“Somerville City Council calls for ceasefire in Gaza” (Boston Herald):
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.
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.”
If there is an “enduring ceasefire” doesn’t that also mean enduring rule by the Islamic Resistance Movement (“Hamas”)? Separately, the parallelism here is tough to miss:
Councilor Kristen Strezo proposed an amendment demanding the dismantling of Hamas as well as the dismantling of the Netanyahu administration.
From state-sponsored public radio/TV:
Somerville is the first city in Massachusetts to call for a ceasefire, according to the local advocacy group Somerville For Palestine. Other local governments, including San Francisco and Minneapolis, have also passed resolutions. Cambridge City Council will hear its own ceasefire resolution on Monday, and it’s expected to pass.
I would love to see one of these cities take the next logical step and vote to have Hamas officials come over and govern a city here. If Hamas is an ideal government for Palestinians then why isn’t it an ideal government for Americans, both documented and undocumented?
They’re working on it, Phil – as fast and as diligently as they can…
Are wars in Syria, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Somali are on the ballot in Massachusetts? They all dwarf Israeli counter-attack in Hamas murderous war against Israel and Jews in number of casualties. Did not know that Massachusetts folks are all so much interested in final solution.
There is a clear military, political, and philosophical global shift from the colonial US/UK model to the Yemeni Asabiyya model, and Somerville may understand this better than Cambridge.
It should raise a red flag that Hamas is described in the ’20’s the same as ISIS was described in the ’10’s. Please consider that the Palestinians may be made of stronger character than the USAians, and Hamas may be less durable than the US Deep State.
Dr. Greenspun, if you were governing Israel, what would you be doing? On a separate but related issue, there has been an increase in anti-Semitic sentiment after Hamas started the war on October 6 due to perceptions of how Israel is waging the war and the images of human suffering in Gaza. Wouldn’t a ceasefire help combat the increase in antisemitism simply by diverting attention away from the Israel Palestine issue?
Anon: I don’t think that antisemitism is increasing worldwide. It is just that more of the people who hate Jews have moved to Western countries and more attention is paid to an expression of Jew hatred if it happens in New York, Michigan, or California than if it happens in Iran or Yemen.
I guess the advice that makes the most sense is based on humans having short attention spans. Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger gave the green light to an Indonesian Muslim takeover of Christian East Timor on condition that it happen quickly. So the Israelis probably would have been better off reputationally if they simply flattened as much of Gaza as possible in 30 days, not bothering to try to spare the 12 percent of Gazans polled who were against the Oct 7 attacks (and half of that 12 percent might be people who were upset about the Israeli counterattack, not upset by the raping/killing/kidnapping per se).
Thank you for your reply. You do agree that antisemitism has increased in the US though. Given that you are based in the US, aren’t you worried about the increase in antisemitism in the US? If so, what should be done to protect American Jews? Isn’t a cease fire better from that perspective?
Anon: Yes, I would say that Jew hatred has increased in the U.S. Some of this was predictable due to Muslim immigration and population growth. The fondness for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad among progressives has surprised me.
https://archive.is/3IE9Q is a Washington Post story titled “Young U.S. Muslims are rising up against Israel in unlikely places”:
The burst of activism — which Muslim scholars said would have been unthinkable just a decade or so ago — is rooted in the broad spread of Muslim families throughout the United States.
From the first major waves of migrants to the United States in the 1970s through the 1990s, Muslims tended to cluster in just a handful of states, including New York, California and Michigan.
Like many immigrant groups, over time some moved elsewhere in search of jobs and opportunities. More recently, many new refugees from Muslim-majority nations have settled directly into states in the South or Midwest in hopes of finding more affordable housing.
A 2017 analysis from Pew Research Center estimated that 3.45 million Americans are Muslim, three-quarters of whom are immigrants or the children of immigrants. Overall, the nation’s Muslim population is far younger than the overall U.S. population, with Pew finding 35 percent of Muslims were 18 to 29 that year, compared to 21 percent of the overall population.
