Bridgeport council stands firm on ceasefire resolution

 

           By Reginald Johnson

 

    BRIDGEPORT, CT --- The City Council voted overwhelmingly this week to keep in place the city’s historic resolution passed in January calling for a permanent ceasefire and military de-escalation in Gaza.

  There has been a major pressure campaign by some Jewish groups and others to overturn the resolution, saying it was unfair to Israel and the City Council had no business taking up international matters.

 But the council was not deterred and the final vote to retain the original resolution was 14-4.

  The statement is non-binding and is aimed at encouraging members of Congress and President Biden into backing a ceasefire in the bloody Gaza conflict, which has taken 32,000 Palestinian lives, a majority of them women and children.

   Another 1.5 million people in Gaza have been displaced and hundreds of thousands face starvation, since the Israeli military is blocking aid trucks from bringing food into the besieged enclave.

 This week, Israeli missile attacks destroyed aid trucks from the World Central Kitchen, killing seven people. Israeli officials said the attacks were a mistake.

  UN and world court officials have stated that there’s evidence a genocide is taking place in Gaza.

 Prior to the vote, Councilman Jorge Cruz said he knew there was suffering on both sides of the Israeli-Gaza conflict.

   “I’m with you,” he said. “But I cannot support rescinding the original resolution.”

   He went on, “I have seen the news and I see the kids with little cups and Tupperware lined up to get food in the Gaza Strip and that makes my heart break. I know the Israelites are suffering on the other side, too, for their loved ones still held in captivity…. So my prayers are that we can find common ground and come together.”

             

The Bridgeport City Council upheld its ceasefire resolution for Gaza, despite a campaign by some Jewish groups to have it rescinded. (Reginald Johnson photo)

      

  Cruz took issue with the fact that after the ceasefire resolution was approved both on the committee level and then by the full council on January 2,  another council member (Scott Burns) decided to offer a new resolution to overturn the document.

  “Never in my all my years on the council have I seen this,” Cruz said. “This was disrespectful and should not have happened.”

  Bridgeport and Windsor are the only municipalities in Connecticut that have passed Gaza ceasefire resolutions. Other cities such as Hamden, New Haven and Hartford are still debating ceasefire proposals.

 Ceasefire resolutions have been passed by 70 other cities and towns around the country.

  U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4, who represents Bridgeport and southwestern Connecticut in Congress, has refused to support a Gaza ceasefire proposal.

  In fact, a majority of the members of Congress do not support a ceasefire and have consistently sided with Israel on the issue of the Gaza war. This is despite recent polling which indicates a majority of the American people favor a ceasefire.

  As this article was being written, President Biden was reported to have asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire.

  But many observers are skeptical as to whether the Israeli leader will take the request seriously, since Biden is not making further US aid to Israel conditional on acceptance of a ceasefire plan.

   Aziz Seyal, vice president of the Bridgeport Islamic Community Center, which spearheaded the effort to get the City Council resolution passed, commented that “the whole world should stand up against them (Israel), but the problem is our leaders are suggesting some things but are still providing the bombs to Israel, so that’s not happening.”

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