Baltimore leaders fail to pass resolutions condemning Hamas, antisemitism, Islamophobia as tensions flare
BALTIMORE -- A resolution calling for a long-term cease-fire in Israel and Gaza failed before the Baltimore City Council Thursday night, capping a week of controversy in the legislative body.
"I stand here deeply concerned about the state of where we are as a council," Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby said.
City Council members divided over the latest resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Middle East. Phylicia Porter, Ryan Dorsey, Odette Ramos and Kristerfer Burnett sponsored it.
"Let me be clear, I unequivocally denounce antisemitism," Burnett said. "Discussions regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict should permit the valid critiques of the military actions against civilians without unfairly categorizing such criticisms as antisemitic."
His resolution mentioned both "the horrific Hamas terrorist attack and Israeli counterattack" and came in response to a failed resolution earlier in the week by council member Isaac "Yitzy" Schleifer that condemned Hamas. You can read that resolution here.
"All I was asking for on Monday night at the city council meeting was to condemn antisemitism and to condemn the terrorist attack that occurred on October 7 against innocent Jewish civilians," Schleifer said. "Unfortunately, those who chose not to support it made it the very first resolution that this city council failed to pass."
Schleifer introduced the resolution Monday following a pro-Palestinian protest that disrupted proceedings that evening.
On Thursday, he blasted the vote against his resolution and then read the names of those being held hostage by Hamas.
Schleifer said the new cease-fire resolution was flawed.
"This resolution includes information that has come directly from the Hamas-run government's health department, the very same terror organization that my resolution aimed to condemn," he said on the council floor. "How can anyone trust anything that these terrorists are saying?"
Some on the city council said after failing to pass Schleifer's resolution earlier in the week they were subjected to hateful messages.
"Over the last few days, my colleagues and I have experienced the hate from many Baltimoreans, indicating that each of us are antisemitic simply because we chose not to engage in the conversation," council member Phylicia Porter said.
Council member Odette Ramos said she received hateful messages, too.
"I could not take a stand against one set of constituents over another," she said. "Never did I think it would result in the hate that has come my way, to my staff and to me."
On Wednesday, Mayor Brandon Scott weighed in after the first resolution did not pass.
"If was still on the city council and the council president, we probably would have handled the whole situation differently," he told reporters at a news conference.
Mosby told members the divisions need to stop.
"Out of all immediate-adoption resolutions that you guys have brought in front of this chamber, the one we decide to vote down is from a member of our body whose heart and mind pumps and bleeds for his family in Israel," Mosby said of Schleifer's resolution.
Some members said the council needs to focus on the issues directly facing the city.
"The idea that anyone in the Netanyahu government or Hamas is interested in what the Baltimore City Council has to say on this war is not right," council member Zeke Cohen said before voting against Thursday's resolution.
The council's next full meeting is in the new year. It remains to be seen whether any new resolutions on these topics will be introduced.
Stay with WJZ for a special report on antisemitism on college campuses. WJZ will have candid conversations with students at the University of Maryland College Park. That story will air on Monday at 5 p.m.