Bangor city councilors voted Monday not to draft a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza after more than a dozen area residents requested it in the council’s last meeting earlier this month.
Most councilors agreed they want the fighting to stop, but don’t feel it’s the council’s responsibility or place to take a stance on international conflicts. Several councilors said they should spend their time focusing on the needs and issues in Bangor that they can address, rather than international affairs where they have little power or influence.
“First and foremost, everyone wants peace, no question about it,” Councilor Rick Fournier said. “But, to me, the issue at hand is to focus on the city. There are city issues that need to be tackled, and we’re the group that does that.”
The city has never drafted a resolution calling for peace during any other international conflicts, according to Councilor Carolyn Fish.
“There’s so much horror in the world,” Councilor Gretchen Schaefer said. “If we start setting a precedent that we have that we take a position on it as a council, it distracts from the actual job that you’re meant to do as a council. We do not have the influence or the power to change anything.”
Councilors Dina Yacoubagha and Joe Leonard, however delivered impassioned speeches explaining why they believe calling for a ceasefire is the council’s duty, especially when area residents called on them to do so.
Aside from being what her “moral compass” is directing her to do, Yacoubagha said a ceasefire would stop the flow of U.S. tax dollars to an international conflict that “supports killing people, innocent people” when that money could be used to help people in need in Bangor.
“It’s a call for permanent ceasefire, release all of the hostages and allowing humanitarian aid,” Yacoubagha said. “What’s so scary about this resolution?”
Ultimately, councilors voted 6-3 to indefinitely postpone drafting a ceasefire resolution. Councilors Yacoubagha, Leonard and Cara Pelletier, the council chair, voted against postponing the issue.
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