The Somerville City Council is requesting President Biden to call for a ceasefire in Gaza but stopped short of endorsing a measure calling for the dismantling of Hamas and the administration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Somerville became the first city or town in Massachusetts to call for a ceasefire after the City Council passed a resolution supporting the measure last week. Similar requests in Cambridge and Boston have fallen up short in past months.
Roughly 500 supporters packed Somerville City Hall on Thursday, crowding the Council Chamber and two overflow rooms to make their voices heard that fighting must come to an end in Gaza.
Councilors deliberated for well over two hours before approving in a vote of a 9–2 resolution that received multiple amendments. It explicitly calls for an “enduring ceasefire, provision of life-saving humanitarian aid in Gaza, and the release of all hostages.”
“For so many people, our call to the Biden Administration to use its incredible political and financial leverage to end the human catastrophe unfolding before our eyes has been a sign of hope,” Councilor Willie Burnley, Jr., told the Herald in a statement Saturday.
The resolution “recognizes Israel’s right to defend itself within the bounds of international law” and condemns Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7, when the terrorist organization killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages.
It also “condemns antisemitic, anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, Islamophobic and all xenophobic rhetoric and attacks.” A copy of resolution is being sent to each member of the Massachusetts federal delegation and to President Biden, “urging them to use their position to enact a sustained ceasefire.”
Councilors said they received thousands of messages from community members on why such a resolution would bring them a sense of peace, while other writers said it would further divide the city.
Council President Ben Ewen-Campen said he brought the resolution forward because he believes military action on both sides needs to stop to prevent more civilians from dying, for humanitarian aid to begin flowing and for hostages to be freed.
“And as a Jew and as a human being I have felt trapped in an endless loop of grieving and horror, and a feeling of paralysis,” Ewen-Campen said. “And I know I’m not alone in those feelings.”
Councilor Kristen Strezo proposed an amendment demanding the dismantling of Hamas as well as the dismantling of the Netanyahu administration.
“This was written by fellow Jews who want to work together for the solution of peace and a collaboration of this,” she said. “This is one way I feel and they feel we can get there.”
Councilors denied the motion, with Matthew McLaughlin saying, “What we are talking about now just highlights how absurd a lot of this is … I want people in this community to feel safe, and I want peace. Sure, let’s get rid of Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas.”
The International Court of Justice on Friday ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza. As part of its binding ruling, the top United Nations court asked Israel for a compliance report in a month, meaning the military’s conduct will be under increasing scrutiny.
The court stopped short of ordering a cease-fire, but the orders its judges issued were in part a stinging rebuke of the army’s conduct so far in Israel’s nearly 4-month-long war against Gaza’s Hamas rulers
More than 26,000 Palestinians have died, destroyed vast swaths of Gaza and displaced nearly 85% of a population of 2.3 million people, according to officials.
Eliana Jacobowitz, a rabbi at Temple B’nai in Winter Hill, said she opposed the resolution because “it is outside the scope of city business.” She highlighted how she lived through terrorist attacks in Israel before immigrating to Somerville 19 years ago.
“I am not opposed to a ceasefire,” Jacobowitz said. “I am opposed to the city of Somerville making a decision that makes me feel very unwelcomed and like this is not my home.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
