Scores of people came to the Waukegan City Council asking officials to place a resolution supporting a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas War on a future agenda, but there was no commitment from Mayor Ann Taylor or any of the nine council members to do so.
The council listened to the pleas and opinions of 18 people during the public comment period asking for the ceasefire resolution or opposing the idea on Monday at City Hall.
With a standing-room-only crowd of 155 people in the City Council Chamber and dozens more outside the room listening to people speak, Taylor, the council members and the audience heard tales of horror in Gaza and fears of anti-Semitism locally.
Some members of the audience at Monday’s Waukegan City Council meeting. (Steve Sadin/Lake County News-Sun)
Dr. Chandra Hassan, who was part of a medical relief mission to Gaza in January, said what he saw was “apocalyptic.” Treating people was nonstop, he said, and conditions were scary. He said he had to do amputations without anesthesia, and he was operating when a bomb fell outside.
“I almost fell while I was operating on a patient because a bomb fell across the street and the shockwaves shook the building so much they go through your body,” Hassan said. “The children don’t stand a chance.”
Peggy Shapiro said she is the daughter of Holocaust survivors who lost 182 family members in the Nazi death camps and never knew a grandparent, aunt, uncle or cousin. She urged the council not to get involved in such national or international issues. She said she fears the rise of anti-Semitism.
“I am terrified anti-Semitism that was unchecked then, is running rampant now,” Shapiro said. “It’s not only the form of hating the individual Jew, but hating the Jewish state. Today, you are going to hear something some people … are proposing (that) will be very damaging to the Jewish community here in Waukegan and elsewhere.”
Just before the portion of the meeting devoted to audience comments, Taylor said it would be limited to 45 minutes — with each speaker limited to three minutes — and then continue at the end of the meeting.
When the 45 minutes lapsed after Shapiro, Hassan and 14 others spoke, a large and vocal portion of the crowd demanded to continue speaking. Many left, but some remained until their turn resumed almost 90 minutes later.
Before audience time continued, the nine council members had an opportunity to talk about any issue they wanted. Though it is frequently a time some offer motions to put issues on a future agenda, none did.
Children made their feelings known. (Steve Sadin/Lake County News-Sun)
Ald. Victor Felix, 4th Ward, thanked those pushing for a ceasefire resolution for coming, and told them he appreciated their activism. But, he did not propose placing a ceasefire resolution on a future agenda.
“Thank you guys — the Muslim community. The Jewish community. Everyone for being here,” Felix said. “I do wish peace and love for everyone, of course. It’s not an easy topic. I don’t know everything. We can work together to send aid at least here locally.”
Taylor said after the meeting placing a ceasefire resolution on the agenda at the May 20 meeting was a decision she was leaving to the council members. She noted they frequently ask for that at the end of meetings, something they did not do Monday.
“It’s going to have to come from the aldermen,” she said. “Three of them can get together and put it on the agenda. It’s up to them to make this decision.”
A speaker asks the Waukegan City Council to consider a ceasefire resolution. (Steve Sadin/Lake County News-Sun)
Vaseem Iftekhar, the founder and chairman of the Northern Illinois American Muslim Alliance, was a driving force behind organizing community members to ask the council for a ceasefire resolution. He believes local governmental voices can percolate upward.
“They are hurting day and night, and you as human beings can feel that,” Iftekhar said, referring to Waukegan residents with family in Gaza, “All of us can realize how difficult it would be to have family members (and) not knowing if they are surviving, starving, eating, sleeping.”
Though none of the people advocating for a ceasefire mentioned the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, where approximately 1,200 Israelis were killed, thousands more wounded and 220 taken hostage, Alison Molotsky said she knows people who were victims there.
“I hear people doubting what happened on Oct 7 actually happened,” she said. “Congress was shown videos taken by Hamas with pride at the joyful murder, beheadings, rape, all sorts of awful crimes against people. Congress has seen it.”
Ahmad Hamdan, a 9th Ward resident, took issue with those who said international affairs are not city business. He believes it is an attempt to silence the council members.
“They’re silencing you,” Hamdan said. “I think that’s highly offensive. I do not want to be silenced, and I don’t want the leadership that’s responsible for my tax dollars, that’s in charge of my city, to be silenced.”
