Palestinian supporters went to Cleveland City Hall on Oct. 23 to call on the mayor and council leadership to retract their support for Israel.
As the city council meeting began with public comment, eight supporters called out Mayor Justin Bibb and council president Blaine Griffin for their statements in support of Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. Two supporters of Israel also spoke at the end of public comment as Palestinian supporters walked out in protest.
Bibb and Griffin were not present at the meeting.
After the attacks, Bibb posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, “My prayers are with the people of Israel today as they confront these attacks. Terrorism has no place in our society.
“Cleveland stands in solidarity with Israel in the face of terror and condemns these acts of evil.”
Griffin had attended the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s Oct. 9 community gathering in support of Israel, and shared a statement on Oct. 7: “I am praying for Israel, for those who have lost their lives and those who have been taken hostage, and for our Jewish brothers and sisters around the world.”
A week later, he posted on X that no average citizens should be harmed during the conflict.
Several called Bibb’s support self-serving, citing his securing of $9 million in Israel Bonds as vice president of KeyBank and other Israel Bonds supporters who backed his mayoral campaign. They also stated the leaders’ support of Israel made them “complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people.”
They also condemned the Cleveland Police Department for sending its police officers to train with the Israel Defense Forces.
In their plea, some Palestinian supporters mentioned the personal impact of the war as family members have been killed in Gaza or Palestinians who have been attacked in the Diaspora. They referenced the 6-year-old killed by his family’s landlord in Chicago, a Palestinian Clevelander hit by a car Oct. 22 and a shooting at a pro-Palestinian rally outside of Chicago.
These comments were followed by Adam Rosen of Ward 15 as he spoke of how the events in Israel are impacting the Jewish community in the Diaspora.
“The Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 are a new deep memory in the long story of our people,” Rosen said. “There is a very specific history of antisemitism manifesting here. What’s happening in Israel affects Jews all over the world. Jews everywhere feel isolated and unsafe and this is a reasonable fear.”
He spoke of the Jewish people’s history of standing with the oppressed, and expressed a want for a Palestinian state without Hamas, as long as Israel still has a right to exist.
“There will never be a free Palestine as long as Hamas is in the picture,” he said.
Marc Ashed of Solon condemned the Oct. 7 attacks that killed 1,400 in Israel, at the time, stating the actions of Hamas have no justification and is not resistance. He also stated that Israel has the right to defend itself.
“At this moment, standing with Israel and condemning Hamas terrorism is not ignoring the suffering of Palestinians,” Ahsed said. “Hamas, the ruling authority in Gaza, has repurposed humanitarian aid, diverted food, water and necessary goods from the innocent civilians in Gaza to repurpose them in their terrorist forces. Only Hamas is what’s responsible for Gaza.”
