Where Cincinnati City Councilmembers Stand on a Humanitarian Ceasefire in Gaza

Nearly every member of Cincinnati City Council rejected the idea of a resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

Councilmember Meeka Owens was the only member to voice support for the resolution during the Feb. 7 city council meeting.

“This council for the past four months has done nothing to acknowledge what is occurring in Gaza,” she said.

Public comments requesting a call for a ceasefire have been commonplace in council meetings since the Oct. 7 terror attacks by Hamas militants that killed upwards of 1,200 Israelis. Since Israel vowed to destroy Hamas for the attacks, at least 27,478 Palestinians have been killed and 66,835 wounded in Gaza.

At least 48 U.S. cities have passed symbolic resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, according to a Reuters analysis of city data, including Chicago, Detroit, Akron, Seattle, Atlanta and others.

Public comments

Though thousands of miles away, Gaza’s relevance to Cincinnati has been felt by locals who say they’ve experienced discrimination since the Oct. 7 attacks. One guest commenter, a 14-year-old Cincinnati resident, told the all-Democratic council he’s been labeled as a terrorist for being of Palestinian descent.

“Does our commitment to certain values depend on who is affected? If we looked different, would we gain more attention?” he asked. “In my own life, I’ve been unjustly labeled a terrorist, as have my Palestinian friends within our school.”

While nearly all public comments on the situation in Gaza were in favor of a ceasefire resolution from council, Rabbi Ari Jun, a local leader in the Jewish community, thanked council for not advancing a ceasefire resolution since the Oct. 7 attacks.

“You’re being asked to make an impossible decision. To either support or condemn a distant war that has fundamentally divided our community,” Jun said. “As many of you know, doing so could undermine the very nature of your actual work: uniting our community. In the face of this impossible situation, I want to thank you for holding fast to the principles you share.”

Dena Cranley, former first lady of Cincinnati, delivered an impassioned speech in favor of a ceasefire resolution during her two minutes at the podium.

“Right now!” Cranley yelled, “President Biden’s administration is in the Middle East negotiating for a humanitarian ceasefire to help the Palestinians in Gaza and to release the hostages. That is exactly what our resolution is asking for.”

Dena Cranley addresses Cincinnati City Council in favor of a Gaza ceasefire resolution during the public comment portion of the Feb. 7 council meeting. Photo: CitiCable

While the discussion and vote on the resolution was not on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting, Mayor Aftab Pureval said he’d open the floor for discussion at the request of some councilmembers.

Councilmember Meeka Owens speaks on Gaza

With a shaking voice, Owens addressed the chamber.

“For several weeks now, we as an elected body have been silent from this dais,” she said. “We were not elected to be silent in the face of the pain of our constituents. We were elected to find resolution in this pain from a local perspective.”

Owens goes on to mention that council has condemned acts of war and violence abroad, including passing a resolution that condemned Russia for invading Ukraine, as well as a resolution condemning Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. She said she wants to see the current crisis in Gaza treated with the same respect.

“I want to say clear as day that Israel has the right to exist and defend itself against terrorism. Let me also be clear… I believe in a humanitarian ceasefire in order to save innocent lives from being lost. To continue the delivery of humanitarian aid to those who desperately need it, and for the release of all hostages being held,” she said. “We were not elected to sit here to be comfortable, we are asked to sit here and be strong in times of challenge.”

Audience members gave Owens a standing ovation for her speech.

Where other members of council stand

Councilmembers Mark Jeffreys, Reggie Harris and Seth Walsh made their positions on the possible resolution clear in a prepared statement. Before Jeffreys presented the three councilmembers’ views, he reminded the audience that he himself is Jewish.

“I’m not a bystander, I’m Jewish,” he said. “Our role is local, and I think where I disagree [with Owens] is I think our role is also to unite our community. Our role is not to divide our community.”

Councilmember Mark Jeffreys reads a joint statement with Reggie Harris and Seth Walsh explaining their position on a Gaza ceasefire resolution during a Feb. 7 Cincinnati City Council meeting. Photo: CitiCable

The prepared statement from Jeffreys, Harris and Walsh reads, in part:

“After several weeks of conversations with different stakeholders in the Cincinnati area, we, the undersigned, do not believe that we as Cincinnati City Council can put forward a balanced and unified resolution in the war in Gaza. […] Cincinnatians looks to city council for representation on local, state, national and international issues, and we have weighed in on occasion on international issues in which the situation promotes a sense of unity among desperate groups. Calling for a resolution that speaks to the experience of all impacted will inevitably be divisive. Expecting Cincinnati City Council to take a position advocating for one specific solution to an incredibly complicated and longstanding dispute when there are heads of state, ambassadors, Biden administration working to resolve it is misplaced.”

Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney echoed the sentiment behind the joint statement read by Jeffreys, though she was not undersigned.

“There’s no one here who wants to see this killing continue. Everybody here wants the release of the hostages. Everybody here wants humanitarian aid,” she said. “It’s the words used, it’s the way it’s said, it’s the way we come together as a Cincinnati community so that everybody feels heard and respected. That’s the hard part.”

Mayor Pureval, president pro tem Victoria Parks and councilmembers Jeff Cramerding and Scotty Johnson did not speak to the issue during the meeting.

Cincinnati socialists react to council’s comments

The Cincinnati Socialists group, who have continually advocated for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza through public demonstrations and comments on the chamber floor, told CityBeat that the statement made by councilmember Owens is a welcome step forward.

“We recognize Owens for speaking out on the genocide in Gaza, calling for a ceasefire and that humanitarian aid be let into Gaza,” a spokesperson with the group told CityBeat. “Not only did she acknowledge the atrocities being committed by the [Israeli Defense Forces] against innocent Palestinians, she also acknowledged the four months of silence displayed by our city council up to this point, despite the consistent urging of the public to pass a ceasefire resolution. City council has ignored and even slept through public comment in the meetings lead up to this one.”

The Cincinnati Socialists group has addressed council before, once on Nov. 29 and again on Dec. 13 when the group called on council to replace the definition of antisemitism that was adopted by city council in March of 2023. The specific portion of the definition the group wishes to repeal defines antisemitism as “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”

On the joint statement made by Jeffreys, Harris and Walsh, Cincinnati Socialists said the councilmembers are still picking a side by attempting to remain neutral on the resolution.

“They say their goal is to unite people in Cincinnati and ‘picking a side’ would only divide us. Their error in holding this position stems from an unwillingness to recognize Israel as a settler-colonial apartheid state. In such a case, remaining neutral, in effect, amounts to siding with the oppressor,” the group said. “The aspirations of an occupying force cannot be reconciled with the needs of the occupied.”

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This article appears in Feb 7-20, 2024.