On August 8, the New Orleans City Council met to pass a “statement of peace” regarding Israel’s war on Palestine. The statement—which did not include input from local Palestinian organizers, or the words “Palestine” or “Palestinian”—said that the Council “[supports] the diplomatic efforts of the United States for a negotiated ceasefire.” The United States has sent, according to Reuters, “more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000-pound bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles” and billions of dollars to Israel just since October 7 of last year. The following is a selection of in-person comments from the meeting.
We urge you to rescind your signatures from this statement of peace, which is absurd. This statement suppresses Palestinian voices, which are already suppressed by the media with propaganda that aims to dehumanize us. This is just another example of denying our right to self-determination. I’m Palestinian, so I think we are experts in our own genocide, and pro-Palestinian voices should be representing Palestinian issues, not the community that enables our ongoing genocide. The fact that not a single Palestinian voice was consulted when drafting this statement, and you still signed it, all of you, it’s pretty embarrassing. Signing this statement erases the voices of a vulnerable minority and ultimately chooses the side of the oppressor. Not only do we oppose this statement because we need more out of it, maybe mentioning Palestine in it, but it’s actually detrimental to our struggle. This statement is a gag order on the whole movement and the city. We don’t have to wonder what kind of people stand by and let a genocide happen; those people look like all of you. Palestinians have a right for self-determination here and abroad. There should be nothing about us without us.1Lana M.
I’m here to speak out against this so-called “peace resolution” which is in fact a slap in the face to every Palestinian and the rest of us who have been organizing for months in the daylight for a true ceasefire resolution. Any statement that was created about the genocide in Palestine with no input from actual Palestinians, that does not mention the word Palestine or genocide, and was distributed anonymously in the shadows has no business pretending to be anything but more pro-war propaganda. The Jewish Federation and the ADL claim to represent the Jewish community, but they do not speak for me and they do not speak for so many of us here. Matter fact, could every Jew here for a free Palestine please stand up? Let the record show, we have the numbers… The Jewish Federation notoriously pulled money from a food bank for merely saying the word “ceasefire.” The ADL has such a long history of surveillance and racism and underhanded tactics, including hiring private detectives to dig up dirt on Nelson Mandela, that over a hundred progressive organizations and actual civil rights groups have joined together to call on their allies to have nothing to do with the ADL. Do you know how hard it is to get progressives to agree on anything?2Daniel O.
It’s so insulting when you look at your phones when the people y’all represent are trying to talk to you… I’m not paid to be here but the Jewish Federation is. I am a proud member of the New Orleans Jewish community. I am an anti-Zionist Jew and I love myself, I love my culture, I love my people. Our teachings go completely against what you all are doing, and I want you all to know that the Jewish Federation does not represent all of the Jews in the city, and it definitely does not represent the common Jews in this city who are here today.3Cyprus A.
In 2006, a little over a year after Katrina, Palestinian refugees in both Gaza and the West Bank of Palestine collectively raised over $10,000 to donate to Katrina victims. Representatives of Palestinian authority president Mahmoud Abbas said while the donation was small, having come from the poorest among Palestinians, the Palestinian people felt, “It was important to show our concern for the people of New Orleans since Palestinians know all too well the pain and hardship caused by being a refugee.” Those refugee camps where that humble donation was raised have since been wiped off the map by Israeli bombs paid for by the United States with our tax dollars.4Jack R. S.
For half a year we’ve come to these chambers in the hundreds week after week united in our call for a ceasefire 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. So let’s be clear about the difference. Your statement, crafted behind closed doors with select groups, erases Palestinian suffering, in fact, as has been said before, does not include the word Palestinian, and mischaracterizes peaceful protestors as extremists. Our resolution, the people’s resolution, was crafted openly and with input from hundreds of local organizations, businesses, and faith groups; we’ve sent it over for you to see. It calls for concrete action: an immediate ceasefire, end to all arms transfers, compliance with international law. It’s a resolution. It’s our time to be able to say what we want, this is what the city wants to see.5Hakm M.
I don’t want it ever to be said that anybody that objects to this doesn’t want peace because surely someone will say, “Everybody must want peace, how dare you not want peace?” I’m against this statement because of Jeremiah 8:11 that I put up here right here. The prophet Jeremiah said people say, “Peace, peace, where there is no peace…” This is hollow and artificial and a farce to do this, so I ask you to remove it from the table and let’s talk about true peace. Let me say this: I am sorely disappointed in each one of these councilmembers. I see what you’re trying to do, but it’s not gonna work. It’s not gonna work because these same people have been standing here month after month after month asking you for a ceasefire resolution. You have said to them in private meetings and beyond, “Oh we don’t weigh in on international issues”—yes you do! That is a lie. You have the audacity to stand with the Ukrainian flag behind you. You spoke up when the people of South Africa were being hurt. Why are you not speaking out now? Because these are brown people like me. I am a brown man, these are brown people. I hurt for the Jewish people, I hurt for them. Tikkun olam—you know what that means, Jewish people. Repair the breach!6Gregory M.
New Orleans, as we all know, is an international city. And so the decisions that our leaders make have international implications, and back in the 1980s the City Council recognized that and they actually passed a binding ordinance divesting the City—they put it into the City charter—they divested the City’s public resources and business relationships from the apartheid state of South Africa. This is our apartheid moment.7Michael I.
To follow up on this issue, you can email your City councilmembers. To submit a public comment, follow instructions at council.nola.gov. Interested in reading all comments after a meeting? You can email your councilmember or file a public records request.
illustration by Sadie Wiese
