Editorial: At City Hall, insulting virtue signaling on the Middle East
Chicago’s aldermen certainly are entitled to their opinions on the battle between Israel and Hamas. But the resolution sponsored by Rossanna Rodriguez Sanchez, 33rd, and supported by some of her progressive colleagues, and also some staffers in the Brandon Johnson administration at City Hall, insults the federal government and all therein who have worked for years on this most complicated part of the world.
“Be it resolved that we, the City of Chicago,” it reads, “do hereby call upon President Joseph R. Biden to call for and facilitate a lasting peace in the Middle East, starting with a de-escalation to end the ongoing violence and to promptly send and facilitate the entry of humanitarian assistance into the impacted region.”
Middle East peace, just like that.
Come on, President Biden, get with the program. Start facilitating. The Chicago aldermen have spoken.
Biden is 81 years old. He has been calling for, and fervently working on, a “lasting peace in the Middle East” for decades. To not know, or recognize, that insults Biden and all who have worked with him.
Does anyone on City Council remember the words of former President Bill Clinton?
“I killed myself to give the Palestinians a state. I had a deal they turned down that would have given them all of Gaza,” Clinton famously said, in 2016. His wife Hillary later continued his efforts as secretary of state; she remains articulately well aware of all the complexities of this region.
Bill Clinton also said: “There’s nobody who’s blameless in the Middle East, but we cannot really ever make a fundamental difference in the Middle East unless the Israelis think we care whether they live or die. If they do, we have a chance to keep pushing for peace.”
Precisely. We could go on.
Right now, the Israelis are still in shock at the most barbaric terrorist attack imaginable having taken place within their borders, and they are still in the process of trying to recover scores of civilians abducted by Hamas. We’ve heard, face to face, from their anguished relatives, sitting across the table. We hope that by the time you read this, some have been reunited with their loved ones.
Even aside from that pressing humanitarian issue, the Israelis face what they see as an existential crisis, and there was ample evidence on Oct. 7 that this is in fact the case. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been doing a stellar job so far of negotiating with both sides, but Israel is an independent country and it is unlikely to desist in its own defense on the urging of Chicago aldermen. Or even Biden.
Do Rodriguez Sanchez and her colleagues even believe in Israel’s right to exist? Are they appalled by what happened to innocent civilians on Oct. 7, attacks that reflected raw hatred and went far, far beyond the usual acts of war? All worth noting, if so.
Many infuriated constituents of the supporters of this resolution have shot back on social media that these aldermen should confine themselves to issues in their own wards, especially when it comes to working on a “lasting peace,” a problem at home as well as abroad.
We understand that point of view but don’t agree because we dislike parochialism and think Chicagoans should freely express their views, including making resolutions as elected bodies.
This one, though, is beyond naive.
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