Tensions high as Las Cruces City Council tables resolution on Israel-Hamas war

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico ( KTSM ) — Las Cruces City Council members voted to table a resolution during a meeting on Monday, May 6 that if approved, would have called for an immediate cease-fire in Palestine.

In 4-2 vote, council members voted to delay the adoption of the agenda item.

The resolution was calling for the immediate end of all funding and weapons transfers to Israel. It also condemned any incidents of antisemitism, Islamophobia, ethnic cleansing, deliberate starvation, collective punishment and the occupation of Palestine.

The vote happened just hours after the terrorist group Hamas accepted a cease-fire proposal from Egypt and Qatar. Israel officials responded that it was reviewing the proposal.

After the decision was made, a round of applause was heard throughout City Hall. Shortly after pro-Palestinian protestors got up from their seats and moved to the back of the auditorium shouting “Viva Palestina” and “Long live free Palestine.”

Protestors were told they could speak during the discussion, but they would have to sit down and wait their turn. The group opted to walk out and continue their protests outside City Hall.

“Only two of our city councilors were brave enough to stand against genocide, brave enough to stand against Zionist mobs and to stand with the people of Gaza is what we just witnessed,” said one protestor who did not want to be named.

“It sends the message that our city councilors are cowards. They should be ashamed.”

Opponents of the resolution said the wording was one-sided and neglected to call out Hamas and the murders and violence committed against Israelis.

Peter Svarzbein, the El Paso community engagement manager with the Anti-Defamation League, said the council including the resolution on Holocaust Remembrance Day without acknowledging the pain of Jewish communities was not in the spirit of Las Cruces.

Svarzbein said: “We have a resolution here that purports to call for a cease-fire, a resolution that does not condemn Hamas, a terrorist organization which started this war, and it doesn’t even mention Hamas by name. What I feel, and many others feel is that it’s important that Las Cruces focus on the kind of items and initiatives that can bring people together.”

Had the resolution been approved, the City of Las Cruces would have asked that the New Mexico congressional delegation and Biden Administration to facilitate an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and the West Bank along with restoring humanitarian aid to the region.

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