Protesters expected tonight as Howard Council considers resolution for cease-fire in Gaza

Feb. 5—By Sherry Greenfield — sgreenfield@baltsun.com

PUBLISHED:February 5, 2024 at 12:49 p.m.| UPDATED:February 5, 2024 at 5:31 p.m.

Dozens of protestors are expected at the Howard County Council meeting tonight, as officials are scheduled to discuss and vote on a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Council member Liz Walsh, a Democrat who represents District 1, introduced the resolution last week. It asks for the Biden administration and congressional leaders in Maryland to facilitate an end to the Israel-Hamas war and to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. The resolution urges elected officials to take "immediate action to use their position and influence" to end the humanitarian crisis in the region.

Some international leaders have called for a ceasefire in Gaza, but bombings have continued in the 25-mile strip along the Mediterranean Sea. On Sunday, Israeli airstrikes reportedly killed more than 100 people in Rafah, a southern city where more than 1 million civilians have been sheltering from the conflict.

Rabbi Yanky Baron, of Chabad Lubavitch of Ellicott City, said a large group from the Jewish community who disagree with the resolution will attend tonight's meeting. Baron said the Chabad disagrees with the resolution and believes that the Howard County Council should not insert itself into this issue.

"We disagree with [Walsh] completely," he said. "This goes beyond her position on the council. It has caused a lot of division in our community and has nothing to do with our community in Howard County. To bring this in is beyond her scope on the council, and it's causing division."

The council's legislative meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m., in the George Howard Building, 3430 Court House Drive in Ellicott City. The meeting will be streamed at https://cc.howardcountymd.gov/watch-us and broadcast on Channels 44 and 99.

According to reports from The Associated Press, on Oct. 7, about 1,500 Hamas terrorists crossed the border into southern Israel and assaulted and killed at least 1,200 Israelis. More than 240 hostages were taken by Hamas that day, and the event is considered to be one of the deadliest terrorist attacks against Israel since the state's establishment in 1948. Hamas has released dozens of hostages, but dozens are still being held. In retaliation, Israel has waged war in Gaza aimed at destroying Hamas. The war has claimed more than 26,000 Palestinian lives.

"All human life is precious, and targeting of civilians, no matter their faith or ethnicity, is a violation of international humanitarian law," the resolution states. "Hundreds of thousands of lives are at imminent risk if a cease-fire is not achieved and humanitarian aid is not delivered without further delay."

The ongoing war has elicited protests around the world, calling for an end to the violence in the Gaza Strip, and the release of the remaining hostages.

Conflicts have also come up in academic settings across the United States — most notably, sparking the resignations of two Ivy League presidents, Harvard President Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, following a contentious congressional hearing addressing antisemitism on their campuses.

In Anne Arundel County, a Muslim civil rights group filed a complaint last month accusing the county's public school system of placing a Pakistani teacher under investigation after she expressed concerns about a colleague's email they say "pushed a biased and discriminatory narrative" about the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Protesters are expected outside the George Howard Building before the Howard County Council meeting tonight and security measures will be in place, a county spokesperson said Monday morning. No public comment will be allowed during the meeting.

Baron said despite the policy disagreement, the Chabad has always had a good working relationship with Walsh.

"She has attended a lot of our events. She has supported us, and we want to keep it that way," Baron said. "Around the world, Chabad works together with many people of power for the benefit of the Jewish people."

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