DULUTH — After more than two hours of often impassioned public testimony, the City Council voted down a proposed Middle East ceasefire resolution by a 5-4 margin Monday night.
The resolution was proposed by councilors Azrin Awal, Wendy Durrwachter and Mike Mayou. Council President Roz Randorf joined those authors in supporting the call for an end to fighting between Israeli and Hamas forces in Gaza — a conflict that has resulted in numerous civilian deaths and casualties.
But councilors Arik Forsman, Janet Kennedy, Lynn Nephew, Tara Swenson and Terese Tomanek defeated the resolution, questioning whether international affairs fell under the purview of a local government body.
Awal praised residents who called for a peaceful resolution and the return of hostages and prisoners on both sides of the dispute.
“Truly the community was the driving force behind this resolution,” she said.
Kennedy described the high-pressure campaign to sway her vote on the issue as nothing short of traumatic and said not enough had been done to show her the people of Duluth’s westernmost 5th District supported the resolution.
As councilors, not only do we not have the power to influence the outcome of this war in any meaningful way, it is not what we were elected to do.
Councilor Terese Tomanek
“None of this is comfortable because people are dying all over, and it is not good what’s happening over there,” she said. “But it’s not good what’s happening right here in Duluth, when I cannot walk out my door, and I have to get a ride from a police officer.
“I call for a ceasefire on me and my council members who are going to choose to say ‘no.’ And that needs to be OK,” Kennedy said.
Swenson thanked members of the public for sharing their stories and concerns with the council Monday but said, as a constituent recently pointed out to her, “The purpose of City Council is to govern locally, to oversee city financial operations and to serve as an important check and balance for our mayor.
“I ran a campaign promising that I would focus on city issues — snow removal, streets, housing and infrastructure,” Swenson said. “The role of the City Council is to improve the city and create safe, vibrant and thriving neighborhoods.”
Durrwachter took a different view. “This is absolutely a local issue,” she said.
She noted that local residents’ tax dollars had gone toward support of an Israeli war that has led to widespread bombing in Gaza at the cost of numerous civilian lives.
“I think we absolutely can vote with our hearts. I think it’s not a weakness. It’s a strength,” Durrwachter said.
She noted that letter-writing campaigns urging national leaders to change course in support of a ceasefire have not proven successful. But Durrwachter suggested the 70 cities that have signed similar resolutions and the recent campaign to vote “uncommitted” in recent Democratic primaries do seem to be having a collective effect on the Biden administration.
We have community members who are impacted by what is happening in this war, some of whom have come and spoken to us tonight. We also have tax dollars that are going to fund certain elements of what is happening.
Councilor Mike Mayou
Durrwachter noted the passage of a United Nations resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire Monday as evidence of the changing tide, with the U.S. government choosing not to exercise its veto powers on behalf of Israel for a change.
Tomanek, an ordained Christian minister married to a husband of the Jewish faith, described the situation in the Middle East as extremely complex.
“To date, ceasefires have been proposed that both Hamas and Nentanyahu have turned down,” she said. “We must remember that both Hamas, who invaded Israel on Oct. 7 and killed more than 1,160 people, mostly civilians, and took 248 hostages, and Israel, who has killed over 32,000 Palestinians, are both aggressors and victims.
“As councilors, not only do we not have the power to influence the outcome of this war in any meaningful way, it is not what we were elected to do,” Tomanek said.
Mayou said he considers the issue local, pointing to “our shared humanity in what we feel and what many of the speakers referenced tonight, with pain and suffering that is felt around the world.”
“We have community members who are impacted by what is happening in this war, some of whom have come and spoken to us tonight,” he said. “We also have tax dollars that are going to fund certain elements of what is happening.”
Randorf said she would stand behind the council’s decision, even though she voted in the minority.
“Hostilities in Gaza and Israel have created horrific human suffering, and we are facing a horrible moment in history,” she said. “And we are being asked to elevate local voices, so we are not standing silently, watching thousands of innocent men, women and children being killed.”
As for the question of whether a call for a ceasefire qualifies as “council business,” Randorf said: “When it’s on the agenda, it becomes council business for me. And I have to make a vote on what’s in front of me.
“On this issue, I cannot remain silent,” she said. But Randorf and her allies did not have the votes.
Peter Passi covers city and county government for the Duluth News Tribune. He joined the paper in April 2000, initially as a business reporter but has worked a number of beats through the years.