ATHENS, Ohio — Although the Athens Law Department has advised Athens City Council against passing a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Palestine, at least one council member thinks the body should pass such a resolution anyway.
Discussion of a ceasefire resolution wasn’t on the council’s agenda for Monday night. However, local residents — nearly 100 of them packed council chambers — raised the issue during the meeting’s public comment period, presenting a draft resolution for council to consider.
Multiple residents cited a recent United Nations International Court of Justice decision that ordered Israel to take steps to prevent genocide in Palestine. That decision quotes the UN Secretary General stating that the territory’s healthcare system has collapsed and that the humanitarian system is at severe risk of collapse. Other UN officials warn of a fast-approaching famine.
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After closing the initial public comment period, no council member said they were ready to move forward with a ceasefire resolution. “It would be premature for anybody to do that without some thought and reflection,” said Alan Swank, 4th Ward.
However, many attendees called from the crowd for immediate action, prompting Micah McCarey, at-large, to acknowledge the large audience at the meeting and suggest additional time for the audience to speak. The council then moved for an additional 15 minutes of discussion on the subject.
Thereafter, Michael Wood, 3rd Ward, announced he would introduce a ceasefire resolution, prompting cheers from the crowd.
After Monday’s meeting, both Wood and Swank submitted draft ceasefire resolutions.
But after Athens Mayor Steve Patterson asked for legal advice on the issue, Athens Assistant Law Director Jessica Branner Hittle issued an opinion on Feb. 7 that council should not adopt a resolution.
Swank told the Independent he intended to have his draft considered by council only if the one presented by community members were taken up as written. But, he said, the issue is now a “moot point.”
“In respect for [Branner’s] legal expertise and legal opinion, we may discuss it on Monday, but I’m of the belief she’s made it very clear that council should not move this forward as a resolution,” Swank said.
Wood, on the other hand, thinks the council should move forward anyway, he told the Independent on Thursday.
“I have immense respect for the Athens Assistant Law Director, as well as Law Director Eliason and the work that they both do. However, I disagree with the opinion that this is not appropriate for the council to address,” Wood told the Independent in an email.
City Council President Sam Crowl said in an email Friday that the council will discuss a possible ceasefire resolution at its committee of the whole meeting on Feb. 12. Although Wood will be out of town and cannot participate in the meeting, Crowl said that “the conversation should not wait.”
Athens Law Director Lisa Eliason told the Independent that whether to pass a ceasefire resolution remains the council’s decision.
Hittle’s opinion advises against such a resolution because “Council has never adopted a resolution calling for a ceasefire in an active armed conflict” despite numerous such conflicts “in the last several decades.”
Additionally, Hittle writes, “Council resolutions should be within the scope of issues that arise in local government. Adopting a resolution of this nature opens the door to similar resolutions with tenuous connections to the daily affairs of running local government.”
Wood isn’t convinced by either argument.
Council has passed resolutions in response to current events and issues before, he said in an email to the Independent, pointing to votes supporting gun control and declaring racism a public health crisis. “I believe this falls into a similar category of expressing our opinion on a national issue where we have limited agency,” he wrote.
While acknowledging that “issuing resolutions every week in response to the news of the day” would hamper council’s ability to address more local issues, he said, “I think voters are smarter and savvier than we give them credit for; I believe the citizens of Athens will respect that balance.”
At least 47 U.S. cities have passed resolutions calling for a ceasefire, including Akron and Dayton.
Draft resolutions
On Oct. 7, an attack by the armed group Hamas, which has political control of the Gaza Strip, killed about 1,200 people in Israel. Since then, Israeli attacks have killed more than 27,500 people in the Gaza Strip; many more have been wounded and 75% of the territory’s 2.3 million people have been internally displaced.
The current war is the latest in the century-long conflict, which began with Britain’s facilitation of Jewish settlement in Palestine under the British Mandate in the 1920s-40s. Amid the creation of the State of Israel, many Palestinians were displaced to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The proposed community resolution, read aloud at Monday’s meeting and shared with the Independent, states that it is “incumbent on all Americans to work to stop U.S. complicity in genocide under international law.”
The draft, read aloud at the meeting by Wesley Thompson, describes the devastation in Palestine and calls upon “state and federal government leaders to demand and facilitate” an “immediate and permanent ceasefire by the Israeli government in its war on the people of Palestine.” The draft resolution also calls for a restoration of U.S. funding for a United Nations humanitarian aid agency and an end to U.S. funding for Israel’s war effort.
Wood’s proposed resolution, obtained by the Independent through a records request, is much briefer and broader in its introductory language. The draft states broadly that “all human life is precious” and that “the Federal Government holds immense diplomatic power to save Israeli and Palestinian lives.”
Wood’s draft preserves the three main prongs of that presented by community members, however. The resolution calls upon federal and state leaders “to immediately call for and facilitate de-escalation and a cease-fire,” “urges the federal government to halt funding for the war,” and “calls upon the Biden administration to promptly send and facilitate the entry of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”
Unlike Thompson’s draft, Wood’s proposal does not specifically call for the U.S. to restore funding to U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, a major humanitarian relief program.
The U.S. paused funding from UNRWA, which provides assistance and protection for Palestinian refugees, after Israel alleged that the agency had ties to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. Those allegations have yet to be verified.
On Monday, Wood told the Independent, “I support a ceasefire.” Regarding the introductory text included in the resolution read by Wesley Thompson, Wood said, “We’re not the arbiters of truth of what happened or counters of deaths or atrocities, but we can speak globally that, you know, a ceasefire is important.”
“We do resolutions for Brew Week and much more flippant things — why not for something that’s critical and has global reach?” Wood said.
