Community members pleaded with the Naperville City Council Tuesday to issue a resolution calling for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.
The appeals went on for more than two hours, with some 50 people from Naperville, Bolingbrook, Lisle, Elk Grove Village and Aurora speaking at the council meeting. Almost every seat in Naperville’s 292-seat council chambers was filled.
All but a handful of those who spoke voiced concern about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has devastated much of the Gaza Strip.
“Naperville, a community built on values of compassion and empathy, must not remain silent in the face of such human tragedy,” Bina Raheem, an 18-year Naperville resident, told the council. “… Let us together send a powerful message Naperville calls for peace. Naperville calls for peace. Naperville calls for peace.”
Elected leaders didn’t speak to the comments or make any indication that a cease-fire resolution is something they’d consider.
Late last month, Chicago became the largest American city to call for a cease-fire. The resolution narrowly passed, with Mayor Brandon Johnson casting the tie-breaking vote in favor of the declaration.
Bolingbrook followed in Chicago’s footsteps last week. The Village Board unanimously passed a resolution declaring “it is the best interest of the village to reaffirm the village’s commitment to supporting diversity, standing up against all forms of hatred and supporting lasting global peace through an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and all regions of the world under attack.”
They are the only two Illinois municipalities to pass cease-fire resolutions. However, dozens of other U.S. cities from San Francisco to Atlanta have passed similar declarations since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage.
In the more than four months that have followed, an estimated 29,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s responding military offensive, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
On Tuesday, for the third time, the United States voted against a United Nations resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire.
Qasim Rashid, a Naperville resident and Democratic candidate in this year’s race for the 11th District U.S. House seat, told local elected leaders that it’s in Naperville’s “DNA to uphold justice and compassion.”
Waubonsie Valley High School senior Eeman Khan, 17, asked the council, “What is stopping us today? How can we say that this conflict does not resonate with our local community?”
Khan pointed to the death of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi, a Palestinian boy who was killed last October after being stabbed 26 times at his Plainfield home in an alleged anti-Muslim hate crime.
“What is stopping us,” Khan said, “from being on the right side of history today?”
A few speakers took the opposite stance, urging the council to refrain from issuing a cease-fire resolution. When their comments drew a response from others in the audience, Mayor Scott Wehrli reminded the crowd to lower signs and keep order in the chambers.
Naperville resident Mark Rice, wearing an Israeli flag on his arm, spoke against a local cease-fire resolution and stressed that “Israel’s fighting terror,” which elicited laughter from the audience. That prompted Wehrli to pause comments and say, “We’ll clear the chambers unless we have the order for the remaining speakers.”
One pro-Palestinian speaker was asked to leave.
Because a potential cease-fire resolution wasn’t on the agenda and was not broached during new business, when council members can bring up matters for consideration at a later date, it’s not known if the council will take up the issue.
Wehrli was not available for comment after Tuesday’s meeting, which lasted for more than four hours and ended after 11 p.m.
The Associated Press and Chicago Tribune reporter Jake Sheridan contributed.