Anon: As far as a ceasefire protecting American Jews, I don’t think that it would. In fact, if the Jew-haters who demonstrate in NYC, DC, Boston, Chicago, SF, LA, etc. get what they want that should rationally embolden them (just as the success of the mostly peaceful BLM protests emboldened those who advocate for discrimination against white and Asian Americans).
(Senator Fetterman is the most effective U.S. politician from a Jewish/Israel perspective, in other words, by simply giving the finger to or waving an Israeli flag at the anti-Israel protesters. Unlike Joe Biden, he gives them no hope that he will ever listen to or accede to any of their demands. Trump was kind of like Fetterman, actually. He just told the Palestinians “no”, thus putting the burden entirely on them if they wanted to achieve any of their goals.)
Since any member of Hamas can stroll across the southern border right now and claim asylum on the basis of being anti-Hamas (how is some U.S. government employee going to be able to tell the difference), I don’t think that there is security for any American. I think I’ve noted this before. I can’t figure out why Yemenis are bothering to attack us in their neighborhood when they can trivially come over here and attack us in our neighborhoods. All that a Yemeni has to say to qualify for asylum in the U.S., or at least a 10-year legal stay while his/her/zir/their asylum claim is sorted out, is “I am anti-Houthi”.
Thank you for your thoughts. Given what you have stated, it almost seems like an intractable problem, right?
Yes, as long as UNRWA is there to provide food, education, and health care at EU/US-taxpayer expense there is no reason for Palestinians to compromise on any of the war aims that they had in 1948 (which included eradication of Jews from the area). And the Jews of Israel wouldn’t be welcome back in their ancestral homes of Morocco, Iran, Iraq, etc., which means the Jews aren’t likely to accede to Palestinian demands. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_exodus_from_the_Muslim_world )
Most of us would think it a waste of time to show up at a city council meeting in a small Massachusetts town to debate the merits of a war half way around the world as well as who should run a foreign government also half way around the world. Sommerville has a population of about 80,000 people and it seems about 500 people showed up — “supporters”?– or a little more than half a percent of the town’s population & that is assuming everyone who showed up was in fact a Sommerville resident. So it might be interesting to learn why these people chose to spend their time this way. The vote in Oakland also seemed to represent a trivial portion of that town’s population.
That stuff that has been in the thoughts, Dr Phil, unfortunately looks much grimmer when you see it on paper (pixels) and read in your words…
I watched the 2+ hour hearing and was appalled and saddened. Having lived in Somerville for over 40 years, and watching with my son who graduated from the high school a few years ago, we only recognized a few of the non politicians in the chamber. I question whether most were residents, as opposed to members of a solidarity group. I was also surprised to see that they allowed a non US/MA flag to fly in the chamber throughout.
Fly US flag in the US? That’s so 1800’s, maybe early 1900’s… These days, it might offend the worthy people residing here, irrespective of their legal status.
Plus, it might remind some people that most other countries actually have border controls. That’s also so 1900’s. It’s enough if we do it just up north, plus the airports.
If you fly the US flag, some people might also remember that the official language of this country used to be English. That could make some people unwelcome here.
To be more open and welcoming, I think it’s a really good idea to fly a flag of any other country or an organization, but not US.
Respond to attacks on US troops? Naah… Maybe. At some point. In some way.
Have a president who can actually walk and talk unassisted? Why?
Maybe to be at the forefront of progressive societies, it would be actually better to cancel the flag. And the borders. Oh, and maybe the president, too. The central committee of the party is probably a better form of the government, anyway.
Was there a president at Orwell’s Animal Farm?
Good for you Somerville City Councilors! I’m proud of what you are doing and all those who attended this important meeting and requested that President Biden to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Now would you please do the same and request that President Biden deal with much more crushing issues here at home? How about starting with our broken education system? Maybe order Newton, MA teacher who are on strike to get back to work (like Regan did for PATCO workers back in 1981)?
Israel and Hamas/Palestinians are big boys, they can take care of their problems. Somerville City Councilors rather take on small fights, from a distance, while taking cover inside the City Hall.