Minneapolis City Council shows support for approving ceasefire resolution
MINNEAPOLIS — With a 9-3 vote, the Minneapolis City Council showed its support in approving a ceasefire resolution – calling for an end to U.S. aid to Israel.
The resolution was amended eight times Tuesday in front of a capacity-capped crowd of Palestinian rights supporters and local Jewish leaders. One such amendment included adding language from the United Nations Human Rights Office, raising concern of the risk of genocide in Gaza.
The resolution will go before the council for final vote Thursday morning.
Public comment was not included during Tuesday's Committee of the Whole meeting, but the resolution was moved from fourth to first on the agenda as supporters filled both the temporary council chambers and a room designated for overflow. Those who couldn't fit, as the rooms enforced fire code, waited in a hall outside the chambers.
"Our job as elected representative is to amplify your concerns and your priorities," said Ward 2 Council Member Robin Wonsley. "This resolution is not just symbolic, it has the power to help shift outcomes- the largest city in Minnesota taking a position for an immediate ceasefire and against Military aid to Israel sends a powerful message to our state and federal legislators."
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The resolution itself is four-fold: Advance a full and permanent ceasefire, end U.S. funding to Israel, release Israeli hostages taken by Hamas, and ensure the release of Palestinians from Israeli military prisons.
Minneapolis would join Detroit, Atlanta and Seattle in passing similar resolutions.
"At the center of this resolution, it is about humanity, the loss of human life," said Ward 12 Councilmember Aurin Chowdhury, who cowrote the original resolution.
Other council members were vocal that wading into this conversation is not the role of the council itself.
"We're a council that should not level claims on foreign policy matters on which we're not experts," said Ward 13 Councilmember Linea Palmisano.
"These words are divisive," said Councilmember Michael Rainville. "They will further divide our city. They will not heal it, which is what we need to move forward."
"The council had an opportunity to support a unifying resolution calling for peace, a two-state solution, return of hostages and ceasefire," said a spokesperson for Mayor Jacob Frey. "Instead, the language advanced today was one-sided and divisive."
