Worcester on Tuesday was the latest Massachusetts locality to wrestle over the war in Gaza as city councilors narrowly voted to table a measure calling for a ceasefire.
Community members submitted the petition to the council after it garnered more than 1,500 signatures. During more than two hours of public comments at Tuesday’s meeting, dozens of speakers implored councilors to support the resolution, citing the reported death toll of over 44,000 Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war.
“To vote against this resolution would be morally indefensible and quite frankly, pathetic,” said Patricia Kirkpatrick, who helped write the petition.
Still, Mayor Joseph Petty and five other councilors made up the majority who voted to reject the resolution. Petty said he agreed the war has created a humanitarian crisis and understood why so many community members supported the resolution, which also called for a release of all hostages held by Hamas. But Petty and Councilor George Russell said the issue was outside the council’s purview.
“This wasn’t what I was elected for,” Russell said. “Are we going to come back in this chamber next week and have a whole nother session on the war in Lebanon? Are we to have another session the week after that … on Ukraine and the other atrocities around the world?”
Other Massachusetts communities have also had to deal with residents’ calls for an end to the Israel-Hamas war. Boston, Cambridge and Medford have approved resolutions supporting a ceasefire. Other municipalities, like Brookline and Arlington, have voted to table the issue, arguing the measures are divisive and not within the purview of local government.
In Worcester, the ceasefire resolution has been a source of contention since October when the petitioners first tried to submit it to City Council. Around that time, Worcester’s city clerk declined to put it on the council’s agenda, arguing it violated the body’s rules because it wasn’t within the city’s jurisdiction. Supporters of the petition responded by trying to speak about it during the public comment portion of an October meeting. When Mayor Petty stopped them, a protest ensued, forcing the council to unexpectedly adjourn.
In a December letter, the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts called the council’s handling of the matter unfair and potentially unconstitutional. The letter led to the city allowing the resolution to appear on Tuesday’s agenda.
Worcester’s city council has faced past criticism for debating international issues that it has no control over, like nuclear disarmament. The petitioners of the ceasefire resolution noted that shortly after Hamas’ attack on Israel in October 2023, city councilors approved a measure condemning the assault. If they could do that, the petitioners argued, they should also support the resolution calling for an end to the war. Several councilors agreed.
“If I can’t even call for an end to genocide, I am a coward,” Councilor Thu Nguyen said. “And I was not elected to just do potholes and snowplowing. And maybe I am in the wrong job. But I believe in the dignity and humanity of Palestinians, and they are deserving of life.”
Petty and Russell responded that it was a mistake for the council to vote on the initial resolution condemning Hamas’ attack. In addition to rejecting the ceasefire measure, councilors voted to have the city’s law department and clerk provide clarity going forward about the types of issues the council is legally obligated to consider.
