Residents Urge Ceasefire Resolution At Naperville City Council Meeting

NAPERVILLE, IL —For more than an hour, residents took to the podium to at Naperville's March 5 City Council meeting to call for council members to openly support a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza War.

The audience was full of community members wearing hijabs and keffiyehs as council members discussed agenda items, but declined to address the nearly two dozen requests that they call for a ceasefire.

Keith Larson said, "I'm here tonight as one of many Jewish anti-Zionists in support of a permanent ceasefire to end Israel's genocide in Gaza.

"The longer this genocide continues, people across the globe will feel increasingly powerless as their governments ignore them, and the minority in support of this genocide will become emboldened, making more violence inevitable," Larson continued. "This poses a threat to everyone, particularly Palestinians and Jews in the diaspora, including here in Naperville. This is why adding a resolution for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and supporting it is in the best interest of everyone's safety."

Related: Bolingbrook Board Calls For Cease-Fire In Gaza: 'We Are Listening'

Asma Farooquie said, "A ceasefire resolution is in favor of peace, and will make the community feel heard and represented."

She added, "Naperville champions diversity. Take a look around the room. So many constituents want a ceasefire. We do not feel represented."

"What Hamas did was wrong, no doubt," Farooquie said, referring to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, "But the issue is that most modern genocide, where Israel is actively bombing civilians and civilians' infrastructure, then is even admitting to it openly."

After the meeting adjourned without council members addressing requests that they call for a ceasefire, attendees began chanting "ceasefire now," with some residents remaining to continue to address the dais.