Raleigh City Council doesn't pass "cease-fire" resolution
Council Member Christina Jones seen hugging resolution leader who praised the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel
The Raleigh City Council met on Jan. 16 and did not pass a one-sided “cease-fire” resolution drafted and pushed by three anti-Israel groups; North Carolina Environmental Justice Network (NCEJN), the Triangle chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, and the Party of Socialism and Liberation.
[Read the resolution.]
At least one council member’s leanings became clear even before the meeting began. Council Member Christina Jones was seen placing a Palestinian keffiyeh on her chair before the meeting and then hugging Rania Masri, co-director of NCEJN.
Voice for Israel North Carolina captured the hug.
At a Nov. 28 event on the UNC Chapel Hill campus, Masri had praised the Hamas terror attacks on Israel, stating, “Oct. 7 for many of us from the region was a beautiful day." She also said, “Let us demand the eradication of Zionism.”
Masri posted a video on Facebook that celebrated the terror org Hamas as “our heroes," who are "legitimate" while comparing them to Marvel superheroes. The footage of Hamas terrorists paragliding into Israel on Oct. 7, as well as Hamas tunnel construction, and rocket building.
At the past few council meetings, pro-Palestine speakers had dominated public comments but the Jan. 16 meeting had many more Israel supporters in attendance.
The majority of anti-Israel speakers at the packed Jan. 16 meeting donned the Palestinian keffiyeh (also sometimes called a hatta) which is supposed to be a symbol of solidarity. Its popularity began in the 1960s through the late Yasser Arafat, who headed up the terror-tied Palestinian Liberation Organization.
Public comment at the Jan. 16 meeting was limited to just one minute due to the volume of speakers (200) who had signed up.
The comments given by various speakers on both sides could be characterized as frustrated, emotional, and even angry.
Pro-Palestine supporters in the crowd held up fliers (as seen below) that mimicked the posters of Israeli hostages of the Hamas Oct. 7 terror attack.
More than once, Israeli supporters were shouted down and interrupted. At around the one-hour mark, two back-to-back female speakers who were there to support Israel and oppose the resolution were interrupted by the Hamas/Palestinian supporters.
Mayor Pro Tem Jonathan Melton who chaired that night’s meeting instructed the police officers present to identify people repeatedly interrupting other speakers and escort them out until they can “calm down.”
One of the speakers was Imam Abdullah Khadra, a Syrian by birth, who gave a 2017 sermon in Raleigh calling for the death of the Jews.
Watch the meeting below. Public comments begin near the start of the meeting.
More To The Story
Most major cities across the country are seeing "cease-fire" resolution campaigns led by anti-Israel groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace, Democratic Socialists of America, Student Justice for Palestine, and the "Arab Resource and Organizing Center."
Per the NY Times, these campaigns are showing up mainly in “Democratic” run cities with some success:
For weeks, Americans in a host of Democratic-led cities have packed their government chambers for marathon sessions, all to demand immediate action from local leaders on a matter nowhere near home: the Israel-Hamas war.
More than a dozen U.S. city councils have now passed resolutions urging Israel to stop shelling Gaza, including several in Michigan, which has a sizable Muslim population, and several in California. Among the biggest cities to do so are Atlanta and Detroit.
[…]
Since then, local Democratic Socialists of America activists working with pro-Palestinian organizations and D.S.A.-endorsed elected officials have helped pass more than a half-dozen other cease-fire resolutions in California, including in Oakland, on the Berkeley Rent Board, and with at least three union locals.
In North Carolina, Masri publicly stated last year that targeting city councils is "one of the most powerful places we can insert our influence..."
This tactic was also called out during the Jan. 16 Raleigh City Council meeting.
”Hamas is not just over there, it’s here in Raleigh. Their supporters have spoken before you and they are here before you,” A woman who identified herself as Amy Ravitch told the Raleigh City Council.
Ravitch is one of the Israel supporters whose public comments were almost continually interrupted by Hamas/Palestine supporters in the audience.
“Hamas is so well-funded they can afford to coordinate pressure and propaganda campaigns on city councils across America to tell Israel to give them a break so they can re-arm and go back to killing Jews,” Ravitch said. “They’ve targeted Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro, Fayetteville, and more. Why would any city council want to do the bidding of Hamas? Such a move would only divide the community and increase antisemitism.”
Ravitch is correct. Raleigh isn’t the only city council in North Carolina seeing these types of one-sided “cease-fire” resolutions.
In Asheville, the Party for Socialism and Liberation has demanded that the city council pass a cease-fire resolution. The Asheville City Council does not appear to be entertaining such a resolution as of yet and its meeting website does not appear to contain any such document.
Charlotte’s City Council meeting last November had some discussion and comments about a resolution but no action has been taken. However, during its December meeting, the mayor had to clear the chamber when anti-Israel protesters started yelling.
Greensboro City Council has a "Peace and Support” resolution on its website that condemns any “harassment, hate speech, Jewish-hate or Islamophobia” directed at any members of that community.
None of the “cease-fire” resolutions being proposed mention Hamas violating the cease-fire that had been in place before the Oct. 7 terror attacks or the temporary cease-fire set up for hostage exchanges last year, nor do they mention Hamas’ control over all humanitarian aid being sent into Gaza.
The resolution before Raleigh’s City Council is unlikely to be adopted anytime soon, per statements made by Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin to media outlets. Baldwin said the council would be discussing the topic at its upcoming retreat.