Mayor Brandon Johnson casts tie-breaking vote as Chicago City Council calls for ceasefire in Gaza
CHICAGO (CBS) -- With Mayor Brandon Johnson casting the tie-breaking vote, the Chicago City Council on Wednesday approved a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, amid the monthslong war between Israel and Hamas.
The debate was so heated, Johnson cleared the public gallery after repeated interruptions from protesters, just as he did in October during a contentious vote on a resolution condemning the Hamas surprise attack that sparked the war.
With the vote among alders 23-23, Johnson's approval was needed to pass the resolution, which makes Chicago the largest city in the nation to pass a Gaza ceasefire resolution; joining Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, Oakland, and San Francisco.
Critics of the resolution said it doesn't sufficiently lay out the depths of violence committed by Hamas, or plans to prevent them from committing another deadly attack against Israel.
Protesters jeer Ald. Silverstein's objection to measure
The measure has been the subject of heated debate in public and private for weeks both within the council's ranks, and among the general public. Chicago has one of the largest Jewish populations in the U.S., and Cook County has one of the largest Palestinian populations in the nation.
After a full City Council vote last week was delayed, sponsors of the resolution spent the past week tweaking its language in an effort to gain more support from their colleagues.
Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33rd), the chief sponsor of the resolution, said while she agrees the city has many issues the City Council needs to address, she believes it's the right thing for them to also take time to weigh in on the situation in Gaza.
"If we are committed to peace and liberation, we have to be committed to peace and liberation for all oppressed people. We can continue to work on caring for all of our neighbors, and also make space to tend to our communities at a moment of such intense pain and devastation. We need to add our voice to the growing number of people demanding peace," she said.
The final version of the resolution calls for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza; the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages; and humanitarian assistance, including medicine, food, and water to be sent into the war-torn region. It also calls for the creation of plans to protect civilians in the region.
Hundreds of activists, largely pro-Palestinian groups, packed City Hall during the meeting, filling the 1st floor lobby as the public gallery upstairs filled to capacity.
Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th), the only Jewish member of the City Council, who has led opposition to the ceasefire resolution, has said the resolution should have included clear references to the atrocities committed by Hamas in a surprise attack on Israel last October, which set off the ongoing war.
"The resolution you're being asked to consider is not a compromise," she said. "We all want an end to the bloodshed and an end to the war, but it is vital to understand what caused the conflict, and we should pass a resolution that addresses the issue responsibly. Hamas has been clear they want to continue to attack Israel. We should not pass a resolution unless it makes clear that Hamas cannot and should not attack again. This resolution fails to do that."
Mayor orders raucous crowd removed from City Council chamber
Mayor Brandon Johnson ordered the public gallery of the City Council chamber cleared after pro-ceasefire activists repeatedly jeered and interrupted Silverstein.
One of those activists shouted out "Wadee was killed because of your lies," an apparent reference to the stabbing death of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi, in what police and prosecutors have said was an anti-Palestinian hate crime.
As police officers cleared out the chamber, Pro-Palestinian activists chanted "ceasefire now!"
Debate resumed only after an hourlong recess as spectators who were forced to leave the 2nd floor gallery were allowed to move up to the 3rd floor balcony, but only after going through a second security screening.
Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st), one of the co-sponsors of the resolution, said that supporters of the ceasefire resolution not only condemn the Israeli military's bombardment of Gaza, and the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, but the Hamas attack against Israel that started the war.
"This ceasefire is the path out of that violence. Do I believe that the words that we speak today, how we vote today influences directly international policy? I don't. I don't have those illusions, but we vote with hope, we vote with solidarity, we vote to help people feel heard in a world of silence," he said.
But Silverstein argued the resolution fails to acknowledge Hamas' culpability in civilian deaths in Gaza.
"Hamas embedded its terrorist infrastructure around Gaza's civilian population. It builds tunnels under hospitals, and fires rockets from mosques. Hamas uses the Gazan people as human shields, but this resolution does not call for them to stop doing that," she said.
