Yonkers City Council tables ceasefire resolution that pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel groups oppose

• Published date: 10 April 2024
• Author: LUKE TRESS/JTA
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The council announced that it would table the resolution at the start of the meeting Tuesday evening when it had been on the agenda. The tabling followed opposition from all sides in Yonkers

Despite having called for months for a ceasefire, a coalition of pro-Palestinian organizations, including an anti-Zionist Jewish group, protested the proposed resolution. The Yonkers Ceasefire Coalition called it a "Zionist resolution," condemned it as a "distorted version of the original resolution that appears to minimize the severity of the atrocities" and put forward its own draft that removes language recognizing Israel's right to exist.

Protesting against a ceasefire

Meanwhile, a deluge of emails from Jewish residents had also filled the council's inbox protesting the move to call for a ceasefire at all.

Both groups announced their intention to protest during the meeting — leaving the council unwilling to proceed with the resolution.

"My position is, if the group that asked for the resolution does not support it because it doesn't go as far as they want, and the Jewish community does not support it because they don't want a ceasefire without the release of hostages, which is totally understandable, then why are we bringing this to a vote?" City Council President Lakisha Collins-Bellamy told the New York Jewish Week before the meeting.

The dispute over the resolution in a large New York City suburb reflects shifting rhetoric surrounding the Israel-Hamas war six months after it began on Oct. 7 with Hamas' invasion of Israel. A number of cities have passed ceasefire resolutions. But while competing texts have been put before some city councils, the debates until now have mainly focused on whether or not to call for a ceasefire.

The Yonkers debate, by contrast, comes at a time when calls to stop or at least immediately pause the fighting have gained increasing purchase among US lawmakers as well as left-wing pro-Israel groups. Jewish groups on the center and right have generally opposed ceasefire calls. Israel and Hamas have been engaging in indirect talks over a ceasefire for months; this week, Hamas again rejected an Israeli proposal for a pause in the fighting.

Collins-Bellamy said that in addition to the pro-Palestinian protest, members of the Jewish community had sent around 1,000 emails to the City Council opposing the measure. Thirty Yonkers community members signed up to speak at the council meeting and Collins-Bellamy believed all planned to oppose the...