Over the course of my time as the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Peoria I have attended several Peoria City Council meetings. The Council has always conducted business that benefited the people and city of Peoria, and always did so in a businesslike and respectful fashion. In the past, during the public comments section of the meetings, comments were made, always in a pleasant and civil fashion.

I attended the Feb. 13 meeting because a group of Peorians was asking the City Council to consider adopting a Ceasefire Resolution for the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and that resolution would affect me and my community. To us, this resolution made very little sense since it would have no bearing on the decisions made between Israel and Hamas, and is clearly not within the city of Peoria’s mission. Concerned citizens have ample opportunity to contact their elected officials in Washington, D.C.; these are the people who weigh in on this type of conflict. The City Council does not, nor should it, pass resolutions or make statements about international affairs.

Heart-breaking

It was apparent from the beginning of the meeting that there were many in the public gallery who, judging by their signs, were in favor of the resolution. When the public comments began, I heard many things that were to be expected: the war in Gaza has been devastating for all of the residents, some of the speakers had personal connections to Gaza and had even lost friends or family members. This was heart-breaking to hear but still not Peoria city business.

Then the statement was made that to do nothing about the tragedies of this war was to be complicit in the suffering in Gaza, as if only the Palestinians were suffering or deserved our sympathy. When some opposing a resolution mentioned the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel (the rape, mutilation, and torture of numerous Israelis, the murder of 1,200, and the kidnapping of 240 civilians) they were shouted down with denials that the attacks had even occurred. With all the independent evidence (some from Hamas body cameras) of the atrocities Hamas committed, did the ceasefire advocates think they could convince the City Council members that nothing had happened, or even that Israeli soldiers had raped, murdered and mutilated their own people, as one speaker asserted? The blatant lies, lack of civility, and disruptive behavior coupled with the misrepresentations were very disturbing, but it did not change the fact that this war is not city of Peoria business.

Peaceful patience

The patience Mayor Ali displayed, and the attention that all the City Council members gave to the speakers were remarkable. A couple of pro-ceasefire speakers threatened the re-election chances of the council members, insinuating that Peorians are going to vote on City Council members based on their opinions on international affairs. City Council members are elected to serve Peoria and those who reside in Peoria, not to opine as to whether a ceasefire should happen in Gaza, or to rule on the war in Ukraine, or Yemen or anywhere else.

As the pro-ceasefire speakers continued to denounce Israel, the comments deteriorated to denying that Israel has a right to exist and the Jews (Zionists) have a right to live there at all. This illuminated the real purpose of the ceasefire effort — to isolate and delegitimize Israel and deny Jews their right to live there. For the Peoria City Council to even consider such a resolution would make the Peoria Jewish community very uncomfortable.

To make matters worse, towards the very end of the meeting a speaker hurled anti-Semitic ethnic slurs at those of us from the Jewish community. To our dismay and sadness, no one in the Council Chambers addressed this horrible diatribe. Many were probably relieved when the meeting was over.

Later, reading Mayor Ali’s statement on the subject we saw that she recognized the contentiousness of such a resolution and appreciate Mayor Ali’s ultimate resolve to remain neutral in this situation.

— Susan Katz is Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Peoria.