Outgoing Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara skipped work on Monday, saying in a social media post that she chose to close her City Hall office “in solidarity with the global call for a ceasefire” in the Israel-Hamas war.
In the Instagram post, which was quickly taken down, Lara appeared to be asking her 2,500-plus followers to join her in a “Global Strike for Gaza,” a call issued by the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces that was envisioned as impacting “all aspects of public life” across the world.
Lara’s post mirrored others shared by Palestinian activists and social media influencers, in suggesting that their followers skip work, refrain from buying anything including food, and steer clear of bank transactions, thereby stopping all economic activity on the day of the strike.
The Herald reviewed a screenshot of the post, and while Lara, who represents District 6, did not respond to a request for comment, two city councilors confirmed that her office door was closed throughout the day.
“I don’t want to get in a big fight because she’s out the door — I never closed my office, for any reason, in 10 years, because I’m there to serve the people who elected me,” said Larry DiCara, a former city councilor and longtime observer of city politics. “Not once.”
DiCara, who sat on the Council from 1972-81 and was the body’s president in 1978, said that he kept his office open even during the Blizzard of ‘78, a historic storm that dumped 27.1 inches of snow on Boston over a 32-hour period, killing 99 people across the Northeast and bringing the state to a standstill for nearly a week.
“This whole, we’re in a different world now where people think they can sit someplace else and work remotely,” DiCara told the Herald. “I mean, people come into the office, they want to see their city councilor. That’s democracy.”
He added, “She has a right to whatever political opinions she wants, but she’s elected to represent the people of her district. That happens to include me.”
Al Jazeera reported that “shops, schools and government offices” were closed across the “occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem” as Palestinians staged a strike against what the publication described as “Israel’s relentless bombing of the Gaza Strip.”
Hamas carried out a terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7 — an act widely described as the worst violence committed against Jewish people since the Holocaust — setting off war in the region.
“I support any peaceful action that might bring an end to the bombing in Gaza and the return of all the hostages,” said Councilor-elect Benjamin Weber, who is Jewish and will replace Lara on the Council in January.
When asked whether he planned to keep his office open every work day as a councilor, Weber told the Herald, “I will focus on the needs of District 6 residents and will make decisions about how to schedule my time through that lens.”
