City Council vote on Gaza cease-fire resolution to be postponed
Palestinians inspect the rubble of a mosque destroyed after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City on Oct. 9.
Adel Hana/Associated Press
In what she called the “interest of collaboration,” mayoral ally Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33rd) has agreed to the demand by more than two dozen colleagues to postpone Wednesday’s City Council vote on a resolution demanding a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas.
“After careful consideration and conversations with allies, chairman (Daniel La Spata) and me have decided that in the interest of collaboration we will Defer and Publish our Uniting for Peace Resolution this Wednesday,” Rodriguez-Sanchez, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s hand-picked chair of the City Council’s Committee on Health and Human Relations, wrote in an email to her colleagues.
Rodriguez-Sanchez did not respond to a request for comment. She vowed in her email to “work with the mayor’s office to schedule another Council meeting to vote on it” after Wednesday. She also attached a copy of the current resolution after making “several changes ... suggested by many of you.”
Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th), the City Council’s lone Jewish member, was the driving force behind the effort to put off another emotionally charged debate about the war, which has dragged on for more than three months.
“I was able to get 28 of my colleagues to sign a letter asking her to hold off,” Silverstein told the Sun-Times Monday. “I want to thank my colleagues for that. I’m grateful for their support and I also appreciate that Rossana is willing to work with us to try to draft a more balanced resolution.”
“Hopefully, she realized that, with Holocaust International [Remembrance] Day coming up, it wasn’t the right time to hear a resolution on the same City Council.” That holiday will be observed on Saturday, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
A crowd waits inside City Hall to attend the Dec. 13 Chicago City Council meeting at which a resolution condemning the Hamas attack on Israel was debated and ultimately passed.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Although the latest version of their cease-fire resolution makes the strongest attempt yet to be even-handed in its portrayal of the conflict, Silverstein said the revised language is not yet acceptable to her.
It notes that “24,100 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in over 100 days since Oct. 7, including 10,000 children” and that 85% of Gaza’s 1.9 million population have been “displaced since the Israeli bombardments began” on Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel.
But the resolution also states, “Since Oct. 7, 2023, over 1,200 Israelis have been killed and 240 Israeli hostages were taken by Hamas.”
“I feel that it still needs to be more balanced. It does not mention the atrocities that happened,” Silverstein said.
“We’re going to ask her to make some changes. Hopefully, she’ll listen to us like she did listen to us and granted us the delay. I appreciate that and we’ll continue to work with her and see if we can make this better for everybody,” she said, adding, “There was a cease-fire on Oct. 6 that was broken” by Hamas.
Last week’s letter cited two reasons for asking Rodriguez-Sanchez not to call the resolution for a final vote Wednesday: the proximity to International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the fact that the Council already will consider another resolution Wednesday marking 79 years since Auschwitz was liberated.
Israel launched the offensive in Gaza after a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage. Israel believes about 130 hostages remain in Hamas captivity. Israel’s counterattacks have killed nearly 25,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.
A crater full of water and sewage remains where a home destroyed by an Israeli air-strike in the northern Gaza Strip.
Associated Press
After receiving the letter last week, Rodriguez-Sanchez sent a text message to the Sun-Times: “The situation in Gaza is critical. According to the World Health Organization, a child is killed in Gaza every ten minutes. We desperately need a cease-fire now.”
She noted that at the December committee meeting that culminated in approval of the cease-fire resolution, “We heard from many Jewish leaders who made clear the urgent need for a cease-fire and that ‘never again’ is now and for everyone.”
In mid-October, the City Council passed a controversial Silverstein-sponsored resolution condemning Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in Israel during a tense, chaotic session that forced Johnson to clear the chambers after supporters of Palestinians and Israel shouted over each other.
Opponents said Silverstein’s resolution lacked nuance, and should also have condemned Israeli treatment of Palestinians.
The resolution passed overwhelmingly by voice vote nearly two hours into the meeting. The only “no” came from Rodriguez-Sanchez, who attended virtually while on a trip to Milwaukee.