It may have escaped your attention but last week the Chicago City Council passed a resolution that had national if not international importance. At ABC 7 Chicago Jessica D’Onofrio, Craig Wall and Eric Horng report:
CHICAGO (WLS) — A large crowd gathered in Daley Plaza after the Chicago City Council passed a controversial resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza on Wednesday.
Some also marched in the streets.
The council meeting became tense at times, with people in the audience shouting out and some being escorted from council chambers.
The council vote became dramatic, with Mayor Brandon Johnson casting the tie-breaking vote. Resolutions are typically passed quickly and without controversy, but the council spent months on this topic.
Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez, who spearheaded the cease-fire resolution, hugged a colleague and wiped away a tear after the final vote.
“I mean, I am very overwhelmed emotionally. I’m very grateful for all the colleagues that supported the resolution,” she said.
It ended months of debate over the war in Gaza that caused great division in the city council.
That was on full display as the council debated the non-binding resolution for the third time. The only Jewish alderperson made a passionate plea against it.
“How do you support a revolution that allows a terrorist regime to stay in power, so that it can continue to attack the world’s only Jewish state?” said 50th Ward Alderwoman Debra Silverstein.
Mayor Brandon Johnson cleared the chambers and recessed for an hour after repeated disruptions by pro-Palestinian supporters in the gallery. When debate resumed, it was civil, but urgent.
Chicago is the largest city whose city council has called for a ceasefire in Gaza. If the ceasefire they’re calling for actually took place it would not mean an end to violence. It would mean that all of the violence would be perpetrated by Hamas and members of other radical Islamist groups.
Why do I say it has everything? My first reaction was that the resolution was an indication of the loss of influence of Jewish voters in Chicago’s politics. Can you imagine IDF civilian truck repairman Rahm Emanuel casting the deciding vote in support of this resolution? Me, neither.
I don’t think that issues like this are the concerns of city governments at all.
Also, keep in mind that calling for a ceasefire without calling for Hamas to surrender and disarm itself is materially genocidal. So, we have a city council taking a materially pro-genocide position.
Note, too, that the debate was disrupted by pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Why was that not insurrection?
The Trib’s editorial calls the resolution “hateful”.
The vote was largely along racial/ethnic lines.
The genocide claims are way overblown. If we go back to the status quo on 10/6 the Jewish Israelis would not all die. Personally I think Israel should call their bluff and agree to a cease fire but only for a limited time and only to discuss peace talks, including Hamas no longer attacking Israel, giving up the hostages (probably dead but who knows) allowing elections and turning in their weapons.
Steve
30,000 dead Gazan civilians and 70,000 wounded is hardly overblown. There is a clear pattern of genocide and ethnic cleansing all over Palestine. And the tools are not merely bombs and guns, actual deliberate starvation and denial of medical services is being used by the Israelis.
Most people don’t care about the genocide/cleansing, because they assume it just Muslim riff raff, and they hate Muslims. But, a significant fraction, a minority, of the Palestinians is Christian, and the Israelis are targeting Christians, Christian churches, Christian schools, and Christian hospitals, too. Israel Jews hate Christian just as much or more than they hate Muslims.
That the vote was along ethnic lines is hardly surprising. The US is deep into the swamp of identitarian politics.
So politicians love to posture on issues over which they have no control or stake.
What’s the point? Distraction from lack of action on city issues?
How much of this is about setting the stage for 2026 and beyond.
I haven’t seen this infighting in other big democratic leaning states – like Massachusetts or Michigan.
What I do see is the senior Senator for the Illinois is 79 and up for reelection in 2026; and the governor has served 6 years and been pretty open in his ambitions for the Presidency or a cabinet position.
Saw a funny comment that asked, “When can we expect a ceasefire to be announced amongst Chicago’s gangs?”
The funnier one was: “Hamas calls for Chicago ceasefire”.