Raleigh city leaders split 4-4 on surprise Gaza cease-fire resolution

Raleigh leaders split 4-4 Tuesday on a surprise local resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Council members Mary Black, Jane Harrison, Christina Jones and Megan Patton voted for the resolution.

Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin and council members Corey Branch, Stormie Forte and Jonathan Melton voted against it.

The resolution wasn’t on the agenda. Black raised it toward the end of the meeting, introducing it with a passage from “Freedom Is a Constant Struggle” by Angela Davis.

“In the past few months, it’s become abundantly clear that we cannot just get over this,” Black said. “We cannot wait out in silence. We cannot ignore the people who have eagerly demanded us to do one thing: Vote on a cease-fire resolution.”

What the Raleigh City Council said last month

For months, community members calling for a cease-fire in Gaza have lobbied city leaders, once prompting a meeting to end early with chanting and singing.

In February, Baldwin, with Patton’s help, released a statement on council’s behalf that said it would not be voting on a resolution.

“The importance of protecting civilian lives and supporting humanitarian relief is not lost on us,” Baldwin said during that meeting. “Neither is the need for safety and peace.

“Yes, our community is conflicted. But our values are evident,” she said then, reading from the statement. “We call for the protection of all civilians and humanitarian relief. We call for the safe return of all hostages. We, like many others in our country, call on world leaders to work toward an end to this conflict and a peaceful long-term solution. We call for peace at home and abroad.”

But the calls for a vote on a ceasefire resolution continued.

What happened Tuesday

Resolutions are not normally voted on the day they are presented.

Instead, council members had to unanimously agree to vote on the resolution Tuesday, or it would have gone on their agenda in two weeks.

“This is not the normal protocol for introducing a resolution and receiving this just when we walked in chambers at 1 o’clock; it’s not the most considerate way to do something,” Baldwin said. “Usually we should all have time to read it and make suggestions. There might have been some changes we would have liked to have seen.”

But Baldwin made a motion to allow a vote, which was approved unanimously before the split vote on what the resolution said.

What the proposed cease-fire resolution said

Since Oct. 7, over 30,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in response to a surprise attack led by the terrorist organization Hamas on Israel that killed about 1,200 people.

The resolution specifically stated that the city of Raleigh:

• Urges the Biden administration to advocate for “de-escalation and a sustained bilateral ceasefire”
• Urges the Biden administration to expedite the delivery of humanitarian assistance into Gaza
• Calls for the release of all hostages in Gaza
• Calls for the release of all people “unjustly detained in Gaza”
• Calls for an “end of U.S. military aid to the Netanyahu government”
• Urges the Biden administration to pursue “long-term solutions that prioritize safety and dignity of all individuals in Israel, Palestine and the region, promoting just and representative governance for both Palestinians and Israelis.”

What the council members said

After the vote, Black said she was proud to have gotten a vote on the resolution.

“One way or another, I think our voices and votes needed to be apparent to the people in the community, one side or the other,” she said. “And now that’s clear.”

Branch said he doesn’t want to see any loss of life, and he apologized to people who have lost loved ones in Gaza.

“Our federal government has already pushed and is requesting a cease-fire,” he said. “And that is something that I feel is at that level.”

Melton said he was in favor of a “humanitarian cease-fire and a permanent end to this conflict,” but that federal elected officials were working on those efforts.

“Our city is very divided right now,” he said. “And I do not want to deepen that divide. But my hope is for peace at home and abroad.”

Forte didn’t address the resolution during the meeting. In an interview she said she wants the atrocities to end but that there are “atrocities here at home.” And while most of the speakers who show up at meetings support a cease-fire, she said the council gets numerous emails from people who don’t want a city resolution.

“And so, for me, being elected to represent the entire city of Raleigh and being elected to deal with affordable housing issues and homelessness and infrastructure challenges and transportation issues, all of those things, those are the things that people elected me to deal with,” she said. “I’m going to respect the role of folks who have more information and direct knowledge about the international issues. It’s just not within our purview.”

This story was originally published March 5, 2024 at 6:38 PM.

Anna Roman

The News & Observer

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Anna Roman is a service journalism reporter for the News & Observer. She has previously covered city government, crime and business for newspapers across North Carolina and received many North Carolina Press Association awards, including first place for investigative reporting.