonsley starts talking about genocide and that’s how she chose to encapsulate the resolution. They are antisemitic comments and that’s where she chooses to live.”
Wonsley left the council chambers after the meeting and rode the escalator to the skyway level of the Minneapolis Public Services Center to more than a hundred supporters of the resolution chanting her name, and pro-Palestinian chants, including the antisemitic “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Loud cheers were heard from the Skyway lobby and the overflow room after the resolution passed.
A spokesperson for Frey said he has not decided whether to veto the resolution.
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