SCHENECTADY — A local community action group is hoping that Schenectady will follow in the City of Albany’s footsteps and adopt a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, with the group’s proposal drawing a passionate response from citizens on both sides of the debate during the Schenectady City Council meeting on Monday evening.
A standing-room only crowd gathered in the council chambers to alternatively call for a council resolution and warn about the dangers of local government weighing in on an international conflict.
The All of Us community action group said it had 600 local signatures on a petition calling for the council to sign a resolution in support of an “immediate ceasefire to end civilian bloodshed and ensure humanitarian aid access to Gaza.”
The Albany City Council adopted a resolution in January calling for a ceasefire in Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel by Hamas and the resulting retaliatory strikes launched by Israel.
On Monday night, a procession of advocates stated their case for and against a potential resolution, with City Council President Marion Porterfield noting that no ceasefire resolution is in front of the council at this time.
The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution on Monday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, with the United States abstaining from the vote.
Jonathan Rubin, president of Congregation Gates of Heaven synagogue in Schenectady, told the City Council on Monday that the local body should not wade into the topic of international warfare.
“There is a lot of important business that comes before the Schenectady City Council, as comes before all of local government,” Rubin said. “Local government is the form of government that is closest to the people. We deal with infrastructure, industrial development, transportation, housing and all of the things that make a city and a community click. Issues such as the one that’s likely going to be before you tonight are ones that — respectfully — are outside the purview of local governments.”
All of Us co-founder Jamaica Miles, a city resident who serves on the Schenectady Board of Education, told the council on Monday that she supports the ceasefire resolution.
“Your words, or the absence of them, do carry weight,” Miles said. “Who are we if we are silent to injustice? Who are we if we turn a blind eye? We are complicit. The loss of Israeli life on Oct. 7 is heartbreaking. To those who have been impacted by the death or kidnappings, I humbly share my deepest condolences and wish for the safe return of those still remaining. That one day was a painful loss. Since that day, we have seen the relentless, disproportionate and dehumanizing attack on the Palestinian people in Gaza, thinly veiled as an operation to free the hostages.”
Porterfield said she was willing to meet with representatives from both sides of the divide before the council would make a potential decision on taking up the ceasefire resolution.
“My particular position is this: if there’s going to be a conversation, then all voices need to be in the same room having a conversation on both sides of it, as opposed to us just hearing individually and then moving that forward,” Porterfield said.
Porterfield said on Tuesday that she had not yet been contacted by representatives of All of Us to set up a meeting regarding the group's resolution.
A total of 29 citizens spoke about the ceasefire petition during Monday’s meeting, with a slight majority opposing the City Council adopting a resolution.
Resident Susan Rosenberg told the council she believed, if the city passed a ceasefire resolution, it would have a negative impact on the local community.
“It increases discord in an already uncivil civic square,” she said during Monday’s meeting. “Second, it puts your Jewish constituents in danger on the streets, in their houses of worship and on college campuses. Acts of hatred towards Jews are on a rocket trajectory, and these anti-Israel resolutions by municipalities fuel these acts.”
Several speakers identified themselves as Albany residents during Monday’s meeting, including Amy Bloom who said advocates opposing a ceasefire resolution in Schenectady had shown up at the meeting because they had lost the fight in Albany in January.
“I appreciate everyone coming out tonight and I appreciate the level of emotion that’s attached to that,” Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy said during Monday’s meeting. “We all hope that things will be different and that peace will prevail in the end.”
McCarthy said on Wednesday that he questioned the impact a resolution from the city would have on the overseas conflict.
"I think we're doing great things here in Schenectady and I don't think anything that the Schenectady City Council does, or the mayor of Schenectady does, is going to influence the policies or positions of the events in the Middle East," McCarthy said.
Matt Oil told the council that Schenectady should join with other municipalities nationwide in passing a ceasefire resolution.
“President [Joe] Biden continues to provide the [Israel President Benjamin] Netanyahu regime with unconditional military aid, making ceasefire resolutions such as those that have been passed in numerous cities across the country, including Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago and even Albany, important,” he said. “Thus, I urge the City of Schenectady to follow in their lead. While a ceasefire resolution will be critical for the current situation, it is the bare minimum of what must be done. No ceasefire will truly last as long as the occupation of Palestine by the Israeli state remains.”
The federal government approved approximately $14 billion in military aid to Israel a month after the October attacks.
Jeffrey Handelman, the chair of the board of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York, told the council that passing a measure calling for a ceasefire in Gaza would be an unwise decision.
“I hate to see the division in our community,” he said. “I see it online in the comments and I see it in the newspaper. I do not understand why this elected body is being asked to debate international affairs beyond your scope of control.”