Like Wood’s, Swank’s draft resolution uses much briefer introductory language and calls for immediate humanitarian assistance without calling for the resumption of funding for UNRWA.
Swank’s resolution also calls on both Israel and Hamas to “engage in meaningful and constructive dialogue, with the aim of addressing the root causes of the conflict and working towards a just and lasting resolution.” Swank’s draft expresses the council’s “solidarity with the people of Israel and Palestine, recognizing the rights and aspirations of both communities to live in peace and security.”
In the email in which Swank shared his draft with the council president and clerk, obtained by the Independent, Swank said, “After reading the citizen proposed resolution multiple times, I found it to be accusatory in nature and somewhat inflammatory — something that I’m afraid would divide the community rather than unite it around a common cause.”
Swank said he thought his draft “would be more palatable to the general population of Athens,” should the council proceed with discussion of a ceasefire resolution.
Crowl instructed council clerk Debbie Walker to share the ceasefire resolution passed by the Dayton City Commission with council. Executive Director of Ohio University Hillel Juli Goodman initially sent the Dayton resolution to Crowl, according to records obtained by the Independent.
Crowl said he considers “all the drafted language sent to council to be offered for consideration, to be part of a discussion of a possible resolution.”
Crowl added, “I do not believe any of the submissions will ultimately be presented unchanged as a final resolution. If a resolution is issued by council it will be an amalgamation of numerous pieces of information, submitted or not submitted.”
Where council members stand
Before Hittle gave her opinion, most council members told the Independent they supported a ceasefire resolution in some form.
“I used to work in the Middle East. I knew lots of Palestinians; I even learned Arabic,” said Jeff Risner, 2nd Ward. “So yeah, I’m sympathetic to all this.”
Jessica Thomas, at-large, said Wednesday that a proposed ceasefire resolution seems reasonable. “I feel very supportive of it at this point,” Thomas said. “I don’t see anything that would necessarily change that.”
McCarey told the Independent on Monday, “At this point, I am supportive — and likely would be, in any conflict reaching genocidal levels, in favor of a ceasefire. I think we’re a community that is very interested in peace, and if we can promote that, even from afar, I think that’s a good thing.”
McCarey said he expected, however, “that there will be a number of questions about council’s jurisdiction and passing a resolution on a matter that is, to some, perceived to be very removed geographically from the city of Athens.”
Crowl said Monday that while he is “all for a ceasefire and the international community coming together to find a way to stop the atrocities,” he is “slightly uncomfortable” involving himself in international matters from his place in city government.
Solveig Spjeldnes, 1st Ward, also expressed uncertainty.
“I think this is a very contentious issue, which concerns me about the wisdom of making the kind of statement that was requested by the advocates. I think there’s a lot to think about here,” said Spjeldnes on Monday.
Spjeldnes also objected to what she described as factual inaccuracies in the draft resolution presented by community members, particularly the ICJ decision. However, she did not specify which portions were inaccurate.
“I would say that I would not support an ordinance that wasn’t completely legally and factually accurate,” said Spjeldnes
Several council members expressed appreciation for the large number of community members that came to council to share their concerns.
Residents call for ceasefire resolution
During Monday night’s public comment period, Athens resident Alisha Bicknell said she is disappointed with current government leadership nationally and in Ohio.
Bicknell noted that the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces is “more than the population of the city of Athens. This is one out of every 100 people in Gaza. 11,500 of those murdered have been children. Yet, the U.S.- backed IDF (Israel Defense Forces) continues to bomb the area of Gaza in occupied Palestine.”
Bicknell asked that Athens City Council, “let the U.S. government know that we don’t want to help them with the apartheid occupation by Israel. This is the first step to see a free Palestine in our lifetime.”
Heather Cantino, a Jewish Athens resident, spoke about the U.S. withdrawal of funding from UNRWA.
“U.S. funding withdrawal makes us ever more complicit in genocide. It must be stopped and we hope you will take timely and meaningful action to speak for us,” Cantino told the council.
Levi Raichik, rabbi of the Athens Chabad Jewish Center, opposed the resolution. Raichik addressed Bicknell’s comment regarding Ohio’s support for Israel through bonds, saying it makes him proud to be an Ohioan. Raichik then read chapter 17 of Genesis from the Torah to highlight “the connection of Jewish people to the land of Israel.”
Raichik concluded with a quote from chapter 12 of Genesis. “‘I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. Those who bless you will be blessed and those who curse you, I will curse,’” Raichik read. “The city of Athens has an opportunity to stand with the Jewish people to bring blessings of prosperity, happiness and peace for all of our citizens.”
Jewish community members in attendance objected to Raichik’s comments.
Athens resident and prominent DJ Michael Bart told the council he is “offended as a Jewish person” by the conflation of Judaism and Zionism.
Likewise, Barbara Lyons, a longtime member of Jewish Voice for Peace, said she is sick of people thinking that every Jewish person is a Zionist.
“There is a difference,” Lyons said. “Zionists are Nazis. There is no other way to say it. I am sick of being ashamed to say I’m a Jew, and then having to say ‘but-’. It has nothing to do with religion, you can believe in the Bible or not believe in the Bible. It is a political thing.”
Lyons is relatively new to Athens and concluded by imploring the council, “Please, let me be proud of my new city.”
Brandon Thompson, an Athens DJ and Ohio Brew Week organizer, was among the second round of speakers. Thompson said passing a ceasefire resolution is related to the council’s previous resolution declaring racism a public health crisis.
“Genocide is racism,” Brandon Thompson said. “There’s nothing bigger than that.”
After hearing from additional community members, Wood announced that he would move forward with the draft, saying, “I think it’s only fair out of respect for you all coming to move it forward.”