"How long are we going to let this go on without saying anything?"
Ald. James Gardiner (45th), said while he believes the resolution could better reflect the entirety of the conflict in Gaza, the City Council needed to take a stand to call for an end to the war.
"With the amount of lives that we have lost right now, I believe in my heart of hearts, we have to take a stand, and show that we are acknowledging that what is going on has to stop. How long are we going to let this go on without saying anything?" he said.
The war began with Hamas' surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7. Terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 hostages back to Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry has said more than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its offensive in retaliation for the attack. More than 100 hostages remain in the hands of Hamas.
Ald. Samantha Nugent (39th) claimed the ceasefire resolution would undermine the Biden administration's influence in the region, noting the U.S. vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire.
"Passing a resolution that is counter to U.S. international policy and norms sends a dangerous message. It undermines the interests of the United States, and hence the authority, the power, and the influence of President Biden," she said.
However, Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) noted that the U.S. is already involved in talks with Middle East mediators to try to broker a negotiated ceasefire in Gaza.
"The council is actually acting upon our responsibility with our Palestinian constituents, so that this ceasefire happens expeditiously, as we're almost in the fourth month of a brutal war slaughter, and what the international courts are investigating as genocide," he said.
Last week, the United Nations' International Court of Justice ruled that Israel must take measures to prevent genocide in Gaza, but it stopped short of ordering an immediate cease-fire in Israel's war with Hamas. The ICJ ruled that it has jurisdiction to consider a landmark case brought by South Africa against Israel, accusing Israel of committing the crime of genocide with its ongoing military operation in Gaza.
Ald. Desmon Yancy (5th) lamented that the City Council has spent so much time debating the ceasefire resolution rather than on addressing long-standing problems at home in Chicago, such as violent crime, noting two teens were shot and killed just blocks from City Hall last week while leaving school.
"I wish there was as much concern for the victims and survivors of senseless violence in the city as there is for senseless violence in and around Gaza. I also wish there was similar concern for the dozens of missing Black women and girls declared missing on the South and West Sides," he said.
Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) similarly lamented how divisive the ceasefire resolution has become.
"Here at home, I know a lot of us have seen an influx of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism that is unacceptable. The stuff that is going up on taggings throughout our neighborhoods, in front of Jewish schools, in front of mosques, and it's not one against the other. It's the right wing that comes in and says stuff, far right organizations that post up Nazi slogans, all built up because of this fervor around Gaza and what's happening here at home as well," he said.
"We have a very divided council, and that's going to be a problem"
The City Council's ceasefire vote was originally set for last week, but was delayed a week after 28 City Council members urged the sponsors to delay the vote out of respect to International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and a resolution at last week's meeting marking the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
After last week's full City Council vote on the resolution was delayed, Johnson voiced his support for the call for a ceasefire.
"The killing has to stop. So, yes, we need a ceasefire," Johnson said.
Silverstein said she was frustrated with how the mayor handled the vote, saying he should have done more to make sure the resolution was even-handed
"I am disappointed in the mayor. He had an opportunity to be a unifier, and he could have sat down with us and come up with a solution that could have potentially gotten all of us a unanimous vote, and instead he didn't," she said. "I think it means we have a very divided council, and that's going to be a problem."
Silverstein said she offered multiple amendments to the resolution in an effort to reach a compromise that could win unanimous support, but got no response from the mayor or original sponsors.
The Jewish United Fund and the Anti-Defamation League Midwest condemned the vote, and applauded Silverstein and other alders who voted against the measure for trying to negotiate a more balanced resolution.
"Mayor Johnson and City Council members could have drafted a resolution that supports a ceasefire, advocates for increased humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, demands the unconditional release of hostages, and calls for the dismantling of the terrorist organization Hamas. Instead, they advocated for a one-sided resolution that divides our city, emboldens Hamas, and dangerously undermines U.S. global influence," they wrote.
