In news close to home…..
This week in my home town, St. Petersburg, Florida, the the city council chambers were abuzz because of a resolution that was being introduced to promote peace in the Middle East. City Councilor, Ritchie Floyd, announced on “X” his intention to have “my city support a ‘pathway to peace.’”
“Tomorrow at the council meeting I'm introducing this resolution calling for a ceasefire, and supporting peace for all in Palestine and Israel.”
I carefully looked at Richie Floyd’s social media and website and found nothing in his political philosophy to support his resolution. His motivation is purely political, a joyride through the current landscape of wokeness, a romp on the bandwagon that has washed over our country at the city level. People, we need to look at this critically and stand up to it.
At a first glance the resolution, which you can look up on X, looks official. The format lends the document gravitas and implies it is impartial, unimpeachably expressing truths. However, let’s look at how easily an anti-Israel narrative can rewrite history and how well intentioned people and communities can unintentionally contribute to growing problem of an anti-Israel narrative.
Let’s start with first assertion and the title: “Palestine and Israel” are mentioned hand in hand.
I am pretty sure St Pete is part of the United States. To date the United States does not recognize “Palestine” as a separate country. Does this resolution intend to recognize a sovereign state of Palestine? What is implied by this statement? Symbolic? Or changing the narrative?
And still in the first sentence: “…recognizes the immense suffering and tragic loss of life in Palestine and Israel beginning on Oct 7th. “
We all must remember what actually happened.
On October 7th Israel was attacked. Gaza was not attacked. Anyone from Gaza who died that day was a murderous terrorist attacking, multilating, beheading, sexually assaulting Israelis, Jews, Bedouins, foreign workers. Gaza was not attacked on Oct 7th. Hamas was the attacker not the victim. Hamas broke the ceasefire on Oct 7th.
Interestingly, I collaborated with residents and the city council in my adjacent community, Somerville, Massachusetts many years ago in an effort to stop a similar resolution. At that time only Cambridge, where we lived, felt it had the responsibility to weigh in on international affairs. But as I mentioned, this is a fast growing bandwagon and like many sinister political movements, it gives a platform and real-appearing credence to irresponsible opportunists who want to leapfrog their careers on the shoulders of the the seemingly well-intentioned. Is it a surprise that this is at the expense of israel?
It’s time to stand up to “well-intentioned” lies
Reuters published an article on the trend of similar resolutions being passed on the city level all over the country.
“Jan 31 (Reuters) - Some 70 U.S. cities, including Chicago and Seattle, 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 a November general election to help end the fighting.
At least 48 cities have passed symbolic resolutions calling for a halt to Israel's Gaza bombardment, with six others passing resolutions advocating more broadly for peace. At least 20 have passed resolutions condemning Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which sparked the current bloodshed, the data shows.”
It all sounds well intentioned but we need to look at motivations of the writers of such resolutions as well as what facts are included, and more importantly what facts have been either implied or omitted.
Then our community response…….
I’m proud to report that people filled the chamber opposing the resolution and Richie Floyd withdrew it. The responses on X were, shall we say, a bit more pungent.
But I fear that a resolution of this nature shows a lack of knowledge and understanding. I imagine it was brought forth without as much thought as this situation demands.
A ceasefire makes sense. How can any human oppose a call for a ceasefire and a cessation of killing and suffering?
The maddening thing about this war is that a ceasefire now will not achieve safe borders for Israel. It is inadequate.
A ceasefire requires release of all hostages. Release innocent Israelis without release of jailed Palestinians who were incarcerated because of terrorist crimes they committed. Just an unconditional release of the hostages. And this should be a full throated demand by the WHOLE WORLD.
A ceasefire requires that Hamas renounce its charter pledge to eliminate Israel. It is quite simple. Israel’s existence is a non-negotiable fact.
Are the voices calling for a ceasefire calling for Hamas to recognize the sovereign borders of Israel? Or are they calling for a time out so Hamas can regroup and attack again?
News reports today show in Gaza City Hamas is able to pay wages to their police again. Police are a Hamas priority but what about the humanitarian crisis?
It is not enough to respond to these resolutions. I believe we must engage with one another and communicate. This is the hardest but most important task. In the coming weeks I will be appearing at lots of events to debrief people on my findings in israel and perhaps more importantly, to inspire people in our community to take action at this critical time.
0Comments
Add Comment