Jewish community responds to Etna Council cease-fire resolution
“Why would you rush this? Why now would you rush something like this with no other voices?” she asked. “I became very concerned.”
While Etna Borough Council may have been anxious to move beyond the resolution it passed last month calling for a cease-fire in Israel’s war against the terrorist organization Hamas, some Jewish community members weren’t quite as ready.
The resolution, written by council members Jessica Semler and Alice Gabriel, was hastily approved during the borough’s April 16 council meeting.
Council members received the resolution on Friday, April 12, four days before their meeting. The language was altered three times during the procedure, was unable to be read in its final form because of an issue with solicitor John Rushford’s computer and offered no opportunity for anyone absent from the meeting to read the resolution.
Because of those issues, Council Chairperson Dave Becki asked several times if the council would prefer to table the vote until its May meeting. That suggestion was rejected, and the resolution was approved after public comments that included only pro-cease-fire speakers.
Etna Mayor Robert Tuñón was the lone voice speaking against the resolution.
After an April 19 Chronicle article reporting on the meeting, more than 40 people wrote letters to Etna council members expressing their frustration with the vote. Tuñón said that each letter was read.
More than a dozen people attended the council’s May 21 meeting, but most were not permitted to speak because they weren’t Etna residents.
Julie Paris, regional director of StandWithUs, coordinated the pro-Israel community’s response to the initial vote.
She said that at the meeting, approximately six people spoke against the resolution and another four or five spoke in favor of the call for a cease-fire.
Nanci Goldberg, who was unable to attend the April meeting, said that she was upset after reading the Chronicle’s story about the Etna resolution and the apparent speed of the vote.
“Even if I had been there, how would I have had time to vet all that language and read all of that?” she said. “I was incredulous that they voted.”
Goldberg said that in the past, the council has worked to address antisemitic incidents in the borough, pointing to its response in December 2021 when a resident flew a Nazi flag.
“They handled it very well, spoke through the Jewish community, had a great conversation,” she said, adding that the slogan, “Etna is for everyone. Hate has no home here,” came from that incident.
Goldberg said there was “a day and night difference” between the handling of the Nazi flag incident and the cease-fire resolution.
“Why would you rush this? Why now would you rush something like this with no other voices?” she asked. “I became very concerned.”
At the meeting, Semler and others who support a cease-fire said that they didn’t feel the resolution was antisemitic — despite members of the Jewish community telling the council it was.
In the end, the council decided to not send the cease-fire resolution to the federal government — yet. Instead, it will take more input from community members, business owners and the wider Jewish community.
Paris said she’s happy with the pause but would prefer the resolution to be rescinded.
“Allowing the spread of misinformation and propaganda through their council meeting and through the resolution itself is incredibly dangerous to the Jewish community,” she said. “We hope there’s a chance to turn this around.” PJC
The Etna Borough manager did not respond to a request for an interview before press time.
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