Salem City Council to consider Gaza ceasefire resolution. Hope it passes.

Hines Brian May 25, 2024No Comments

Next Tuesday, May 28, the Salem City Council will consider adoption of a resolution drafted by the city's Human Rights Commission regarding the Israel-Hamas war. It calls for:

An immediate and permanent ceasefire, an end to the hostilities, the free flow of humanitarian aid and the release of all civilian hostages.

Hard to see how any member of the City Council could object to that, though I bet some will (Mayor-elect Julie Hoy, for one).

The only viable argument against the resolution that I can come up with is that Israel should be able to continue going after Hamas fighters until they're all dead or surrendered, even though by Israel's own admission they've been killing more innocent Palestinians in Gaza than Hamas fighters.

There's greater weight on the side of the resolution, given what I know about this conflict, which includes Israel's horrible treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank for decades, a fact beyond dispute.

The United States has acknowledged that Israel hasn't been complying with international law in its conduct of the war.

But since President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken are so wishy-washy when it comes to standing up against Israeli atrocities, they decided to take the easy way out and merely restrict the transfer of large 2,000 pound bombs to Israel, instead of cutting off offensive weapons entirely, as seems to be required by U.S. law when our weapons are being used in an inhumane fashion.

Thankfully, the International Criminal Court cares more about justice than Biden and Blinken do. The court is considering arrest warrants for the Prime Minister of Israel and the leader of Hamas.

In a stunning announcement that drew sharp indignation from both warring parties, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor said Monday that he was seeking to charge senior figures in the Israel-Gaza conflict, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yehiya Sinwar, with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Karim Khan’s statement listed extensive charges and sought additional arrest warrants for Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and two other top Hamas leaders — Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, the leader of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades better known as Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader.

The ICC is the only permanent international court that wields power to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Its announcement Monday was historic: Although Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, upon which the court is founded, the arrest warrants, if issued, would nonetheless stigmatize the country’s senior leaders.

The ICC’s pre-trial chamber will now consider Khan’s application. If it approves the request, international arrest warrants would be issued for the five men and would be enforced by the court’s 124 member states.

In addition, the International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to back off its invasion of Rafah, a city in the south of Gaza where about a million people had sought refuge from the fighting elsewhere in Gaza.

A ruling Friday from the International Court of Justice ordering an immediate halt to Israel’s military offensive in Rafah marked a stunning rebuke of the Israeli leadership’s prosecution of the war in Gaza, including the decision to send troops and tanks into a city where more than a million Palestinians had sought refuge.

The incursion into Gaza’s southernmost city, which began May 7, has already displaced more than 800,000 people, the court said, calling the developments “exceptionally grave.” Israel must halt the operation and open the Rafah crossing for the “unhindered” provision of aid, the judges said, adding that the offensive could destroy Palestinian life in Gaza.

Israeli officials swiftly indicated that they would ignore the ruling, which is binding but difficult to enforce, even as the high-profile judgment deepened Israel’s isolation on the world stage.

So the time is right for the Salem City Council to stand for peace against mindless war. Hamas engaged in horrific terrorism in its October 7, 2023 attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel. Since, Israel has been engaged in horrific war within Gaza, killing well over 10,000 women and children in what arguably is genocide against the Palestinian people, destroying most of the residences in Gaza.

If you agree, email testimony to the City Recorder prior to Tuesday afternoon, if possible.

Background information for Tuesday's agenda item includes this statement from city staff:

Salem residents have approached Mayor and Council and called on their elected leaders to address a crisis that has continued to unfold on the world stage for more than half a year: the siege in the Gaza Strip.

The City of Salem Human Rights Commission, at the request of the Mayor, met three times over three weeks and held some six hours of public discussion on the question. During the Commission’s public engagement, the Commission performed outreach to faith communities, received more than fifty pages of public input, 107 members of the public attended meetings, and forty-four provided spoken testimony. One commenter shared she had a petition signed by over 200 people in support of a resolution.

Salem residents provided diverse perspectives. Most community members, regardless of perspective, centered on a concern for decency. Some residents communicated that they lived in fear, and asked Salem not to move forward out of concern for what they perceived to be the safety of the Jewish community in Salem.

Oh, please, give me a break. How is the safety of the Jewish community in Salem at risk from a resolution calling for an end to hostilities in Gaza? That's ridiculous. Playing the anti-semitism card whenever there is justified criticism of how Israel has been conducting its war against Hamas is deeply irritating.

Israel is a country led by right-wing extremists. Judaism is a religion. The two are distinct. I'm strongly anti-Israel when it comes to that country's despicable treatment of Palestinians. But I have no problem with the Jewish religion, aside from the problem I have with every religion: they're figments of the imagination with no basis in objective reality, since God almost certainly is a fiction.

So the City Council should pass the resolution with no concern about supposed anti-semitism. Again, if you agree, email testimony to the City Recorder prior to Tuesday afternoon, if possible.