Michael Karlis
Nadia Mavrakis tells council that the rhetoric of some members is creating a security threat for Arab People and others.
Tensions over the escalating Center East battle look like spilling over onto San Antonio Metropolis Council. Greater than half of its members both left throughout — or did not present up for — an uneasy public remark session Wednesday on violence within the area.
A minimum of 30 individuals signed as much as converse on the session — all decrying Israel’s reprisal in Gaza over terrorist group Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 assault on Israeli civilians.
Many demanded that San Antonio finish its friendship-city standing with Tel Aviv, Israel, arguing that the connection equates to supporting “genocide” of Palestinian individuals because the Israeli army seems poised to launch a punishing floor battle in Gaza. A few of these providing feedback straight focused Mayor Ron Nirenberg.
Rage among the many audio system grew after Nirenberg left the dais with out rationalization and by no means returned.
“Mayor Ron is a coward,” Palestinian-rights activist Maureen Kaki informed the Present following the general public remark session. “For a person who touts to be the mayor of a compassionate metropolis and a metropolis of immigrants and a minority-majority metropolis, he is letting worry make his political selections for him.”
Nirenberg’s sudden departure got here roughly 20 minutes into the hour-and-a-half-long session. District 10’s Marc Whyte, council’s most conservative member, adopted quickly after. District 9’s John Braveness stepped out towards the tip of the session.
Their exits did not go unnoticed by considered one of council’s most progressive members.
Later that evening, District 5’s Jalen McKee-Rodriguez aired his frustration with the walkouts on X, the web platform previously generally known as Twitter. He additionally took purpose on the members who did not present up.
“We had extra individuals there this night than now we have throughout lots of our common classes,” McKee-Rodriguez tweeted. “By the tip of the general public remark, there have been 4 members of our council left to hear.”
We had extra individuals there this night than now we have throughout lots of our common classes. By the tip of public remark, there have been 4 members of our Council left to hear. pic.twitter.com/jQ6FUd2pHQ
— Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (@theloserteacher) October 19, 2023
Certainly, solely Mckee-Rodriguez, District 1’s Sukh Kaur, District 4’s Adriana Rocha Garcia and District 5’s Teri Castillo remained to listen to all the constituents’ feedback.
District 3’s Phyllis Viagran, District 6’s Melissa Cabello Havrda, District 7’s Marina Alderete Gavito and District 8’s Manny Pelaez — a potential 2025 mayoral candidate — did not present up.
Nirenberg’s communication director, Bruce Davidson, did not reply to the Present’s request for remark in regards to the mayor’s departure.
Tel AvivDuring the assembly, Judith Norman — a member of San Antonio’s Jewish neighborhood and a philosophy professor at Trinity College — urged council to finish the town’s friendship standing with Tel Aviv and denounce the Israeli authorities for what she mentioned had been battle crimes. Others echoed the sentiment.
A friendship metropolis is a stepping stone to a full-fledged sister metropolis relationship, and it permits municipalities to discover partnerships with entities in international nations. Apart from Tel Aviv, San Antonio has friendship standing with Mexico Metropolis; Suzhou, China; and Baguio, Philippines, in line with the town’s web site.
“As a Jew, I am deeply ashamed of the inaction that the Metropolis Council has taken,” Norman mentioned. “I am deeply grateful to the 2 Metropolis Council representatives who’ve spoken out towards this. As a citizen of america, I am deeply appalled by the truth that my tax cash is being spent to conduct this genocide. As a San Antonio resident, I ask that you just name for an finish of San Antonio’s friendship standing with Tel Aviv.”
The 2 members to whom Norman referred are McKee-Rodriguez and Castillo. Each issued pro-Palestinian statements on X after Israel started bombarding Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault.
Certainly, not less than half of those that spoke through the session thanked McKee-Rodriguez and Castillo for his or her statements calling for a ceasefire. In the course of the time that Nirenberg was on the dias, he shot glares at McKee-Rodrigues and Castillo, who largely saved their head downs whereas audio system criticized the mayor.
“We are able to concurrently acknowledge Hamas as an unaccountable group within the broad political spectrum of Palestinian politics, separate from Palestinians at giant,” McKee-Rodriguez mentioned in a video shared Oct.14. “We are able to acknowledge the present ache and struggling of the Jewish neighborhood. And we will additionally acknowledge the trauma that has been inflicted on Palestinians for many years and their proper to sovereignty and the best to protest nonviolently with out being criminalized. And that ought to not imply ache for anybody, Jewish or Palestinian.”
My coronary heart is with all experiencing ache. I be part of the collective name for a right away ceasefire and an finish to the occupation of Palestine. pic.twitter.com/BCBX2FgOQu
— Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (@theloserteacher) October 14, 2023
In an announcement posted Oct. 12 on X, Castillo mentioned she mourned for the Israeli civilians killed within the terror assault. On the identical time, she referred to as for a ceasefire and an finish to what she referred to as Israel’s “Apartheid governance.”
I mourn for the Palestinian and Israeli civilian lives that had been reduce quick by the violence that occurred round and inside Israel and Gaza this previous weekend. As occasions escalate and proceed, my ideas are with everybody who has members of the family in hurt’s manner pic.twitter.com/mpTnuEt9it
— Councilwoman Teri Castillo (@TeriCastilloD5) October 12, 2023
Opposing views
The net statements made by council’s progressive wing look like at odds with current tweets by Nirenberg and conservative Whyte.
“Because the world condemns the monstrous, coordinated assaults towards civilians by Hamas terrorists in Israel, we pray for individuals who are misplaced, lacking, or killed whereas we assist American and worldwide efforts to deliver the complete weight of justice down on these accountable,” Nirenberg mentioned Oct. 8 on X.
On Oct. 12, Whyte used the web platform to share video of feedback he made throughout a session that day defending Israel’s use of pressure.
“We wish to state that we stand aspect by aspect with our ally Israel,” Whyte mentioned within the video. “And let or not it’s recognized and really, very clear that we should always reaffirm our perception that Israel has absolutely the proper to defend itself transferring ahead.”
My coronary heart goes out to our Israeli brothers and sisters.We stand in solidarity.
Under are my feedback from right now’s A-session: pic.twitter.com/gahrSmOdQX
— Councilman Marc Whyte (@cosa_cd10) October 13, 2023
Throughout that very same assembly, District 9 Councilman John Braveness proposed hanging a banner exterior Metropolis Corridor supporting Israel — an thought Nirenberg mentioned he would focus on with Braveness at a later time.
At Wednesday’s remark session, speaker Nadia Maurakis warned that warlike rhetoric might incite violence towards individuals who appear to be her.
Maurakis in contrast present attitudes in direction of Arab People to these in post-9/11 America. She recalled an incident from that period when a person flipped her off at a gasoline station — a gesture she thought was directed at her for no different motive than the headband she wore.
“Arab and different Minahasan People are once more more and more changing into the topic of hateful dehumanizing rhetoric, or the victims of focused violence, hate crimes or discrimination,” she informed the council members nonetheless in attendance. “Our neighborhood is mourning and affected by the twisted narrative spreading within the media that has dehumanized and even demonized Palestinians and different Minahasan people.”
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