City council rejects “support of Israel” resolution

Local Muslims are relieved by Brantford city council decision to stick to municipal issues and stay out of the war in Gaza.

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“100 per cent relieved, I’m feeling much, much better,” Naser Hamed, president of the Muslim Association of Brantford, said following a tense city council meeting. “The last two weeks have been very hard for people, very hard.

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“But now we can all go home feeling much, much better.”

Members of the Muslim community became upset when city councilors at a recent committee meeting voted in favor of a resolution supporting Israel.

The resolution called for, among other things, the Canadian government to consider financial aid for Israel to replenish depleted stocks of defensive anti-missile systems. It also called for the lights at city hall to be illuminated with the colors of the Israeli flag until the cessation of hostilities.

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Hamed sent a letter to council saying the resolution left people in the Muslim community in shock and disbelief. He also called on councilors to reconsider their stance and the association organized a Sunday (Oct. 22) rally at the steps of city hall which attracted an estimated 300 people.

At Tuesday’s city council meeting 15 people registered as delegations to speak to councilors including Hamed, Anwar Dost, a local pharmacist and humanitarian and James Cairns, a Laurier Brantford professor in the department of Indigenous studies, law and social justice.

Cairns said he was speaking as an individual not on behalf of the university.

“I’m here today with one simple message, the resolution is cruel, divisive and war mongering,” Cairns said. “Withdraw the resolution immediately.

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“The resolution grieves the loss of civilian life in Israel, so do I.”

But the resolution says nothing about the roughly 5,700 Palestinians in Gaza killed by Israel since Oct. 7.

“How cruel, inhumane, insulting for the City of Brantford to ignore Palestinian mass deaths and suffering,” Cairns said. “The resolution badly divides communities in Brantford, sending a message to our Palestinian, Muslim and Arab neighbors that their lives, their families, their histories don’t matter and the resolution is war mongering.”

Dost reminded councilors that the Muslim association has worked hard to build peace bridges with Indigenous people, people of different faiths as well as all three levels of government.

The meeting became heated when Coun. Rose Sicoli introduced a series of amendments aimed at bringing some balance to the original resolution. There were shouts from people in the crowd upset with the proposed amendments,

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The situation became so tense that Mayor Kevin Davis called a recess. After the recess, Davis told people to leave the council chamber if they couldn’t keep their emotions in check.

The amendments were rejected and several councilors including Sicoli, Linda Hunt and Davis suggested rejecting the resolution completely.

“I want to apologize personally for my support of the original motion,” Hunt told the crowd.

Hunt said the resident of Ward 4 elected her to represent them at city hall on matters that are municipal in nature.

“No one came out on last Oct. 24 (2022) to elect someone to represent their views on an international crisis,” Hunt said. “For that reason, I will not be supporting the amendments or the original resolution.”

Davis said as mayor, he looks at what is best for the community, what fits within his moral compass of right and wrong and what’s best politically.

Davis said the original resolution, although well intentioned, doesn’t meet the principle of being in the best interests of the community.

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