Worcester Council Votes To Support Israel Hostages With Some Dissent

WORCESTER, MA — The Worcester City Council Tuesday waded into the ongoing war in Israel and Gaza with councilors asked to vote on a resolution denouncing the kidnapping of Israelis by members of the terror group Hamas.

At-Large Councilor Moe Bergman brought the resolution to council asking his colleagues to "condemn the recent barbaric and inhuman taking of hostages in Israel, including a number of American citizens, and prays for their immediate and safe release and return to their loved ones."

The resolution follows the Oct. 7 Hamas attack from Gaza where some 1,400 Israelis were killed. Hamas took as many as 250 people hostage during the attack.

But the resolution's lack of a mention of unfolding atrocities in Gaza — the al-Alhi Hospital in that territory was destroyed hours before the meeting with hudreds dead, including children — was a point of contention for some councilors and residents who spoke Tuesday.

Bergman said he worded the resolution specifically to focus on just the innocent Israelis taken in a larger conflict, he said.

The meeting opened with a multiple comments from the public in support and opposing the measure.

A woman named Sarah, who identified herself as a Worcester resident and Jewish, admonished the council over the resolution — partially in Hebrew — calling it "needlessly dangerous and inflammatory" for failing to mention the deaths of civilians in Gaza.

"I am here to call on the council to join in solidarity with thousands of Israelis, Palestinians and Jews who are gathering together for a ceasefire, together for an end to the siege, and together for an end to apartheid," she said.

Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts Executive Director Steven Schimmel praised the resolution as concise that underscored "the very worst of what happened without going into numerical golf playing."

"The Jewish community, I believe, is looking for support in this horrifically difficult time," he said.

David Coyne, previously the Clark University Hillel director, said the resolution shouldn't be on the agenda because of council rule No. 11, which says, "No petition, paper, order, communication or report of any description which deals with personalities, or with matters not within the general supervision and/or relating to city government, or does not specifically state the business to be discussed, shall be placed on any city council agenda by the city clerk."

Coyne said the council — and the large city government through the city manager — should issue a statement on the violence rather than hold a vote, similar to what Worcester Public Schools Superintendent Rachel Monarrez did.

"It is an item before the council for the specific purpose of making councilors stand and take a position on something that is not under the jurisdiction of the council," he said.

Council rule No. 11 nearly derailed a previous council foray into geopolitics. In March 2022, District 1 Councilor Sean Rose brought a resolution supporting a nuclear disarmament campaign to the council. District 3 Councilor George Russell sought a ruling on whether the council could even discuss it because of rule No. 11.

Four councilors would abstain from voting on that item on March 8, 2022 — and Russell would only vote "present" — with some saying they feared their support could mean the eventual removal of the U.S. nuclear capability. Bergman, who abstained from voting, went to lengths to say his lack of a vote didn't mean he totally disagreed with it.

"If you agree with most of it but can't vote for it, then you're perceived as being against it. If you vote against it even though you agree with most of it, then the other side isn't happy with you," Bergman said at the time.

When Bergman's Israel resolution came up for a vote, District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj and At-Large Councilor Thu Nguyen spoke about their feelings about the resolution and how it ties into larger global trends of violence and war.

Nguyen said they were in 5th grade when Sept. 11 happened, too young to realize what exactly was happening. They came to realize the terror attack was used to justify more violence and the demonization of Muslim people.

"We condemn the violence by Hamas on Israel, and we must also condemn the violence on Palestinians who are enduring it now," Nguyen said. "Why is this always the default route?"

Haxhiaj said the current situation reminded her of when she and her family fled Albania amid turmoil in the late 1990s. She met Palestinian refugees along the way, and was also reminded of the Albanian role in helping Jewish people escape during German occupation of the country in World War II.

"These memories and conversations with both Jewish and Muslim members of our community reinforce for me that we cannot allow ourselves to ration our humanity and compassion," she said. "This resolution asks for me to act with half of my humanity. I am incapable of segmenting my love for human life. In times where our grief is the deepest, we have to resist any impulse to extend our humanity conditionally and selectively."

Bergman responded to Nguyen and Haxhiaj, reminding them that the phrase "never again" — a slogan associated with the lessons of the Holocaust — means never submitting to the idea that a group of innocent people "had it coming to them."

The resolution passed with eight councilors in favor, Nguyen and Haxhiaj voting no, and District 4 Councilor Sarai Rivera recused herself.

The Boston City Council was also set to vote on a resolution supporting Israel and condemning Hamas at a meeting Wednesday. The Boston councilors backed off a full vote, opting to send Councilor Michael Flaherty's resolution to a committee.

Two Worcester religious leaders spoke to the councilors before the vote.

Rabbi Moshe Liberow of The Torah Center supported Bergman's resolution, saying that even debating the measure "scares me to the core."

"Voting for this is voting in favor of human life and freedom," Moshe said. "Whatever the words in that document are, the real takeaway tonight should be that each and every one of us in our own right leaves this room and goes home and thinks how they could be friendlier to their neighbor."

Worcester Islamic Center President Osman Acheampong reminded councilors that there are plenty of Palestinians in Worcester who are suffering, and asked councilors to come back with a resolution supporting them.

"If the city decides to adopt this resolution, then the city has to be willing to be in support of its Palestinian and Muslim people," he said.