Chronicle poll results: Cease-fire resolutions
We asked our readers if local city and county councils should consider resolutions calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. Here's what they said.
Last week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an electronic poll the following question: “Should local city and county councils consider resolutions calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war?” Of the 364 people who responded, 90% said no; 7% said yes; and 3% said they don’t know. Comments were submitted by 100 people. A few follow:
Their focus should be on matters of their own cities and counties. Not international politics.
Only if all the hostages are released and Hamas is not allowed to govern Gaza.
The only elected officials who should weigh in on the issue are our Congress and president. It makes little to no sense for local government to weigh in on one of the world’s most hotly debated geopolitical issues. If they did weigh in on Israel-Hamas, I expect them to cover every single geopolitical conflict in the world. But antisemitism and selective thought prevents them from any moral or good faith consistency.
It accomplishes little-to-nothing and mainly is just an exercise in far-left and anti-Israel virtue signaling. It contributes to our already excessive levels of intolerance, extremism and polarization.
Local politicians should stick to the issues that they have control over for the benefit of their constituents.
Too many civilians are getting hurt, losing homes and dying.
Israelis have to demolish Hamas but be more forgiving toward the Palestinians, especially women and children. It is sad to see children suffering.
City and county councils should refrain from meaningless, divisive gestures and focus on addressing the many pressing issues they were elected to fix.
“An eye for an eye makes Israel blind.”
We need to be on the right side. Can you imagine any civilized country taking civilian hostages as bargaining chips?
These resolutions are not going to change anything in Israel, and all they are going to wind up doing is offending one group or another. Should the town council In Tel Aviv or Haifa start piping in on how the U.S. government manages America?
What Israel does is her business. No one country should tell the Israelis what to do. Such an action would be an exercise in futility. Only Israel and Hamas can decide how to move forward. Foreign opinion or pressure does not matter.
This tactic of using local councils to demonize Israel is a cynical ploy by those who seek to destroy her. They cannot get the traction that they want in Washington, so they are using otherwise sleepy meetings as a platform upon which to make a noisy, offensive scene and spew false and inflammatory statements.
Too complicated for a simple answer.
Holding aside my feelings about this issue, Gaza is a national issue; the work of the county council is a local issue.
I am not on board calling for a cease-fire unless it’s contingent upon Hamas releasing all of the hostages, dead or alive, so I can’t say I would be happy about a resolution unless it qualified it. But it is within the rights of any council to pass resolutions of any kind, isn’t it? As much as we might at times hate that.
Maybe they should stick to fixing their own failed policies.
They should stay in their own lane and pass resolutions that are actually their primary responsibility like salting and plowing the roads, fixing sidewalks, recycling and making sure bridges don’t fall down. It’s not glamorous, but that’s their job. Foreign policy decisions, not so much.
What an absolute waste of taxpayer money for the county council to spend any time on something that they hold absolutely no sway over. All it did was stoke antisemitic sentiment. Who on the county council decides that this is acceptable?
Pay attention to the gun violence at home in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.
It is a complex issue for which a great amount of knowledge and an understanding of history is needed before decisions can be made.
Their authority does not carry any weight other than potential goodwill for constituents. Our local leaders have a full plate already — and they’re failing to address problems here, let alone on the other side of the world.
Why would anyone think we have the right to tell another country what to do? Especially local city and county councils. This question makes no sense to me.
I am heartbroken at the extent of Israel’s retaliation against all residents of Gaza for the atrocities of Hamas.
I do not know what good this will do, although I support a cease-fire.
Local pressure for the federal government to use its power for peaceful means is significant. As a Jewish citizen, I would feel such respect for our local government to join in to pressure our government to demand a cease-fire.
Since neither local city nor local county councils have any foreign policy components or responsibilities whatsoever, the entire concept of calling for a Gaza cease-fire, or any cease-fire, is entirely absurd. PJC
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