An Islamic advocacy organization is criticizing remarks by Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau suggesting that Arab-Americans who support a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza can “go to another country” if they disagree with US policy.
Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called the mayor’s remarks “ignorant and dangerous.”
“The notion that Americans who disagree with an official should pack up and leave to another country is more befitting of the 1960’s Soviet Union, rather than of the United States where freedom of expression and conscience is a founding principle of this country and its constitution,” Rehab said in a news release Tuesday.
During public comment at Monday’s Village Board meeting, several residents called for a resolution supporting a cease-fire.
A petition with 800 signatures was presented, and residents said there is a large Palestinian population in Cook County and the southwest suburbs, and as elected officials the mayor and trustees are “entrusted with the duty to sympathize and empathize and support them,” said Badie Ali, an Orland Park resident.
Asking for the cease-fire resolution “should not be an unreasonable request,” he said.
Yousef Zegar, who said he was a lifelong resident of Orland Park, presented the petition to the board and said “we are asking for your compassion.”
“We have members of this community who have lost friends and family members,” he told the board.
Some of the speakers suggested failing to adopt a resolution would have repercussions for board members at the next election.
“Our community is united and no longer places its faith in empty promises,” Ali said.
Those in the audience stood, clapped and chanted “cease-fire now,” and outbursts from people in the crowd prompted Pekau to bang his gavel several times to regain order.
The mayor eventually told the police chief to clear the meeting room, and he and trustees went into recess for several minutes. When they returned, Pekau said “the board and I have zero impact on U.S. foreign policy.”
“Orland Park residents are highly divided on this current issue in the Middle East and therefore we’re not getting involved,” he said.
Pekau said his comments were his own and that he wasn’t speaking for the board.
Pekau said he agrees with the official U.S. position, which is “to support a two-state solution and that Hamas is a terrorist organization.”
He said “my heart goes out to all the innocents impacted by this.”
“I’m an American,” the mayor said. “If you’re an American citizen and you don’t feel this way you can certainly go and go to another country and support that country and all the power to you if you choose to do that. I will always support America’s interests, which means supporting our allies and opposing our enemies.”
Rehab said the mayor’s comments “have shamed the office he holds and an apology is warranted. Moreover, the mayor is probably blissfully unaware that 61% of Americans support a ceasefire. So he is asking for most of the country to pack up and leave.”
Rehab said in the release that “Palestinian and American Muslims constitute a significant portion of the Orland Park community, socially, culturally, and economically. They deserve better than to have their genuine angst in the face of civilian massacres committed by the Israeli government be dismissed with racist ugly rants.”
In a statement following the meeting, Pekau said the council and protesters “are attempting to create a controversy where one does not exist.”
“I gave full attention and respect to each person who commented. In addition, each attendee who wished to give public comment was afforded the opportunity to speak without interruption,” the statement reads. “Unfortunately, I was not given the same courtesy during my comments. The attendees continued to disrupt the conduct of the meeting, refused to stop interrupting even after repeatedly being asked to do so.”
