Community weighs in on proposed Lansing resolution for ceasefire in Gaza
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — The war in Gaza continues to rate, more than three months after Hamas attacked Israel.
More communities, including the city of Lansing, are now calling for a ceasefire. Lansing City Council’s Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee is set to call for a ceasefire in the region.
“I can’t speak for everybody on the City Council,” said Brian Jackson, who represents Lansing’s Fourth Ward on the City Council. “But I know some of us have a strong desire to at least bring this conversation up. And see what we can do.”
A petition, released last week by Lansing for Palestine, has nearly 400 signatures, calling for City Council members to issue the ceasefire.
This symbolic gesture comes just a few days after Ann Arbor Public Schools went public with its stance against the war in Gaza.
As of one week ago, 15 U.S. cities had approved resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, according to a report from Newsweek, and five of those U.S. cities are in Michigan.
Some people in Lansing say this gesture is long overdue. Members of Lansing for Palestine say they’ve asked the Council to address this issue since the war began in October.
“I think the reservations from other people, maybe City Council included–it’s never been in fashion to stand on the side of the oppressed,” said Anna Martinez-Hume, Board Member of Lansing for Palestine.
“It’s a major step,” Martinez-Hume said. “It’s not symbolic.”
Yore Kedem, Professor of Hebrew at MSU, originally from Israel (WLNS) Ali Elbast, manager at Aladdin’s, who has family in Gaza and Lebanon Ali Elbast, manager at Aladdin’s, who has family in Gaza and Lebanon Brian Jackson, Lansing City Council Member Anna Martinez-Hume, Lansing for Palestine Board Member
Some in Lansing are concerned about the war in Gaza for very personal reasons. Ali Elbast is a manager at Aladdin’s restaurant in Lansing. He said he has family both in Gaza and in neighboring Lebanon.
He said: “What’s happening is a genocide. It’s not a war anymore.”
Elbast said it brings him a little comfort, knowing that the City Council is set to call for a ceasefire in the region.
“I haven’t been in touch with any of them…it’s been really hard,” Elbast said.
Others aren’t so sure what kind of an impact Lansing’s gesture can have. Yore Kedem, who’s from Israel and teaches Hebrew at Michigan State University, said the ceasefire resolution won’t make any difference overseas.
“I don’t think that [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu or [Hamas leader] Yahya Sinwar really care about what the city of Lansing has to say about these things,” Kedem said. “I think it’s mostly for us…and for the people who live here to feel better that we might be doing something or making a statement.”
Others agree that larger-scale measures are necessary. In Elbast’s opinion, the best solution is for President Joe Biden to step up and put a stop to the war.
“America can do more,” Elbast said, “not just Lansing.”
The city of East Lansing rejected a proposed ceasefire resolution at a Jan. 9 meeting, according to East Lansing Info and the City Pulse. After many community members stood to speak on the topic, East Lansing City Council voted down the resolution, 4-1.
As for the possibility of a resolution in Lansing: Wednesday’s meeting of Lansing City Council Committee on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is open to the public and starts at City Hall at 4:30 p.m.
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