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One local Jewish leader condemns Boston City Council resolution on Gaza
By adamg on Wed, 05/01/2024 - 10:46pm
Rob Leikind, New England director of the American Jewish Committee, is not having the City Council's resolution on Gaza:
Rather than forthrightly address the concerns that inhibit a cessation of violence, the Boston City Council embraced a one-sided narrative that did not neatly portray the obstacles to a ceasefire, and which itself poses an obstacle to a reduction of conflict.
The resolution glaringly failed to mention Hamas’ October 7th terrorist attack on Israel; Hamas’ promise to continue to attack Israel and murder its people; or its use of Gazans as human shields. Strikingly, it also made no mention of the fact that there is an actual ceasefire proposal on the table, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken called "extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel."
We would have hoped that the Boston City Council would have used this opportunity to advance understanding and soothe a polarized climate. Instead, it threw fuel on the fire and offered no solace to Palestinians or Israelis.
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Comments
You know you are getting
"The resolution glaringly failed to mention Hamas’ October 7th terrorist attack on Israel"
You know you are getting worked when they insist this started on October 7th, 2023.
Ctrl + f = “this started on Oct 7” not found
Typical disingenuousness. Fuck you too.
this poster
is likely thinking of the ADL response, which does explicitly name october 7th as the beginning of the conflict.
So when did it start?
2007, when Hamas took control of Gaza? 1973? 1967? 1948? 1920? 638? It's difficult to go back further than that, because before the Muslim conquest there is no meaningful distinction between Jew and Palestinian. One could argue that there was no meaningful distinction for many centuries after, but that is disputatious, and, in my opinion, largely meaningless. This game of "they started it!" will never resolve anything. There are proximate causes and secondary causes; secondary causes multiply without limit, but proximate causes are more easily determined. This latest catastrophe began with the horrifying crimes of October 7th, and those who talk blithely of a ceasefire without mentioning that, or without proposing how it should be dealt with, are purveyors of cowardly evasions at best, and collaborators with the murderers at worst. If a gang of serial killers massacred my family with monstrous cruelty, gang-raping my sisters while torturing them and cutting them to pieces, and I was then asked to make peace with them, I would not regard those who asked as trustworthy mediators, and I would not listen to them.
It is a tragedy for Israel that this has enabled its worst factions, giving that rat-bastard Netanyahu and his cronies even more power to transform the reasonable vigilance of Israelis towards historically hostile neighbors into a will to domination and conquest. That faction would like to be to Israel what Hamas is to Gaza, and to rival Hamas in its contempt for all constraints on its will to power. To attempt to resist this faction by supporting Hamas is perverse, wicked, and stupid.
You know you are getting
[dup, please delete]
It seemed fine to me.
You want the Boston City Council to put out a nuanced, respectful, detailed, historically-informed proposal to end the violence in the Middle East? You're going to be waiting a long time.
It's not even important that the city did *anything*! So just be happy that what they eventually passed was something that 1) acknowledges violence on both sides and 2) calls for an end to it.
Sorry, I was unclear, I was
Sorry, I was unclear, I was referring to Rob Leikind's rebuttal, I edited the post to include his quote. Thanks.
Hmm?
I was responding to Adam's post (or rather, to the Rob Leikind quote), not to you.
What I want from local goverments
The ability to resist the urge to officially comment on topics that are completely outside the scope of the city of Boston. It isn't helping or comforting anyone.
The council's statement is akin to telling someone who is in the hospital with terminal organ failure, "Hope you feel better!"
There are plenty of actual city issues involving local policing, use of public spaces for protests, etc. Many of these issues are far more difficult and important than just issuing a vapid statement regarding one of the most discussed and complex situation in world affairs.
posterity
is a good reason for a local government to comment on world conflict. the city's stance will be clear to its constituents, as well as to future generations as they look to shape the manner in which they will govern.
besides that, people can walk and chew gum. i feel opposition to this kind of resolution is clearly rooted in a disagreement with the premise rather than a substantive criticism of the idea of issuing a statement.
Clarifying
For them to be clear that they are bad at their jobs and of the nitwit ideology roiling their local campuses
sure
that's one opinion
Really?
Is there anyone who wasn't sure about the councilor's positions from their social media posts? If so, they couldn't just email them directly and ask?
The council is acting like I did in highschool in Model UN. MUN was super fun because we got to solve the world's problems simply by issuing statements. And in the evening, we hung out and went to record stores and coffee shops.
The school took care of the hard things like finding a place for us to stay and getting us into the college dining hall for meals. That left us with plenty of time to play diplomat, something we took very seriously for a few hours each day.
the thing is
you had no power or influence in the model UN
Exactly
Just like the Boston City Council has no influence in the real UN or any other nation.
The Boston City Council issuing international policy statements carries the same weight as a group of nerdy school kids doing the same.
nah
as i mentioned before, you don’t just issue a statement on international conflict with the expectation that the war will end.
and if you accept my assertion, which obviously you’re free to not, then this can’t be true.
Hmm
Is this the same American Jewish Committee that tried to get American Jews to sign a blank check loyalty oath to support Israel, and that made a statement in favor of Netanyahu's proposed bill that would require both Jewish and non-Jewish Israelis to pledge loyalty to Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state"?
Interesting how summer long
Interesting how summer long firework parties and nightly drag racing don't violate any fire codes or made up city ordinances.
one person's opinion
and not a neutral and disinterested one.
Leader of an advocacy group aligned with the Likud government.
The New York City Council
The New York City Council used to do a lot of this, back when it had very little real power. This was partly because there's an embassy of almost any government you might be angry at in the city, because of the UN, and one thing the New York City Council could (and still can) do was rename streets.
The city council is so far
The city council is so far out of its depth issuing statements like this it isn't funny.
KEEP LOCAL GOVERNMENT LOCAL!