Allegheny County Council to vote on cease-fire motion
After deciding not to vote on the motion at their Feb. 20 meeting, Allegheny County Council will take up a cease-fire motion on March 5
Allegheny County Council will vote on a motion calling for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas at its next regular meeting on March 5.
The meeting’s agenda states that the motion will urge “the United States Federal Government to work cooperatively towards an immediate de-escalation and cease-fire in Israel and Palestine as well as the release of all hostages.”
The language appears to equate the release of terrorists arrested by Israel with hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 and still being held in Gaza.
It does not make mention of the terrorist organization or the previous cease-fire in the region that was broken when it invaded the Jewish state, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 250 more.
The motion was introduced by Bethany Hallam and co-sponsored by Anita Prizio and Dan Gryzbek.
District 5 Councilperson, Grzybek represents Bethel Park, Dormont, Mount Lebanon and Upper St. Clair, all located in Pittsburgh’s South Hills, which is home to the city’s second largest Jewish population.
Following a Feb. 20 council meeting, where over 50 people spoke about the possible motion, Grzybek told the Chronicle that he would not introduce a cease-fire motion, something he said he hasn’t done, only deciding to co-sponsor the motion after evaluating it.
“Upon reviewing the motion language and verifying that it met the criteria I was looking for (calls for release of all hostages and is not overly incendiary) I signed on as a co-sponsor,” he said.
It is expected that hundreds of Allegheny County residents will sign up to speak at the March 5 meeting.
Given the time restraints of having that many people offer public comment, Councilperson Paul Klein has introduced legislation providing for time limits different than the regular three-minute time period usually allowed. It is believed that comments will be limited to one minute per person but the published motion, available online, makes no mention of what the period may be.
Anyone wishing to offer public comments about the motion can do so by signing up on the Allegheny County Council webpage. Requests must be submitted 24-hours prior to the meeting, which begins at 5 p.m. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
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