COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — A call for peace has turned into a call for resignation in a central Ohio city council.
Leaders with the Columbus Jewish Community Relations Council are calling for the Hilliard City Council President to resign after a resolution that was passed.
The Hilliard City council passed a resolution on Monday calling for peace in Gaza. The resolution came after weeks of pro-Palestine protestors came to council asking them to speak out about the Israel-Hamas war.
However, the timing of the resolution didn’t sit well with the Jewish community. Monday was the first day of Passover, one of the holiest days in the Jewish faith.
Jonathan Feibel with JCRC says the council’s decision to take their vote on this day was ignoring the Jewish opinion. Feibel says he and their organization are now calling for Hilliard Council President Cynthia Vermillion to resign.
Because it happened on the first night of Passover — it’s a very religious holiday for our people — we couldn’t leave our houses to go to council,” Feibel said. “It felt as if she (council president) was stifling the Jewish voice, and she was doing it intentionally because she did not want to be heard from us.”
Feibel says because Monday was a sacred day for the Jewish community, they couldn’t attend the council meeting to voice their opinion. He says he also received a copy of an email showing that Vermillion was asked not to take the vote Monday, with it being the first day of Passover.
In the email obtained by ABC 6 News, the Hilliard city manager said the following to council:
“By hearing, discussing and voting on this resolution on the most sacred of Jewish holidays (at the exact time of the Seder meal), you said to our Jewish community ‘your voice does not matter to us.’ It was an action that lacked empathy and understanding, and is now being viewed by the central Ohio Jewish community as antisemitic.
Whether out of ignorance or with intent, that is what this action was — a display of prejudice against our Jewish community, by denying them the opportunity to be present and speak on this issue. My understanding is that after Passover, the Jewish Columbus Board of Trustees will consider their own resolution condemning the actions of Hilliard City Council.”
The letter goes on to explain that the city manager asked council not to vote on this resolution on Monday, knowing it would upset the Jewish community.
We were outraged, quite frankly,” he said.
He says he’d also like council to issue a formal apology to the central Ohio Jewish community.
With the protests all over college campuses and such a rise in antisemitism, excluding the Jewish voice will just give more rise to antisemitism,” he said.
The council passed the resolution 4-2.
The JCRC then issued the following, in-full statement on Friday:
“As the Jewish community gathered for the first night of Passover, we were dismayed to learn that Hilliard City Council passed a resolution concerning Israel and Gaza. Despite objections from Council Members Peggy Hale and Les Carrier, as well as City Manager Michelle Crandall and her staff, who clearly articulated that such action on the first night of Passover was wholly inappropriate, the decision was championed by City Council President Cynthia Vermillion.
In doing so, the Council President not only disregarded our religious observance but also sent a distressing message to Jewish residents of Hillard and the broader Jewish community, implying that their voices are unwelcome in city government. The deliberate timing of this resolution on such a sacred night as the first night of Passover constitutes a blatant act of antisemitism.
Taking this strong stance of condemnation is not a step we take lightly. Historically, our organization has refrained from such forceful criticism of local city governments. However, the issue at hand goes beyond the resolution itself – it is about the insensitivity displayed by the Council President in bringing forth a matter so deeply significant to the Jewish people on a night of profound religious significance, and intentionally excluding Jewish voices from being heard. Furthermore, the Council President has allowed an atmosphere where Jewish voices in past meetings were met with heckling, booing and jeering.
By choosing the first night of Passover to pass the resolution, the Council President allowed the council to succumb to external pressure and set a precedent of yielding to anti-Jewish sentiments. The decision made by Hilliard City Council has caused lasting harm. Due to this grave failure of leadership and intentional exclusion of Jewish voices, we demand the immediate resignation of the Council President.
Additionally, we implore the other three members of the city council who voted in favor of this resolution to deeply reflect on their actions and consider the ramifications of their decision. The Jewish Community Relations Council believes an official apology from Hilliard City Council to the citizens of Hilliard and the Jewish Community at large would be appropriate.”
Councilwoman Peggy Hale had some concerns during the final vote, and suggested an amendment. She said she wanted to expand the resolution to call for peace in Israel and the rest of the Middle East. However, the amendment failed.
Hale says the council recognizes the wording should have been more inclusive, and that they should have handled the call for peace differently.
It didn’t call for as much inclusivity as they would have liked for us to have in there,” Hale said. “We want people to feel welcome right now, and unfortunately not everybody is, and we are going to work really hard to correct that.”
Hale says the council should be responding within the next few days.
At least they can take note that many communities throughout the country are calling for an end to these hostilities to these horrific hostilities,” Council President Vermillion said during Monday’s meeting.
ABC 6 News reached out to the council president about the calls for resignation, but we have not heard back.
