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No Boston City Council vote on Gaza ceasefire today
By adamg on Wed, 02/14/2024 - 2:56pm
Councilor Ben Weber (Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury) today withdrew his proposed resolution calling for a negotiated Gaza ceasefire to let him rewrite it so that it doesn't cause "more division" rather than lessen it.
Before withdrawing his motion, Weber first explained why he felt the council should take a stand on the issue to begin with.
"As a Jewish person, I have felt a strong connection with Israel all my life" and none more deeply than watching news reports about Hamas's murders and hostage taking in Israel on Oct. 7. "But being Jewish does not mean I have to agree with everything the Israeli government does," he continued. "I cannot ignore the pain and suffering" of both Palestinians in Gaza and their family members in Massachusetts trying to get them out.
He said he began talking with with local Palestinian and Jewish leaders in the Boston area, including Sammy Nabulsi, an attorney working to get Palestinians with Massachusetts connections out of Gaza, and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston and concluded that a negotiated ceasefire is needed to protect innocents from further bloodshed and death.
But leading up to today's council meeting, he said he realized the way he wrote his proposed resolution might inflame things rather than serve as a possible way to peace, so it needed to be rewritten before he could ask the rest of the council to vote on it.
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 Weber's withdrawn resolution | 143.26 KB |
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Comments
Oh good
I bet that's what Bibi's been waiting for to put this whole thing to bed: the West Roxbury delegation weighing in on the matter
I'm sure both sides in the
I'm sure both sides in the war were eagerly awaiting the results of this vote to decide what to do next.
But seriously, such a waste of time. How about the City Council focuses on things that they have some authority over?
Take the win
How many times are they suppose to discuss difficult problems like housing and drug abuse when these are largely determined by things outside the City's control?
At least Gaza is an easy problem. Who wouldn't want peace?
So...the situation in the mid-east is an easy problem?
I think plenty of people would disagree with you here. Politicians all over the United States, Canada, and throughout the world, generally, have been observing and getting involved in the situation in Gaza and the mid-east, generally. Nobody suggests that city councillors and other politicians ignore the politics, etc., that go on in their cities and towns, but it's not a bad idea for even local politicians to expand their horizons just a wee bit and become aware of what's going on, especially in a place like the middle east, which is one of the most, if not the most dangerous, unstable and volatile parts of the world, for the past several decades.
Meanwhile, across the river ...
Councillors will consider whether to limit scope to what happens within the borders of Cambridge.
Lets hear what they have to say
Like most people, I seek Taylor Swift's guidance on the Gaza situation. But perhaps the IDF commanders are at least curious what the Boston & Cambridge city councils recommend.
/s
I know being a Boston City Councilor is not a tough job
So can you get back to doing what you were elected to do, Councilor Weber?
If either Gaza City or Khan
If either Gaza City or Khan Younis were sister cities of Boston I could almost see why the City Council of Boston would be interested in such a resolution: Neither are.
Our Boston City Councilors need to stick to the business of Boston.
City Councilors and other local politicians
City councilors and other politicians throughout the United States, as well as other countries, get involved to some degree in international politics all the time. What's wrong with a city council getting involved in international politics somewhat, to some degree or other. The situation in the mid-east is what's on pretty much everybody's minds right now. There's no reason why a city council cannot or should not get involved to some degree or other.