Seth Johnson
Community members filled the Alachua County chambers on Tuesday to advocate for both sides of a cease-fire resolution concerning the war between Israel and Hamas.
Public comment stretched for more than three hours as over 55 speakers used the time to give their side, and Alachua County received hundreds of emails on the topic as well.
A ceasefire resolution wasn’t on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, but the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) discussed the proposal on Jan. 9. The commissioners voted at that meeting to ask all sides to work together on a joint resolution.
Returning on Tuesday, Commissioner Anna Prizzia said the group had done what the BOCC had asked. It worked and modified the resolution.
“I don’t think there’s anything biased or controversial about this resolution,” she said on Jan. 9.
Prizzia said again on Tuesday that the ceasefire resolution asks the county to be against killing of all kinds, whether in Gaza or Israel.
But many speakers opposed the language then and still do, including Rabbi Berl Goldman, director of the Chabad UF Jewish Student and Community Center.
Since the conflict began in October 2023, the center has held vigils and been further targeted with vandalism. UF students also grapple with the impacts in Gainesville from the Gaza conflict.
The city of Gainesville sent a letter to President Joe Biden in 2023 supporting a ceasefire. Community groups returned to ask for a resolution during an extended public comment. However, the city declined to pass a resolution, and the meeting went into a recess after a group of 20 commenters began chanting.
Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler reiterated her position from Jan. 9.
“When you all shake your heads at me, this is how I know that, in this community, we will have division if we [pass this resolution],” Wheeler said on Jan. 9.
She said a resolution will bring conflict in the community as people’s opinions clash on the issue.
She added that if the BOCC passes a resolution on one international issue, everyone locally with ties to an international conflict will want a resolution—from the war in Ukraine and Russia to the Uyghurs in China.
From what he’s seen in the last two weeks, Commissioner Ken Cornell said he doesn’t think the groups will find consensus on the language. He said the county shouldn’t weigh in on the issue but should continue with its work.
His perspective echoed what previous public commenters had said.
Linda Maurice, executive director of the Jewish Council of North Central Florida, said the county shouldn’t vote—no matter what the resolution says.
“What we do personally is one thing,” Maurice said. “What we do as a community is another. I really don’t feel that it is within your purview to pass this resolution, whether it’s right or wrong.”
The BOCC continued the agenda without a vote.
The meeting was scheduled to finish by 5 p.m. with no evening agenda. But around four hours of public comment and commissioner discussion on the ceasefire resolution pushed the whole agenda back.
What makes the commissioners think that anything we think or say will have the slightest bit of influence on actual events? It may be therapeutic to express one’s opinion, or for an organization to have a publicly proclaimed position, but do not think that these actions make the slightest bit of difference to the politicians in power, unless the actions are backed up with political power and influence. I would recommend that the Gainesville City Commission stick to activities within its frame of influence.
Maybe they could achieve something relevant for once.
I’ll keep this simple: focus on the local problems!
I agree with Linda Maurice and Fred Glavin (commenting below). The county commissioners should not waste our resources and delay genuine action trying to take a stand on war in the Middle East. This is the worst of performative allyship.
Why does the plus not work on Faith’s comment?
Elected politicians as well as those otherwise employed by the government are supposed to ‘serve’ all of the people, not just a segment – whether that segment is small or large. Their service would be much better, and more appreciated, if they thought more carefully before taking action or even recommending action publicly.
At least these pols appear to have reached a non-explosive conclusion. Maybe Alexander Pope was right – “Hope springs eternal”.
Someone please explain to me why Alachua county is wasting time and money with this “resolution” business. Why? What’s the point? The citizens here all feel one way or another on the subject due to their diverse personal beliefs. No matter what the county commissioners decide, people are going to continue to hold their own beliefs and it just doesn’t matter some political entity states about the issue. What does Alachua county plan to do next, send a delegation to Gaza to tell them what we’ve decided for them all to do? Who cares? This is a beyond ridiculous, just like adopting a “sister city” in Iran and flying a bunch of commissioners over there was. Remember that one? Let’s keep our focus and our tax dollars on the needs of the people here in our local community of Alachua county.
Amen!
Unclear what possible influence one Florida county resolution could possibly have on the horrible destruction and death in Gaza.
However, I for one am ashamed to be a U.S. taxpayer given that for decades now politicians have happily sent billions in aid to our “ally” Israel, whose people are punching down the Palestinians.
We are literally subsidizing apartheid and crimes against humanity by a bully and doing nothing meaningful to compel them to stop. Genocide tragically seems an increasingly apt way to describe what they’re doing to raze those innocents including babies who are not affiliated with Hamas.
There was a ceasefire on October 6. The moslems from arab-occupied Gaza broke it on October 7. Everything that has happened in Gaza since is the fault of the moslems and no one else, period. We’re really really sorry they don’t like the war they started but hey, too bad.
This, is quite possibly, the most ridiculous thing I have read in a while.
Who, in their ever loving mind, do these people on the council think they are?
Aside from the ridiculousness of the prospect of Alachua County’s opinion having any sway in the matter, I find it even more appalling that the documented opinion of local religious leaders, who actually have a dog in this fight, are pretty much being discounted.
Perhaps the county should resume hiring police officers and managing the roads as opposed to taking votes on subject matters they have no, I repeat NO, control over.
Incidentally, crime in Alachua County is up….what is being voted on to alleviate this problem?
Property taxes are through the too. What vote have they taken to alleviate this problem? Homeowners are having insurance policies cancelled for no reason, did they take a vote on this?
It’s almost as if these people have no sense of reality.
Way to go Alachua County. You have fixed nothing and wasted a lot of time fixing nothing!