The New Orleans City Council on Thursday (Aug. 8) passed a resolution in support of “peace” in Israel’s war on Gaza, following months of protests in council chambers staged by local organizers calling for a ceasefire in that conflict.

New Orleans joins more than a hundred other cities that have issued symbolic statements that touch on the overseas conflict. Councilmember Joe Giarrusso, who helped lead work on the resolution, previously told Verite News that the resolution was intended to give pro-ceasefire protesters a chance to have a public discussion of the conflict in council chambers. The New Orleans resolution supports a “statement for peace” backed by a coalition of local faith and community leaders.

The “Statement for Peace NOLA” cited in the council resolution clearly states “that calls for violence and conflict in New Orleans are contrary to the values of our community and our commitment to preserving life,” Council President Helena Moreno said. “And that is why this is on the agenda today. This will allow public comment on this matter, which I know has been requested for quite some time.”

But the council’s resolution faced fiery criticism on Thursday from the protesters, who said that local Palestinians and pro-ceasefire organizers were excluded from the process of drafting the statement. As a result, the protesters argue that the statement fails to go far enough in calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

“For half a year, we’ve come to these chambers in the hundreds, week after week, united in our call for a ceasefire resolution,” said Hakm Murad, a local Palestinian resident and one of the leaders of the pro-ceasefire protests, during public comment on the resolution. “Yet our voices seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Instead of hearing us, the very people most affected by this genocide, you’ve chosen to draft a peace statement without our input.”

Emails from Giarrusso show that the New Orleans statement was originally modeled after — and still shares similar language with — a statement in Lexington, Kentucky. But protesters claimed that councilmembers used language given to them by the Jewish Federation of New Orleans and ignored wording offered by ceasefire advocates, pointing out that the Google Form allowing people to sign onto the “Statement for Peace NOLA” is associated with the Jewish Federation.

“The Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans consulted with others outside our organization on the drafting of the Statement for Peace. So much attention has been drawn to a Google Form that originated within the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans,” said Charissa Brim, the federation’s chief marketing officer. “We are proud to be a partner in this initiative and never sought to hide that fact.”

At least 100 people crowded council chambers, many donning keffiyehs, a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian cause, to protest the proposed statement for peace.

The protesters also criticized the language of the statement for failing to mention Palestinians by name, as well as for mischaracterizing pro-Palestine protests as “calls for violence.”

The protesters called on the council to instead pass what they are calling “The People’s Ceasefire Resolution,” a local statement signed by more than 250 people and 50 organizations.

“Our [ceasefire] resolution was crafted openly and with input from hundreds of people and organizations,” Murad said. “It calls for some concrete action: an immediate ceasefire, an end to armed transfers and compliance with international humanitarian law.”

Though comments in the chambers overwhelmingly opposed the proposed peace statement, they were not unanimous.

A small handful of people spoke in support of the peace statement – including representatives from the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federation of New Orleans and the National Council of Jewish Women in New Orleans.

“I am deeply appreciative to the City Council, both in my personal and professional capacity, for speaking out in favor of peace and unity,” said Lindsay Baach Friedmann, regional director at the Anti-Defamation League. “While our hearts ache for the innocent lives lost and for those who are suffering in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, we know conflicts waged abroad won’t be resolved here in New Orleans.”

Moreno, introducing the resolution to support the statement, also said that she had heard from many people who feared coming to the meeting to speak on the statement. And Councilmember Joe Giarrusso told Verite News that councilmembers had received thousands of emails asking them not to touch this issue.   

This is the first time that the council has had an explicit agenda item discussing a potential ceasefire in Gaza since Oct. 7, when Hamas staged an attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people. That attack prompted Israel to launch a devastating military campaign against Gaza. Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since October, per some estimates, and another two million Palestinians have been displaced by the conflict.

Protesters regularly laughed, heckled and booed during the heated public comment period. One pro-ceasefire protester sang a Yiddish song about a lost homeland while another led a rousing sermon-like call to repair the breach.  When the one-hour period for public comment ended, protesters stood up and began reciting the language of their alternative ceasefire resolution.

During their chanting, Council President Helena Moreno motioned to pass the resolution. Six councilmembers voted in favor of supporting the peace statement. (Councilmember Oliver Thomas was absent from the meeting.) Moreno then called for a recess and all councilmembers, except for Eugene Green – who was slated to run the next special order of business – left the chambers.

Protesters continued to chant before being escorted out of the room by New Orleans Police Department officers.

In recent months, the council has strictly enforced restrictions on public comments in response to ceasefire protesters, who have previously co-opted the council’s agendas to deliver public comments during meetings and slow down regular business. 

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Katie Jane Fernelius reports on the local government for Verite. Prior to joining Verite, she was an independent journalist and producer. Over the course of her career, she’s reported for and worked...